Published on the 06/08/2015 | Written by Beverley Head
Privately held enterprise software company Infor prides itself on providing “the last mile” in ERP solutions, tailored for specific industries…
If everyone in a sector uses the same preconfigured ERP platform where is the competitive advantage? According to Infor chief operating officer Pam Murphy it’s not what you do it’s the way that you do it.
She said the competitive advantage of using pre-configured cloud based ERP platforms that have been specially tailored for industry verticals derives both from the way in which they are used, and through savings generated by not having to configure “monolithic code bases” from rival ERP houses.
Infor runs on Amazon Web Services cloud – so even the underpinning hardware is vanilla flavoured – but Murphy said that; “the way that customers use the software is different,” allowing individual businesses to compete on cost, quality and customised products and solutions.
A Harvard Business Review report examining cloud trends released this week suggests that enterprises are as concerned at the implications of not moving to cloud as they are keen on the benefits of taking the plunge.
The report notes that; “As more companies adopt cloud, doing so will naturally become less of a source of competitive advantage. While the percentage of respondents claiming to have gained competitive advantage from cloud is similar to that of last year (77 percent this year versus 74 percent last year), fewer claim significant advantage (16 percent this year versus 30 percent last year). But the costs of not using cloud could be great. As one respondent said, ‘Cloud is no longer a differentiator; however, not being on it would be a significant disadvantage’.”
Murphy said businesses were attracted to Infor because of the breadth of its ‘microvertical applications’ allowing a relatively simple transition to cloud.
She said rival ERP platforms, available from companies such as Oracle and SAP, could be used by “someone building weapons for the government or someone who makes cupcakes.” By contrast, “Infor prides itself on having tailored cloud based platforms for both the weapons maker and cupcake baker.
“We focus on the micro verticals to avoid the need for customisation,” said Murphy. “Our strategy is different to the competition because we create core business engines to deliver the last mile of functionality … to literally run their businesses.”
Infor is leveraging its New York based subsidiary Hook&Loop to work with customers on novel solutions. Murphy said that for example Hook&Loop was working with the New York Police Department on end user facing applications that will allow residents of NYC to report incidents, or police officers to share information when they are out on the beat.
This collaborative service from Hook&Loop is available to qualified Infor customers.
As a private company there is little hard financial data available, but in July Infor claimed that SaaS revenues had risen more than 60 per cent in fiscal 2015 with around 2,900 new customers including 500 who had selected Infor rather than SAP or Oracle.
