MPT Drives is a distributor of power transmission parts in Madison Heights, Michigan that has been in business for 63 years. With over $4 million in revenue, the majority of MPT Drives’ customers are in the auto original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business, and their experienced staff provides engineering help and assistance to their customer base.
MPT Drives has been an Epicor customer since 1984 and were on several previous systems before moving to Prophet 21. Keith Nowak, President of MPT Drives, mentioned that although they looked at different systems throughout the years, he really liked the inventory and financial features that Prophet 21 provides, as they help him run the business.
Recently, MPT Drives was the unfortunate victim of a ransomware attack, an increasingly common cyber-crime that has impacted businesses and government organizations both large and small. Cyber criminals hack into your system, encrypt your data, and demand a ransom payment in return for your critical business and financial data to be returned intact.
Move to the cloud, I will be telling everyone. Don’t be afraid of the initial cost. I don’t have to buy new servers every 5 years, I don’t have to maintain the servers, and the software maintenance is rolled into the monthly cost. It may seem like a lot when you first look at the per user cost, but when you factor it all in, it just makes sense.
Mr. Nowak stated that “I came in on a Tuesday morning to find out that our entire system had been attacked and had a ransom note. Our IT team backs up their system each week, but unfortunately, even our connection to our back up drive had been corrupted. And it wasn’t just their software that was impacted, MPT Drives had to buy new servers and all new computers, as well as have their IT consultant reconfigure them all.”
It took them several days to get their backed-up data released, then they contacted Epicor for help.
Keith made the decision to move his system over to Prophet 21 Cloud and was quickly able to get back on-line and back to work “I was genuinely impressed. They worked with me to quickly get my data back on-line. Once moved to the cloud, MPT Drives was able to access all their data, including their inventory records and financials.”
The most impressive part was being able to receive the login information very quickly. “I logged on to Prophet 21 to the cloud and bam there it was, all of my inventory, all of my receivables, it was all there. It was very similar to what the server-based application was like.”
Although they were on a recent version of Prophet 21, Keith’s team had not yet moved to the web application. “Other than a few minor differences, it has been a very easy transition. Everyone just came in and logged into the browser-based version and really we haven’t had issues.”
Keith said that they had been considering the cloud prior to the attack, but just hadn’t made the move yet. “I had heard of the cloud and attended a few webinars. I thought it might be a good thing to do eventually. I knew there would be some implementation costs, so I just decided to do it when it made sense.”
When asked what he might say to other distributors that may be considering moving their ERP system to the cloud, he said “Move to the cloud, I will be telling everyone. Don’t be afraid of the initial cost. I don’t have to buy new servers every 5 years, I don’t have to maintain the servers, and the software maintenance is rolled into the monthly cost. It may seem like a lot when you first look at the per user cost, but when you factor it all in, it just makes sense.”
Ransomware is a growing problem, and business owners need to take action to protect their business and customers. Moving to the cloud adds a line of protection to keep your personal data safe. The consistent backups show that the system is always working for you.