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Late yesterday, eProductivity Software (ePS) announced its acquisition of US-based Enterprise Print Management Solutions (EPMS). You can read their press release here. EPMS provides a range of solutions, including customer service, estimating, inventory management, production management, and financial modules to print and packaging businesses of all sizes. This development is significant for print service providers (PSPs) that use print management information systems (MIS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. EPMS is a substantial player in the North American market, serving over 200 customers. Meanwhile, ePS stands as the largest print MIS/ERP provider in the region.
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| ePS acquires EPMS. |
This acquisition represents the latest instance of consolidation within this market segment—a trend that may be beneficial given the industry’s fragmented nature. Keypoint Intelligence tracks over 80 companies worldwide that offer print MIS/ERP solutions for the printing and packaging sectors, underscoring the industry's disjointed landscape. Despite potential advantages, EPMS customers are likely concerned about the implications for support and long-term planning. Having chosen EPMS over other solutions like ePS’s Pace and Monarch, they may be worried about the future of their customized systems—particularly regarding ongoing support and upgrades.
What Is Likely to Happen Next
These concerns are understandable. However, ePS (including when it was part of EFI) has a well-established history of acquiring competitors and successfully integrating their customer bases. Their current product lineup—including Monarch, Pace, PrintSmith Vision, Radius, Technique, Tharstern, and the new Nubium Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for smaller PSPs—reflects their experience in supporting and migrating acquired customers. ePS has consistently demonstrated its ability to maintain and evolve these products while bringing them under a unified framework.
Having recently attended ePS Connect, the company’s annual user conference, I was impressed by their success and plans—particularly their efforts to migrate their products to a consistent browser-based architecture. Historically, ePS faced criticism for the lack of consistency in operability and user experience across its products due to past acquisitions. However, the company has now embraced a unified approach to user interaction and data sharing, making it easier to integrate and utilize their broad range of products. Additionally, ePS is actively developing data warehouses to enhance interoperability and data analysis further.
If ePS follows its historical path, existing EPMS customers shouldn’t see much change in support for the next few years. However, ePS will likely limit upgrades and push companies to migrate to their mainstream products eventually. The bad news is that MIS implementations are costly and time-intensive. The good news is that (from what I saw at the recent ePS Connect conference in Las Vegas) ePS has a strong, forward-looking vision and product that should minimize migration efforts as well as cover most customizations. They are already transitioning legacy systems like Monarch to fully browser-based platforms by 2025—not only to modernize these applications, but also to ensure a seamless and consistent user experience across all ePS products. This will make the migration process smoother for customers.
A key part of this vision is the development of a bidirectional connector for Business Central, which facilitates seamless integration with external accounting systems. This feature is particularly beneficial for customers who rely on customized solutions as it allows them to continue using their preferred financial tools while integrating smoothly with ePS's broader software ecosystem.
Moreover, the introduction of Automator, a business process management engine embedded with AI, is a significant step toward easing the migration process. Automator enables the automation of complex workflows, helping to replicate and even enhance the functionalities of customers' current customized systems. By reducing the need for manual interventions and optimizing operations, Automator should assist EPMS customers in transitioning to ePS’s platforms without sacrificing the unique aspects of their existing setups.
For example, during a customer panel at the ePS Connect conference, Jordan Feddema (Business Process Director at The Bernard Group) shared insights into their extensive customization of the Pace system, which was initially appealing due to its flexibility. However, as The Bernard Group grew rapidly, the heavy customization became cumbersome—leading to challenges in scaling their operations. The new architecture presented by ePS promises to eliminate much of this complexity. With the shift towards a streamlined browser-based platform and simplified user interfaces, ePS is reducing the need for custom-built solutions. This allows companies like The Bernard Group to better focus on core business activities while maintaining efficiency and scalability.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
While consolidation can be worrisome, it is necessary in the fragmented Print MIS space. ePS's extensive experience in acquiring and integrating companies will help ease customer transitions. Most importantly, their new architecture (Automator) and browser-based interfaces will streamline this process. People may have preferences for products and companies but, from my experience, ePS listens to and cares deeply about its customers. The 200 EPMS customers are now part of the ePS family, and I have no doubt that ePS will do whatever it takes to ensure their satisfaction.
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