How you can turn uncertainty into long-term ERP confidence.
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A stable enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is integral to your distribution business. When the future of that system changes without your input, it creates uncertainty that you can’t ignore.
Epicor’s decision to move BisTrack to a SaaS-only model is one of those moments. For some businesses, it may fit their long-term plans. For many others, it introduces forced decisions, tighter timelines, and a loss of control over their software roadmap.
Below we examine what’s happening, why it matters, and how BisTrack customers can regain control of their ERP roadmap to determine their own future.
Epicor has made its intentions clear to transition BisTrack customers to a SaaS-only delivery model. This decision represents a shift away from the perpetual license approach many distributors have relied on for years.
While SaaS has clear benefits for some organizations, the key issue for many BisTrack customers is not the technology itself, but the lack of choices on offer.
Businesses that expected to control their upgrade path, hosting model, and long-term costs are now being asked to align with a vendor-driven strategy. In practical terms, this means decisions about customers’ ERP direction are being set by Epicor’s commercial roadmap rather than by individual business needs.
For distributors, changes to your ERP are not something to be taken lightly. Your platform is deeply embedded in your operations and touches every instance of each team’s day-to-day activities.
Disrupting that flow requires much consideration at commercial, financial, and operational levels. Having this decision made for you can be deeply disruptive.
Forced migrations or software sunsetting can introduce several real-world challenges:
This challenge is not unique to BisTrack.
One of the most widely cited examples of vendor-led ERP uncertainty comes from the mega-vendor SAP and its long-running transition from SAP ECC to S/4HANA. Over almost a decade, SAP has repeatedly moved its own deadlines, demonstrating how large-scale, vendor-driven migrations can create prolonged uncertainty for customers.
A brief history of SAP’s changing deadlines:
The question for most customers was never whether S/4HANA was the future. Instead, the uncertainty came from shifting timelines, changing requirements, and the need to plan major ERP programs against moving targets.
For many organizations, this led to deferred investment, unstable ERP roadmaps, and decisions driven by vendor announcements rather than operational readiness. The lesson is clear: even when deadlines are extended, vendor-led migrations leave customers reacting instead of planning.
BisTrack customers effectively face three broad options. Each comes with consequences that need to be understood clearly:
Option 1: Move to Epicor’s SaaS Model
For some businesses, this will be the right choice. SaaS can reduce infrastructure overhead and align with internal cloud strategies.
However, it also means accepting Epicor’s delivery model, commercial structure, and development priorities. Flexibility is reduced, reinforcing that future changes will be driven by the vendor’s roadmap, not yours.
Option 2: Delay and Do Nothing
Some organizations may choose to wait. While understandable, this can increase risk.
Delaying decisions can reduce leverage, compress timelines later, and limit the ability to plan a controlled transition. ERP change is always more successful when driven proactively from the company user with a long runway, rather than being reactive to the vendor's whim.
Option 3: Move to an Alternative ERP Platform
The third option is to evaluate alternatives that better align with your business model and need to control your future roadmap.
This requires investment in time and planning, but it also creates an opportunity to reset your ERP strategy around stability, vendor choice, and long-term fit rather than forced compliance.
What makes the current situation challenging is not just the technology shift but also the pressure placed on businesses to make strategic decisions within constrained timelines.
ERP systems are long-term assets. Most distributors expect them to last until their requirements change or technology moves on. Decisions of this scale should be made based on operational readiness, commercial impact, and future growth plans.
When vendors dictate timing, businesses are forced into defensive decision-making. The focus shifts from “what is right for us” to “what do we need to do to stay supported”.
That shift is where instability creeps in.
Klipboard ERP has been designed specifically for distributors and wholesalers who value stability, deep and flexible functionality, and control over their ERP future.
Many BisTrack customers already know Klipboard under our former name, Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). For decades, its ERP solutions have supported thousands of complex distribution businesses across North America.
What sets Klipboard apart is not just its technology, but its approach.
A Customer-Led ERP Model
Klipboard does not force customers down a single commercial or technical path. Instead, its software is developed in close partnership with its customers, with roadmap decisions influenced by real operational needs.
This means:
Built for the Distribution Day-to-Day
Klipboard ERP is designed for the realities BisTrack customers face every day, including:
This reinforces that Klipboard supports end-to-end distribution workflows without requiring compromise or workarounds.
Experience Managed Transitions, Not Disruptive Change
Changing ERP is always significant, but it does not have to be chaotic.
Klipboard takes a managed services-led approach, focused on risk reduction and operational continuity. This typically includes phased implementations, clear data migration planning, and support teams who understand your industry inside out.
The priority is keeping the business running first, then enabling improvement, all at your pace.
Epicor’s BisTrack SaaS decision has created a moment of reflection for many distributors. While change is inevitable, forced change is rarely welcome.
The most important outcome is not choosing SaaS or non-SaaS. It is choosing control, predictability, and a partner that aligns with how your business actually operates.
Klipboard exists to give distributors a viable alternative, one that removes the pressure of vendor-driven timelines and restores ERP decision-making to where it belongs, with you, the customer.
If your organization is reviewing its ERP future following Epicor’s announcement, now is the right time to explore your options carefully, not rush into a decision you may be locked in for years to come.
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