THE WHOLESALER® —MAY 2011•
SMART MANAGEMENT
(Continued from page 8.)
A year or 18 months down the road, the same user interface will sit over top of both products. So from a business and process perspective, you won’t know what platform you are running on. From an IT perspective, the heritage of SX.en- terprise and A+ are behind the scenes. Schmitt: Wow, that sounds like a huge un-
dertaking. Berry:Yes, I have 12 products in the business
unit with some older heritage systems. So we’ve made the hard decision that, going forward, we are investing in the 2 brands. We will move cus-
we are able to provide cloud-based solutions to those customers who are interested in them.
needed for multi-tenant databases. When you tie that to our Web GUI,
be moving to Progress Version 11 which provides the technology
By the end of the year we will
tomers onto those platforms when they are ready. Over the next three to six months, we will be publishing roadmaps for each heritage product that show customers when an upgrade moves them to the new platform. We have 25 additional developers in the budget which is evidence that Infor is committed to the strategy. Further, we just announced the offer to purchase another company, Lawson Software Inc., in March. Schmitt: Infor is not the only company with
legacy products, so this is an industry-wide problem. Why did it take so long to get a plan in place? Berry: It’s actually a very difficult process be-
hind the scenes. Software companies are afraid that an unpopular plan will cost them customers which impacts revenue streams. From a technol- ogy standpoint, we haven’t had the ability to pull forward the best of each of the products without rewriting a lot of code. Schmitt: What’s changed? Berry: The game changer is a piece of soft-
ware that we developed named, ION. ION is a graphical modeler for describing business processes or technical workflows. Pulling the packages together was the strategy but now we have the technology to do it. Additionally, we are moving to a more trans-
parent and open approach. For example, we will continue to operate in the Progress environment but we are will also be supporting SQL and Or- acle environments. We are also exposing APIs to customers so, where our products are not a fit, they can use best of breed products. For example, if a company is happily using SAP financials, we want to be able to provide distribution solutions that will work with SAP or other packages that suit their needs. Finally, we’re moving the business logic out of the GUI, so many changes that once required
•85
Global changes making distribution software a critical factor
costly modifications will be customizations. Schmitt: Speaking of acquisitions, any
thoughts on the APAX deal to buy Epicore and Activant? Berry:We know that the market is consolidat-
ing and believe that, in the end, there will three or four global companies. A lot depends upon what APAX does and they haven’t disclosed their plans yet. We think it is a great opportunity for us since much of their focus for the next six months will need to be on getting organized and operating in a way that will provide an accept- able return to APAX. At the same time we will be focused on our strategy and customers. Schmitt: Cloud-based solutions are getting a lot of press. Where is Infor headed? Berry: By the end of the year we will be mov-
ing to Progress Version 11 which provides the technology needed for multi-tenant databases. When you tie that to our Web GUI, we are able to provide cloud-based solutions to those cus- tomers who are interested in them. Schmitt: Any thoughts on where distribution is headed? Berry: There are a lot of forces at play, glob- alization will continue to change the game, mar- gins will continue to get tighter and the customers’ needs will be driven by their experi- ences outside the industry like Amazon. We think this will cause the distributor to focus on sales productivity and automation and on inventory management and sourcing. In the next five years, I expect to see continued consolidation among wholesalers and major changes in the way busi- ness is conducted. Schmitt: One last question — did I hear cor-
rectly that you gave out your cell phone number to 600 people? How is that working out? Berry: I also gave out my e-mail address and
I am sitting with four e-mails in my inbox from the TUG meeting. I find that most people don’t abuse it. Sometimes there will be a problem and they just don’t know who to call. In a lot of cases, I can get them connected to the right people to get their problem solved.
I enjoyed my conversation with Andy. He
seems genuinely excited about the changes that he is driving at Infor. I especially respect his personal contact with his customers and prospects because in software and in wholesal- ing nobody knows what the customer wants better than the customer.
n
Rich Schmitt is president of Schmitt Consulting Group Inc., a management consulting firm fo- cused on improving the profitability of distribution and manufacturing clients.
www.go-scg.com
Rich is also the co-owner of Schmitt ProfitTools Inc. (SPI), a business producing print, CD-ROM, web and palm-based catalogs as well as pricing management and analysis software for whole- salers.
www.go-spi.com
• Be sure to visit
www.thewholesaler.com for web exclusive articles and videos! • See contact information on page 102
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