The expanded Ascend program applies artificial intelligence across the most time-consuming stages of ERP delivery cutting implementation timelines by up to 40% and opening the offering to new customers for the first time.
Epicor, the global leader in industry-specific enterprise software, has announced a significant expansion of its Ascend with Epicor program and with it, a bold commitment: a 90-day go-live target for qualified cloud ERP implementations.
For any organisation that has lived through a traditional ERP deployment, that figure demands attention. Enterprise resource planning projects have long been synonymous with months of disruption, spiralling timelines, and costly manual preparation work. Epicor is betting that AI can change that equation and the early results suggest the bet is paying off.
AI Does the Heavy Lifting
At the core of the expanded Ascend program is a suite of AI-driven capabilities designed to automate the stages of ERP implementation that historically consume the most time and carry the highest risk. Before a single line of configuration is written, Ascend deploys AI to audit a customer’s existing environment, extract and organise data, and generate a detailed migration plan eliminating much of the manual discovery work that typically delays project kickoffs and obscures risks until they become expensive problems.
Rather than simply lifting data from one system and depositing it in another, Ascend applies a structured optimisation layer to ensure that migrated information is clean, usable, and properly aligned with the new environment from day one. The result is less time spent preparing systems and more time spent operating on a modern, cloud-based platform that delivers measurable business value.
“Innovation only creates value when customers can put it to work quickly inside their ERP systems. By working closely across our product and services teams, we’re reducing complexity, accelerating adoption, and enabling qualified ERP deployments in as little as 90 days without compromising the security and rigor ERP demands.”
— Vaibhav Vohra, President and Chief Product and Technology Officer, Epicor
Three Scenarios, One Objective
When Ascend launched last year, it was designed primarily to support existing Epicor customers migrating from on-premises systems to the cloud. The expanded program broadens that scope considerably, now addressing three distinct customer situations: new organisations replacing legacy or non-Epicor ERP platforms; existing Epicor customers making the move to the cloud; and businesses integrating acquired companies or new business units into their existing infrastructure.
In each scenario, the objective is consistent reduce friction, surface risks early, and compress the time between decision and a fully operational system.
When Speed Matters Most
The impact of Ascend is perhaps most striking in high-pressure, time-sensitive situations particularly post-acquisition integrations, where the clock starts ticking the moment a deal closes. Delays in system integration can disrupt operations, erode customer confidence, and undermine the financial rationale of the acquisition itself.
Initial results from early Ascend deployments have demonstrated implementation timelines reduced by up to 40%, with some specific scenarios delivering even faster outcomes. That kind of compression is rarely achievable through conventional ERP delivery methods, which rely heavily on manual processes, extended discovery phases, and sequential project stages that compound delays.
A Broader Vision for ERP in the AI Era
The Ascend expansion reflects Epicor’s wider strategic direction. The company, which has served manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain industries for more than 50 years, is repositioning itself around what it calls Cognitive ERP — a vision that embeds intelligent agents, automation, and human-guided decision support directly into enterprise workflows.
The 90-day go-live commitment is, in that sense, more than a delivery milestone. It is a statement about what enterprise software implementation should look like in an era where AI can do in hours what previously took weeks and where the gap between technology investment and tangible business value can no longer afford to stretch across quarters.
