We are seeing a trend toward industry-specific and cloud-based ERP solutions — and Infor looks to be answering the call by innovating and investing in their future. For this edition of The ERP Advisor, special guest Carly Shube joined us to evaluate Infor’s offerings for product-based companies, with a specific look at CloudSuite Industrial.
In 2002, Infor was founded as an ERP software company called Agilisys. Two years later, the company acquired a German software company called Infor Business Solutions, and shortly thereafter they adopted the name Infor.
Within the company’s first eight years of business, Infor accumulated a whopping 35 acquisitions, with a focus that began — and remains to this day — on the manufacturing industry.
In 2013, Infor launched its CloudSuite line, and by 2016, Infor had over 68 million active cloud users.
From 2010 to 2019, Infor was under the leadership of Charles Phillips, who organized the buyout of Lawson Software, adding healthcare to Infor’s industry portfolio. In 2020, Koch Industries acquired Infor, and it currently has partners in over 170 countries.
We have observed an uptick in manufacturing, where manufacturers are doing more distribution, and vice versa. As the manufacturing industry grows, it is essential for businesses to track their availability and their allocations of orders to customers.
As our Founder and Managing Principal, Shawn Windle, noted, “Infor made a major investment in cloud and they did it early, and now it is paying dividends. By rewriting existing application layers and leveraging existing business logic, Infor was able to develop new apps such as CloudSuite Industrial which are positioned well for midsized businesses.”
Infor has 13,500 cloud customers and is growing cloud presence through its CloudSuite offerings. Infor’s website claims that it is “the only multi-tenant cloud enterprise solution infrastructure that delivers industry, cross-industry, operational, and technology platform capabilities.”
Infor has solidified their go-forward products with strong options for certain verticals. One example is Infor Mongoose, which was introduced years ago as a way for companies to efficiently customize their applications. Building an application was no longer a strenuous task and could be quickly deployed via desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Mongoose requires little coding to create a successful application and comes at a relatively low cost to customers.
Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise system serves as a company’s single source of data. The technology supports company growth, innovation, and efficiency. It is powered through Syteline, a standard software package for manufacturers available both on-premise and in the cloud. Infor CloudSuite Distribution system aims to reduce transaction costs by automating previously manual tasks, with a monthly update schedule for introducing new feature functionality.
Expanding its artificial intelligence offerings, Infor introduced Birst, an analytics tool embedded with content and metrics which allow for data-driven decision-making. Birst forgoes the bolt-ons that are typically necessary for this kind of data architecture, ensuring low cost of maintenance.
Our evaluation of Infor’s implementation partners is that they generally have sufficient industry experience to inform their work with customers — and we deem it important that our clients working with experts in their field. Similarly, we here at ERP Advisors Group seek the best people to represent not just the app, but also the functionality and the industry’s best practices.
Our prediction: Infor will continue pursuing manufacturing-centric verticals with more in-depth and specialized functionalities. The company is poised to take market share from their competitors, because Infor is asserting itself as a standout choice in the market for manufacturers and distributors.
It may be soon that we see Infor expand its market reach to other industries, such as professional services or financials; however, Infor will continue to prioritize their mastered market of manufacturing and distribution. As the company has a reputation of proven success, we are seeing that companies are hopeful that this expansion will come soon.
From our perspective, there is not an obvious cloud partner choice for Tier 1 ERPs. And perhaps Infor is going after that first-place position through their offerings to midsize companies.
Anyone who is considering an implementation of Infor should have a detailed conversation with their implementation partner before making their official selection. Our independent ERP consultants can help you evaluate your unique needs and help you make the right decisions for your organization. Contact us today for an individualized ERP consultation.