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In the past few years, Austin, Texas, has established itself as a burgeoning tech hub, seeing an influx of young tech professionals and firms alike plant roots in town. Compared with the reputable Silicon Valley, Austin’s living and operating costs are far lower. Not to mention, Austin being home to multiple colleges offers a skilled labor force, eager to advance the industry.
One company made the move from California to Austin early on is Epicor Software Corporation. Founded in 1972, Epicor moved to its Texas headquarters in 2014 and has seen incredible growth since, with 4,100 employees and more than 20,000 customers worldwide.
In late August 2020, Epicor was sold by private equity giant KKR to Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC (CD&R), a firm that specializes in industry-specific software, for $4.7 billion, resulting in one of the largest software deals in Austin since Whole Foods Market was acquired by Amazon in 2017 for $13.7 billion. Since 2011, when KKR purchased Epicor, the company’s value increased more than 40 percent in the past four years alone—a testament to Austin’s potential for success.
“We welcome this new partnership with CD&R, which shares our vision for growing the company, and I thank KKR for a highly successful partnership these past few years,” Epicor CEO Steve Murphy said in a written statement about the acquisition.
With CD&R taking Epicor’s wheel, and already promising growth on the horizon, hopes are high that this will be Epicor’s best acquisition yet. “For Epicor, CD&R may be a very good fit,” said Barbara Peck, a principal analyst at Nucleus Research, in an article for TechTarget. “They tend to work with a company to build it, which is what Epicor needs.”
Nonetheless, the software company promises its customers that under new ownership, it will accelerate product innovation to bring the most customized, relevant offerings to them. “With the investment announced, we will only continue to get better for our customers, while continuing to provide the personalized service they expect,” the company wrote in a statement.
“Unlike costly call centers, which can create response delays for employees, MeBeBot’s Intelligent Assistant provides answers instantly. This improves productivity and saves time so we can stay focused on helping our customers.”
It’s not just for its customers that Epicor is offering the most. For the past year, Director of Global Benefits Donna Maxwell and Senior Director of HR Technology and Operations Debra Ingram have been working together to bring employees a new and improved tool for benefits and beyond. MeBeBot, an AI assistant, was designed to allow employees to get quick answers to common internal company questions about HR, IT, and operations. By using platforms like Microsoft Teams and EpicNet, employees are able to stay informed about all facets of their job at the press of a button.
Launched across all thirty of Epicor’s global offices, MeBeBot is capable of answering hundreds of different employee questions every day. That capability is especially valuable in today’s environment, as much of Epicor’s workforce works remotely. Employees can ask MeBeBot questions like Does my insurance cover urgent care costs? and Can you help me use web conferencing tools?
Because of its integration with Microsoft Teams and Epicor’s intranet, the software is constantly updating answers without the need for development assistance. Within ten days of launching MeBeBot, Epicor’s IT and HR teams were able to edit its knowledge base to best support employees in other countries.
“MeBeBot’s Intelligent Assistant is available both online and mobile 24/7 for our employees and is expected to assist with at least 80 percent of the most common questions our team receives,” Ingram told HRTechFeed. “Unlike costly call centers, which can create response delays for employees, MeBeBot’s Intelligent Assistant provides answers instantly. This improves productivity and saves time so we can stay focused on helping our customers. Even better, it’s easy to use and the HR and IT teams can update answers in real time using the admin portal.”
Regardless of Epicor’s breadth, and goals of becoming bigger and better than ever, MeBeBot allows the company to reach all employees effectively and collaboratively. With initiatives like these leading the charge of the company’s goals in 2021 and beyond, it’s clear that Epicor’s problem-solving technology—both internal and external—are meant to build solutions together, whether they partner with their employees, their vendors, or their customers.
Delta Dental is proud to partner with Epicor’s Donna Maxwell and Deb Ingram, who take care of their employees through innovative human resources and benefits solutions. Delta Dental offers comprehensive, high quality oral healthcare coverage to millions of enrollees through the nation’s strongest network of dental providers. Visit deltadentalins.com
