Using Epicor certified partners makes a difference for your business.
When you invest in a new or upgraded ERP system, you are looking ahead to the long-term growth and evolution of your company, its products, and its people. With so much on the line, it makes sense to seek consulting and implementation guidance from those with the highest level of knowledge.
One of the differentiators that sets Epicor apart from a lot of our competitors is our very robust product certification program for our channel ecosystem. The lasting value this brings to our customers is that our partners are required to maintain certifications across our product portfolio.
The Epicor Certified Partner Program offers several key advantages:
Having insight into the most current releases and new products is absolutely essential across our partner ecosystem. It helps our partners steer their clients to the most standard versions of our solutions, rather than having them get stuck in customizations that often limit this access and reduce productivity.
We've built our services partner ecosystem from the ground up, with independent companies who just really liked the product and wanted to work with it, but needed the support of a program to provide them with all the skills, tools, and education to help their customers and build a business around it.
Quantum ERP Solutions is one of those businesses. Ahmed Hamidi, Chief Software Architect at Quantum, has been connected to Epicor since he began working here in 2007. After branching out to start his own consulting business, Hamidi became a certified Epicor Service Partner in 2019.
He took a very pragmatic approach in his journey to certified partnership, learning Application Studio first so that he'd be able to do mods right and be able to extend the solution. Next, he mastered ancillary components like ECM and Automation Studio and things that would create a differentiator for him. Finally, he went through all the Kinetic core training, because he already had a Kinetic background.
Hamidi also put in years attending Epicor Insights, networking with other partners, and getting involved in things like staff augmentation to build the business. The hard work has paid off, as his thriving consultancy continues to grow.
"I knew the direction I wanted to take with custom solutions," Hamidi says. "I wanted to create a small team who can all come into the office. Work together, grow together; that’s our motto." Quantum’s team is composed entirely of onshore consultants, all of whom report directly to the company’s Laguna Beach, California headquarters. This local presence ensures tight collaboration, real-time communication, and a shared commitment to excellence, Hamidi explains. Many of the students come from area schools, ensuring a strong pipeline of fully certified, talented consultants.
"From software architecture and technical writing to customizations, upgrades, and functional consulting, our consultants bring decades of combined experience across industries such as manufacturing, distribution, pharmaceuticals, and non-profits. We actively recruit recent graduates from U.S. institutions and guide them through a rigorous Epicor Services Consulting certification track."
Reflecting on his trajectory, Hamidi is proud of the positive culture that underpins the structure he created for his business. "At Quantum ERP Solutions, we don’t just implement software—we build lasting partnerships," he says.
Mayan Technologies also values the importance of strong partnerships with ERP solutions providers. Having worked with Acumatica, NetSuite, and Epicor, they have recently narrowed their portfolio to focus only on Epicor. Developing strong connections with clients across a range of industries, Mayan’s business continues to thrive.
Sergio Prieto, CTO and Managing Partner at Mayan, reflects back on the early days of the business. "We started by not being a partner. We were actually just providing Epicor services independently," he says. "We were so small and we just never felt like we could fit into the partnership ecosystem at that point in time."
After operating independently for six or seven years, the business grew at a rapid rate. "Eventually it got to a point where it was pretty evident that we just couldn't keep doing it [without being a partner] anymore," Prieto explains. "We were really struggling to get training, to get our people up to speed on the new technologies and new developments. We saw everything from afar—all the trainings, all the certifications, Insights, conferences, everything was happening. And we couldn’t partake."
Prieto also realized that it would be impossible to thoroughly train the increasing numbers of new hires without access to the Epicor training materials. His path to service partnership began. "We got approved really quickly," he says, adding that the change in the amount of level of business was immediate. "I felt it right away," he says, adding that he quickly made sure his consultants were ready. "Whenever we hire somebody, that’s the first task they get; they need to get certified within the first two months."
With all of his employees fully trained on the different models and solutions, Prieto was ready to give customers measurable proof of the value his team could provide. Customers responded quickly. The other result of certification was that Mayan started getting work from Epicor directly. "It was easy for us to work with them, because we’ve been in business for so long," Prieto explains. "Offering all those services, it really changed the way our business operated completely—being able to use the Epicor name, and the logo, and to provide the best possible service to Epicor users in every way." The company is currently extremely busy with Kinetic customers, and will expand to take on more Prophet 21 users when their schedule opens up.
Prieto comes by Mayan’s emphasis on service thanks to an early background in restaurants. "Those kinds of core values that you get in the hospitality industry? We brought those here. So we’re really focused on staying involved. You’ve got to reach out to the customer, really call them, and you’ve got to follow through. It's very embedded in our culture."
And although they have occasionally thought about expanding their reach and pursuing the reseller route, ultimately the leadership at Mayan decided to stay with service partnership. "The core values of our organization are all around customer service. So it just makes more sense to stay true to ourselves."
Prieto acknowledges that staying in this lane can put a limit on growth potential in certain areas. "But at the same time," he adds, "It just allows us to operate more freely. We can keep customers happy and really stay fruitful."
With consultants in Texas (the company’s home base is in Dallas), Nova Scotia, Mexico, North Carolina, and California, Prieto says he’s grateful for "the amount of support that we get from the partnership team at Epicor in terms of sending those projects and recommending those with clients. Now that we have the opportunity to be a sponsor at Insights and be there with an actual booth and talk with people, the exposure—what Epicor is doing right now, it's really having a very positive impact."
Our resellers bring in new customers and work with existing customers, but our service partner network is essential to our success in ways that people may not realize. For example, Epicor direct professional services relies heavily on service partners for a lot of the project work that we do to keep our backlog down. They can be really nimble and flexible. In addition, they have broad resource benches that span across geographies.
As the success of both our service partners and our resellers demonstrates, the channel ecosystem continues to evolve at Epicor. We are now at the point where we want to start expanding our geographic reach, to start having those important conversations with larger system integrators. In order to attract those kinds of partners, we need to have a global program. More and more companies are realizing that if you want to have faster implementations, fewer disruptions, better ROI, and reduced long-term costs, working with an Epicor certified partner should be your first step.
Interested in becoming or working with one of our partners? Learn more here.
