Attending Epicor Insights 2025

Epicor Insights is an annual gathering hosted by Epicor for customers as well as hundreds of Epicor partners. Having attended its 2023 and 2024 editions as well, I was looking forward to the event, along with all the new learnings it promised. Special thanks to Epicor for inviting us!  

This year, Tim Diep, our Strategic Accounts Director at DCKAP was able to join me, as well as Alfred Vivek who came along from our Klizer team, adding great value to an already fruitful trip.

Epicor Insights was set in the wonderful Mandalay Bay Resort in sunny Las Vegas. Over the course of three days between May 5th to May 7th, we were set to enjoy some great sessions, vibrant conversations, and fun experiences!

Monday, May 5, 2025

We started the day off productively, with plans to record for the Driven By DCKAP podcast. Our interviews were planned and shot in an executive suite at the resort by our talented videographer, Aaron Thomas, who also worked with us at the same event last year. 

Stay tuned for some amazing episodes coming as a result – featuring Stephen Fulop, Chief Technology/Digital Officer at Dakota Supply Group, Brad Feakes, President of EstesGroup, and Carolyn Hunt, Owner of Hunt Consulting Services. 

Later that evening, we had the pleasure of attending a networking reception hosted for the Epicor Influencers Group. It was great to be able to meet quite a few of our customers there in person. 

On our way, we took this picture with Morgan Peters who was one of the drivers of the Influencer Group and also gave us all the passes we needed. Thanks to Kristin Valentyn and the whole Epicor team for all your great work at Epicor Insights!

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

The first full day at Epicor Insights began bright and early, with breakfast at 7:00 AM and the keynote sessions just an hour later. & I am so glad and thankful to have attended these sessions.

Steve Murphy, CEO of Epicor

One thing I’ve always respected about Epicor is their commitment to transparency. Steve started his address with an Epicor Report Card, sharing how they performed financially this year. This is a great way to start a keynote. Epicor currently does over $1 billion in revenue, and is growing year-over-year.   

Steve also shared his personal story with AI. He emphasized the fact that AI is not new, as he laid down a little of its history — from the story of Alan Turing and the Turing Test in the 1950s, to the current state today with the launch of OpenAI’s chatGPT. 

Steve also shared some practical use cases on how he is seeing AI helping customers, such as with employee onboarding and data analysis.

Vaibhav Vohra, President of Epicor

Before holding his current title, Vaibhav was the Chief Product Officer at Epicor. He laid down his 3-year vision for the company, leading it into a Cognitive ERP. The aim is to fundamentally transform the way that ERPs work. Data insights and products like Epicor Prism(AI), Grow (Analytics platform) play a key role here.  

Every company has a choice to either replace employees or augment with AI. Epicor will choose the latter. Vaibhav also had a chat with customers; Tasi Measurement and American Refrigeration Supply.

Arturo Buzzalino, Chief Innovation Officer & Kerrie Jordan, Group Vice President, Product Management at Epicor

One thing I love about Epicor Insights is diving into their product demos, and this year was no different. Arturo and Kerrie did a great job of demonstrating how Epicor is working specifically on solving problems for the Manufacturers and Distributors out there. 

The demos were led by two Epicor employees, and the companies (in the demos) were named after the last names of the folks who did the demo (e.g. Macola Manufacturing or Dolphin Distribution). It was just a little thing, but I loved it.

In the demo, they demonstrated how customers could interact with Epicor (with Agentic AI) – asking it questions through Prism as the agent does the search and responds. If there are vendor disruptions, the agent even finds out and provides alternative solutions. 

Recording for the Driven By DCKAP Podcast

It was exciting to learn even more from leaders in person for Driven By DCKAP. We recorded new episodes with David Bauders, CEO of SparxIQ & TradeHounds, Frank Heenan, Global Vice President at Epicor, and Peter Chrobak, Chief Financial Officer at Duncan Parnell. Duncan was referred to us by our partners at Unified A/R, so big thanks to them. I was also able to record short conversations with Paul Kundinger, the CEO of Kundinger, as well as Anjali Macqueen, the Founder of Sandesta Labs.

You can learn more about our podcast here. Be sure to check out our Driven by DCKAP YouTube Channel & Subscribe to stay up to date on our latest episodes!

Epicor Executive Dinner & More

Another thing we love about Epicor Insights is the access we get to the Epicor executive team. We were invited to attend an Epicor Executives Dinner, where we were able to sit down with folks such as Vaibhav Vohra, and the entire Epicor Executive team attending. It was a great opportunity to talk and interact with everyone. 

Our very own Tim Diep did an amazing job hosting a dinner for our DCKAP customers as well. Tim is awesome at hosting these kinds of events. Though I was not able to attend this one due to the timing, I made it for the last 15-30 minutes, and I am really glad I did. It’s important to show up when you can.

Instead of me writing about this dinner, though, read what Charles Ohara from ASG Jergens had to say:

“I just wanted to drop you a quick line to thank you again for your hospitality. It was greatly appreciated and absolutely the best dinner I had while in Las Vegas. Much appreciated!”

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

After some restful sleep and a good hearty breakfast, it was time to head towards the new day’s sessions, starting at 8:30 AM. 

Kerrie Jordan in Conversation with Gene Marks

Gene Marks is an accomplished Finance professional and columnist. In this conversation during the Epicor Insights event, Gene talked about how companies can prepare for the tariffs, and much more. He talked about bonded warehouses, free trade zones (i.e., areas where there are no tariff until you take the product out), so that customers could potentially stock inventory. 

Some customers increase prices and show the tariff price separately, while others increase the cost and do not show it as a line item. The big takeaway was that these tariffs are likely to be short-term, so instead of worrying too much about them, Gene is more concerned about geopolitical situations which can have an even bigger impact than tariffs.

Scott Morgan of Epicor in Conversation with Deion Sanders, aka Coach Prime

Deion Sanders, as you probably know, is the only athlete to play in both the NFL and the World Series. Coach Prime, as he is also known, kept the room inspired for the hour and provided us with a lot of takeaways. He mentioned that you need someone to challenge you, and you need a why in life.

He also talked about how Big Achievers have coaches to inspire them. He never wanted to be second and always wanted to win. It is a Zero or One. He never smoked or drank and stopped using profanity at 19. He also talked about compartmentalizing and being only focused at the work at hand.

He doesn’t remember one NFL team he played on where he was a captain, but was always a leader. He also had parental advice and letting kids know that you are vulnerable. At work, he suggested that sometimes we try to fix a flat tire which can’t be fixed. These were just a few of the things that stood out.

Epicor Executive Lunch & Visiting the Exhibit Floor

I am really glad we attended this as a team – the opportunity to have lunch and also ask questions to Epicor Executive team. It was an open conversation where we could ask any question to the executives on stage. The conversation was free flowing and having that transparency really helped. This is one of Epicor’s greatest strengths on display.

After lunch, we also attended the Epicor exhibit floor. This was where Epicor and other vendors presented their impressive product innovations, and it was really inspiring to experience the showcase.

Closing the Event with PitBull – Mr. Worldwide

In the evening, I got to spend some time attending PitBull’s concert as the last day’s closing attraction. You can just imagine the energy of the audience as he entertained the crowd.

Many Congratulations to Epicor for Another Successful Insights Event!

Thank you for reading,