Infor10 brings new integration and consistency to ERP

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 10 November 2011 11:56

Business IT - Technology

The latest version of Infor's flagship ERP product, Infor10, features a consistent user interface, improved integration, and out-of-the-box configurations for a variety of purposes.

Infor10 has three key aspects, James Yi, Infor's head of marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan, told iTWire. It provides a "consumer grade experience" that is familiar to users, out-of-the-box configurations for narrow verticals (eg, not just food and beverage, but separate configurations for bakers - who combine materials - and butchers - who separate them), and faster installation and deployment.

"Generic one-size-fits-all software requires time-consuming configuration and doesn't address the specific needs of an industry," said Duncan Angove, president, products and support. "We believe that speed is the new basis for global competition and we are building the functionality our customers need not only to address their industry issues right out of the box, but also to eliminate extensive customisations that lead to costly and risky implementations."

The company also recognises that a 'one size fits all' strategy does not work for ERP, and so Infor10 includes purpose-built engines for specific industry needs. "We believe we should focus on 'micro verticals' within an industry," Soma Somasundaram, senior vice president of global product development, told iTWire.

James Brackenrig, vice president and managing director of the company's Pacific region, told iTWire that Infor10 delivers a common look and feel as well as internal and external integration via Infor's ION technology.
"[Infor10] is our first enterprise solution release" allowing the company to address tier-one opportunities, he said, adding "We're pretty much dominant in the mid-tier sector." Infor claims to be the world's third largest ERP vendor after Oracle and SAP.

Mr Brackenrig said Infor's Pathway product was dominant in the Australian local government market, with customers including the Melbourne, Sydney and Perth city councils. Pathway was developed in Australia, he said, describing it as "a great example of integration with community and social media sites" via ION. "ION is a quick and easy integration layer, he said, and is used almost exclusively by Infor's professional services team for integration projects.

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