Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software, today presented the findings from their annual Insights Report. The key takeaway is that leaders of midsize businesses across the supply chain are bullish about growth fuelled on investment in cloud-ready technologies.

The study exclusively surveys leaders from midsize[1] businesses across the manufacturing, distribution and retail industries on the drivers of business growth over the coming year. The survey finds the nation’s most essential business leaders are not simply gearing up for a ‘bounce back’ year but rather, they are leaning into the accelerating forces of COVID-19 to ‘leap forward.’ The most significant indicator of progress is the radical swing in cloud adoption. In 2020, 25% of respondents declared cloud a strategic priority. In this year’s study, 99% of those surveyed confirmed they plan to move to the cloud, and 94% of them intend to do so this year.

“A key takeaway from this year’s study is the sea change in attitude toward cloud as a critical business accelerant. Leaders have moved from consideration to adoption. While the companies who make, move, and sell what is most essential to economic growth may be all aboard the cloud train, the data suggests their implementation needs vary vastly,” stated Steve Murphy, CEO Epicor Software Corporation, during his keynote address at the annual customer Insights conference. 

He added: “This is no longer a ‘why move’ conversation but rather a ‘how to move’ to gain advantage – which is exactly why Epicor will continue to prioritise partnership, and we are proud to share that our dedicated migration teams currently support over 75% of implementations, a number we expect to grow.”

Recognizing we have a vital role to play in supporting these essential businesses, Epicor prioritizes initiatives to address the needs and concerns of its customer base including, cybersecurity, implementation-as-a-service, total cost of ownership, and connectivity equity (read the blog post here).

The survey focuses on bringing to the forefront the voices of the essential businesses that keep the world turning and provides opinion from across the supply chain landscape. While the overwhelming message of digital acceleration is encouraging for the nation’s economic recovery and future growth, the data does provide signposts for the IT industry around the support these midsize essential businesses need to thrive. The full report can be accessed at epicor.com/industry, along with the summary fact sheet.

Survey Methodology

PSB conducted an online survey among n=1,250 IT decision-makers in the U.S. and the UK n=1,000 were based in the U.S. The interviews were conducted in English from February 22 to March 11, 2021.

The margin of error for the total sample is +/-2.77ppts and larger for sub-groups.