From cloud migration to Epicor Prism, embracing innovation has made a difference.
For Andy Young, VP Systems & Processes at custom printer Olympus Group (a business creating signs, billboards, flags, and mascot costumes, among many offerings), working with Epicor is nothing new. He was one of the initial voices in 2006 encouraging leadership to bring Epicor onboard to help build efficiency and consistency in the company. “I was one of the people that actually started to really keep pushing and figuring out how do I use this system more and more,” he says. Three years ago, the company migrated their Epicor solutions to the cloud.
After nearly 20 years of working with Epicor, the business has grown from 60 to 200 employees, encompassing the main location in Milwaukee along with four other locations spread out across the country. From using MRP for their module stamp to being an early adapter at integrating CPQ with Epicor, Olympus continued to leverage Epicor solutions for innovation and productivity. The difference has been notable, Young says.
“We weren't quoting in Epicor prior to CPQ,” he explains. “We were just throwing together a spreadsheet and sending it to the customers. And once we got CPQ to the point where we liked it, then we could take those quotes and actually send them out; now our sales management team, they’re thrilled with that. You can look back and say, ‘OK, this is what we quoted in November of 2023, this is what we quoted in 2024.’” This data can then be used as a launching pad for a better customer experience.
We were just throwing together a spreadsheet and sending it to the customers. And once we got CPQ to the point where we liked it, then we could take those quotes and actually send them out; now our sales management team, they’re thrilled with that. You can look back and say, ‘OK, this is what we quoted in November of 2023, this is what we quoted in 2024.This data can then be used as a launching pad for a better customer experience.
As Young explains, members of the sales team used the data to ask key questions like, “What do we see from our quote numbers? How do those compare to our sales numbers? They can do that analysis and find out, 'Hey, we missed something. You know, we should be reaching out to this customer’—that type of stuff that that we couldn't do before.”
To build on this desire to pull the maximum value from existing business intelligence, Olympus became one of the first companies to use Epicor Prism—a network of vertical AI agents with industry-focused ERP and data structures. Young details the immediate benefits he saw in Epicor Prism right from the start. First and foremost was the ability to help provide high-level service to all users in easy-to-understand language.
“We want to be able to easily get answers to our users,” he says. “You know they've got questions, but they don't necessarily know how to make their own queries. If we can use AI to give them a simple place to find that information, and just be able to ask the way that a normal human would ask another human for it,” it would enhance so many processes.
At the heart of Olympus’ enthusiasm for Epicor Prism is the idea of integration. “One of my initiatives for years has been, how do I take external things and get them into the system to work together in data integration? It's not just about having it all in one place, although that is a benefit, but it's also seeing how those things interact and doing things once instead of twice,” Young elaborates.
Viewing AI as a valuable part of their toolkit, Olympus is also hoping to employ Epicor Prism to help build worker autonomy across processes. Employees who help create the mascot costumes, for example, can draw on a wealth of data from existing designs and options, rather than having to recreate each new order from scratch.
There's probably opportunity for a 20% gain in the operation. There’s a market out there, but we've got to find a way to produce more and sell more with the same number of people. And if you do that then you can lower the costs. And if you lower the cost a little bit, then you are going to be able to get more of that market share—as well as being faster and still profitable. We’re really finding ways to do more with less.
Young also wants to leverage AI to enhance the help of on-time delivery, an important metric to the business. With lead times that are often as short as three days, Young sees employees using AI to make key decisions, figure out answers to any problems that arise, and respond quickly to customer demand. These capabilities will make is easier for Olympus to use resources efficiently while providing superior service to their target markets.
“There's probably opportunity for a 20% gain in the operation,” Young says. “There’s a market out there, but we've got to find a way to produce more and sell more with the same number of people. And if you do that then you can lower the costs. And if you lower the cost a little bit, then you are going to be able to get more of that market share—as well as being faster and still profitable. We’re really finding ways to do more with less.”
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