VIEWPOINT | THE WORLD'S BIGGEST START-UP

What do you call a 10-year-old software company with $2.8 billion in sales, 13,000 employees and more than 70,000 customers worldwide? For Infor, the answer is surprising. "We're the world's largest startup," says John Flavin, the Executive Vice President who leads the company's worldwide manufacturing software business.

Infor offers a broad suite of enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications to help companies manage everything from orders and scheduling to production and collections. According to Flavin, being a "disruptive force" in an ERP market dictated by such giants as Oracle and SAP is something Infor relishes. The company offers customers focused products at attractive prices and with faster implementation. Flavin attributes their speed in getting new product to market to Infor's "start-up" mentality.

The company has posted double-digit quarterly revenue growth over the past four quarters. It counts the world's 12 largest carmakers and 82 of the top 100 automotive suppliers among its customer base. Flavin outlines the company's capabilities and goals.

Isn't everyone already using ERP?

Certainly every company uses tools to track activities, but it's becoming increasingly difficult for the auto industry. The challenge stems from pressure to be as fast, efficient and as cost-effective as possible.

There are many products out there intended to help companies meet those challenges. We think original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and suppliers should connect with a partner that contributes deep automotive expertise and an integrated, end-to-end portfolio of solutions.

What factors make Infor different?

Nobody supports manufacturing like we do. While some ERPs focus on back-office accounting and HR, we concentrate more of our efforts in core manufacturing and supply chain because that's where the margins are made. Infor's mission is to get the right parts to the right place at the right time. We give customers more visibility across the entire enterprise, and that helps them reduce operational costs and improve efficiency. Our tools help them integrate quickly with their supply chain partners, make decisions based on reliable metrics and deliver actionable information that does not require interpretation.

We have more than 5,500 auto industry customers in more than 50 countries. But our motto is "One Size Fits One." We don't think you can meet the specific needs of the auto industry with generic software. The solutions we develop for automotive are not deployed in our other manufacturing verticals like Food and Beverage. Their needs are different, so the solutions are different.

That's why we develop all our software solutions in-house. Our team of 9,000 engineers and technical consultants offers a deep understanding of the manufacturing process and the unique requirements of the automotive supply chain.

Another one of our company goals is to revolutionize use of business software and change the way people interact with systems. Recent years have seen the introduction of smart-phones, personal tablets and rich Web-based applications. ERP was left behind; information-rich but difficult to use. We've changed that with our latest releases. Users enjoy a new crisp, straightforward and contemporary on-screen look of our solutions.

Managers can set up dashboards so that they see a single-screen of graphs, metrics and other personal productivity measurements. Users do not need to waste time looking for the key actions to take. Alerts for important events such as missed shipments, late deliveries or quality failures are pumped straight through to their desktop or mobile device. And users can quickly communicate with others using our built-in social collaboration engine that creates a completely different and faster way of sharing information widely.

What areas of operation do your products cover in the automotive sector?

Our solutions deliver management tools in five key areas: product introduction, supply chain, production, capital assets and financials. These categories also encompass such needs as collaborative design, supplier development, planning and budgeting, centralized purchasing, subcontracting, lean manufacturing, materials management, export control and talent management.

Our solutions also recognize these needs can be very different according to the size of the enterprise and for an OEM, tier one supplier or sub-tier supplier. We make it easy for customers to get what they need without paying for more than they want.

How long does it take to implement Infor products?

Speed and ease of implementation are critical. Every installation is different, but we get our customers up and operating in months, not years as may be the case with some of our larger competitors. In addition, our implementation and training costs are typically at least 25 percent lower than our competition.

We lease access to our solutions, and customers can run them on their own premises, access them through the cloud or both. They also can buy exactly what they need now and easily expand later as their needs change.

To learn more about Infor's automotive products, contact John Flavin at (734) 604-0789 or john.flavin@infor.com. Or click HERE to visit http://www.infor.com/automotive