We know it’s been awhile since you’ve heard from us—but we think this is a great time to get you connected again so that you’ll have the tools you need to keep your System i platform going for years to come. We’re happy to announce the Infor Development Framework (IDF) technology, a next generation System i technology that ensures the future of your ERP software and allows you to use your reliable System i platform well into the future.

With IDF, you can protect your existing investments and gain cutting-edge features without having to go through an application or platform migration. You can also create intuitive role-based user interfaces and dynamic reports through simple configurations, and make your business and IT department more flexible and agile.

But that's not all. You can also better serve your customers, vendors, and partners over the Internet, by making your data available to them in a usable form, while keeping everything safe and secure. Plus, you can better support your non-ERP systems that help run day-to-day operations, yet are specific to certain departments—without burdening your support staff. In addition, you can create entire new applications that integrate seamlessly to your ERP backbone.

Finally, you can ensure that all of your systems work together, whether those systems are under one roof, in separate locations, or on different technology platforms. You can even tie in systems that are used by other companies, including your customers, vendors, and partners. Wherever your systems are located, you can make sure they communicate with each other.

Let’s dig into the IDF—here’s a run-down of all the parts and how each fits into the technology:

• Infor Enterprise Integrator—Rapidly create and maintain System i applications with this advanced technology. Your users will be able to extensively develop each application to fit their needs and integrate your departmental systems to your ERP system without IT intervention so that all your systems will look and feel the same.
• Infor Power-Link—Personalize your application, create workbenches, and get all the data you need with a mouse click using this full-featured user interface.
• Infor Net-Link—After you personalize an application in Power-Link, hit the "Refresh" button and this browser-based solution will immediately send your changes to a Net-Link client.
• Infor System-Link - Send XML data to any application that can receive XML—anytime, anywhere with System-Link.

IDF gives you a whole new range of choices—you can deploy your new application on IBM i, Linux, AIX, and Windows server platforms because IDF is written in Java, which means that it's platform-independent and supports Windows and Apple clients. But you'll still get the reliability, scalability, and lowest cost of ownership you depend on, because IDF is still built specifically to serve the dependable System i technology you’ve come to trust.

We have plenty more to say about the benefits of IDF, but why not see for yourself? Watch this quick overview video to learn more.

As always, we want to hear from you, what do you think about this technology?  We’re open to your questions and feedback.

Posted by Joe Marino, Vice President, Development, Support, and Product Management, System i, Infor

For most of this decade everyone seemed to want the latest and greatest gadget, technology, service, whatever—and wanted it right now. All of us knew people who appeared at every meeting with a new phone or MP3 player or tablet PC—even if their previous toys were still perfectly functional (and often less buggy). Technology became the new fashion statement.

But lately there’s been a shift in the general moral, intellectual, and cultural climate. True, consumers will continue to plow ahead with purchases, even with the frequent buyer’s remorse after getting their hands on a bright and shiny gizmo: “But I liked the old interface … I used to be able to do this … Where are my familiar apps?” Even if the new toy completely fails, the costs of going backward to an older system or a different new system usually won’t break a personal budget. The shift has occurred at the corporate level, where executives just don’t have the luxury of trying a completely new gizmo with a few more apps and then walking away if it doesn’t work.

Too often “bright and shiny” had your IT department swooning like love-drunk teenagers as they described a new enterprise system and the functionality it would provide. You even found yourself nodding in approval, also smitten by new functionality. Today, you slow down the conversation and consider the tangled web of implementation costs, drain on resources (among IT and every single person and department that is touched by the change), and potential mishaps that could put profitability in jeopardy. Do you need new functionality? Yes, probably. Do you need a big, bright, and shiny new system? Not necessarily.

Many manufacturers using System i ERP aren’t aware of just how far they can extend the platform. The ability to leverage new broad-based functionality—such as customer relationship management or asset management—as well as industry- and process-specific solutions is very real, very affordable, and very low risk. You may still find yourself pressed by techies in your IT department to move to a completely new platform with a rip-and-replace approach, but that rarely makes good operations or economic sense.

Jim Shepherd, senior VP research, AMR Research, wrote, “ERP rehabilitation is an option that is available to many companies who are running older systems. These products often have strong vendors, attractive upgrade paths, and a broad assortment of complementary applications. AMR Research is pleased to see the ERP vendors becoming more aggressive about packaging and selling this option within their customer bases. There are too many companies that have allowed their vital business systems to atrophy because they weren’t prepared to buy a new ERP system. Many of these companies could derive great benefits from a relatively inexpensive ERP upgrade and buy themselves another 5 to 10 years before they have to step up to a replacement project.” [Should You Rehabilitate Your Current ERP System Rather Than Buy a New One? AMR Research, September 2009]

With every dollar closely watched these days, wouldn’t it be smart to explore how you can apply a new business solution to your old System i—achieving advanced functionality without massive investments or implementation headaches? I’ve listed a few applications below to help you extend your System i:

• Customer relationship management helps improve and leverage customer relationships with real-time integration of marketing, sales, and service information.
• Enterprise asset management enables manufacturers and distributors to save time and money by optimizing maintenance resources, improving equipment and staff productivity, increasing inventory efficiency, and minimizing energy use and emissions.
• Performance management connects corporate strategies to operational plans and targets, generating clear guiding instructions that ultimately increase productivity, control costs, and improve overall business performance.
• Product life cycle management optimizes every stage of a product’s life cycle—bids, portfolio management, product development, production and delivery, maintenance, and retirement—integrating information from all activities to speed development, ensure quality, and mitigate risks.
• Supply chain management offers a comprehensive solution capable of integrating today’s complex global supply chains, helping to better manage supplier relations, reduce supply chain operational costs, and improve customer service and profitability.

Infor offers System i manufacturers in various industries and with unique business models the means to automate, plan, collaborate, and execute according to their requirements. Is your System i bright and shiny as the latest SmartPhone? Not exactly—but it’s tested and true; the most secure, reliable platform in the market with ever-evolving capabilities, and it’s already paid for. Why not use it to help leverage your IT investments over a longer lifetime, avoiding the disruptions and problems of changing platforms, and allowing your company to focus on pursuing best practices and new ideas to compete today and tomorrow?

Posted by Kari Miller, Senior Director, Product Management, System i