Increased Cloud Adoption Contributes to 112% SaaS Growth Globally

Infor announced significant global success for its CloudSuite solutions in a video conference held recently. This can help customers recognise time-to-value faster and can help them become more agile, resilient and competitive. Industry-specific applications developed for sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, distribution, public sector, retail and hospitality have contributed to Infor now has more than 14,000 customers in the Infor CloudSuite. Recent customers include Burton Snowboards, Frederick County (Maryland), Midwest Wheel Companies, Cloetta, Saarioinen and Auckland Transport.

The company is focused on delivering end-to-end functionality in the cloud, with an increase of more than 200 per cent in on-premise customers upgrading to the cloud and 112 per cent growth in ACV (Annual Contract Value) bookings from May through June.

The company aims to deliver unmatched multi-tenant Cloud capabilities, as well as best-in-class data management and analytics capabilities through the Infor Data Lake and Infor Birst. In addition, Infor’s experienced professional services team and a deep channel and partner network can help bring customers online quickly, with no material disruptions to their businesses. Over the last 12 months, Infor has made significant industry-specific product updates that are designed to help customers better manage three important assets in their businesses: people, physical assets, and supply chains. These include new capabilities in Human Capital Management (HCM), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and supply chain management (SCM). Midwest Wheel Companies, one of the largest truck parts distributors in the Midwestern U.S., is using Infor Cloud Distribution and Infor Birst analytics to help manage inventory across its six warehouses, enable complex workflows and alerts, and do more online business. With Infor’s multi-tenant Cloud solutions, including Infor OS (Operating Service), the company has improved customer service, realising as much as a 15 percent improvement in vendor fill rates. “If you’re not innovating new ways of increasing service levels, you’re going to get beat out.

Steve McEnany, VP, Marketing and Technology at Midwest Wheel, said, “The fact that we’re not running around putting out fires anymore has made a huge impact on our productivity.”

Cloetta, a confectionary company in Northern Europe, recently selected Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage to support digital transformation and drive innovation across its operations. Infor’s multi-tenant Cloud architecture was key to the decision, as well as Infor’s deep industry functionality, which can help Cloetta with aspects such as quality control, recipe management and traceability.

Per Svensson, Cloetta IT Director, said, “In meeting the needs of our market, it’s imperative that we have the agility to respond quickly to trends to capitalize on new opportunities and, ultimately, maximize sales. We’re looking forward to the journey ahead with Infor, safe in the knowledge that we’ll have industry-leading capabilities that can help enable us to build market share in our key territories and subsectors.”

New Zealand’s regional transportation authority, Auckland Transport, has centralised asset management in the cloud using Infor EAM. “As a business, we are not into building heavy software nor paying high maintenance and upgrade costs, so we looked for SaaS solutions that are ready to deploy and easy to maintain, and we found a strategic partner in Infor,” said Roger Jones, Auckland Transport Executive General Manager, Business Technology. “This multi-year SaaS project can help optimise Auckland Transport’s multi-billion-dollar assets across the organization to attain better decision-making, drive operational efficiencies and boost customer satisfaction. The first phase involving the predictive maintenance of bridges, as part of our bridge system transformation project, has gone live – on time and on budget, which is no mean feat during a pandemic. The remote and agile implementations could only be achieved due to the commitment and deep industry expertise of a team at Infor that we trust and work well with.”

Infor Cloud Solutions Help Customers Innovate During Uncertain Times Infor’s cloud solutions are designed to drive new levels of usability, connectivity, and insight.

Customers across the globe can benefit from rapid scalability to accommodate brand expansion and acquisition, and multi-currency financials with powerful performance analysis by region and market. For many businesses, a critical component of success in navigating these uncertain business times has been innovation and having the scalability of cloud technology to quickly apply solutions to maintain continuity and reinvent ways of working. Part of the Maryland Capital Region, with proximity to both Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Frederick County saw a growing need to shift away from its all paper-based operations.

“During uncertain times, the strength of our cloud operations is now on full display,” said Gary Hessong, Deputy Division Director, Division of Planning and Permitting, Frederick County.
“Working with Infor, we’ve been able to create an all-electronic portal that streamlines workflows and provides a simple, more cost-effective alternative for our customers. And, barely three months after we fully implemented the new portal, the system became a cornerstone of our efforts to maintain business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“With Infor’s cloud solutions,” he added, “we have been able to scale and scale quickly, adjusting demand and influxes on a daily basis. By putting our mission-critical applications in the cloud, we’ve been able to continue work without disruptions, seamlessly shift to home offices, and continue sustaining local business activity.”
Burton Snowboards, one of the world’s leading snowboard companies, is using Infor CloudSuite Fashion, an ERP system tailor-made for the fashion industry, and the Infor Nexus digital supply chain network to help optimize inventory across channels, increase its direct-to-consumer business, operationalise its expansion to global markets, and upgrade its technology footprint to the cloud.

“At Burton, we are consumer-centric and steadfast about leveraging the best tools to safeguard our production, product management and operations,” said Josee Larocque, Burton, Senior VP, Operations. “We are excited to partner with Infor and upgrade our enterprise resource planning footprint to its modern cloud software solution.”

Saarioinen, which works in the chilled convenience food market in Finland, is using Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage to help it standardize, simplify and accelerate product development, improve customer experience and become a more data-driven company. “We have our eyes fixed firmly on the future,” said Eero Kinnunen, Business Development Director at Saarioinen. “This modern technology can help create a platform, not only for better processes, but also faster, more responsive innovation.”

Kevin Samuelson, CEO at Infor, said, “Helping customers navigate today’s turbulent environment requires a deep understanding of the forces shaping their companies and their industries, at large. We believe our innovative cloud technology, infused with industry-specific expertise is what sets Infor apart.

“Rather than trying to build a single product to serve all industries, we’ve invested billions to create separate, industry-specific product suites, which go into the details for sub-verticals to meet certain specific needs of those customers,” he explained. “For example, we don’t have just a manufacturing suite, we have a suite that is purpose-built for the automotive industry – with specific key processes, functions and attributes germane to the sector – all built into our products. This structure is designed to enable faster deployments and deliver more value, over time, than generic, horizontal alternatives on the market.”