Spending on information technologies (IT) is heating up in most industries. For example, Gartner, Inc. recently raised its growth prospects for worldwide IT spending to $3.4 trillion in 2010, a 5.3% increase over 2009; Gartner projects $3.5 trillion in spending for 2011, a 4.2% increase from 2010 [www.gartner.com]. Manufacturers are once again investing to improve infrastructures and grow their businesses. Yet after the last two years, manufacturers also realize that every IT  dollar counts—and needs to pay off sooner rather than later.   

A recent study of System i users conducted by The MPI Group (and sponsored by Infor) showed that all the participating System i manufacturers believe that return on investment is an important purchasing criteria: 75% said “extremely important” and 25% said “somewhat important.” Not surprisingly, 71% of these manufacturers measure ROI. Savvy executives have long known that in making IT purchases, it’s especially important that they project total cost of ownership (TCO) over the life of the investment.

Yet many manufacturers lose that TCO focus after a few months or years. Long-term considerations sometimes fade as systems become familiar (i.e., same old, same old) and newer IT options entice buyers. Those firms need to reassess their System i capabilities and potential, evaluating ongoing TCO. What will they likely find? That their cost of ownership is steadily decreasing, especially if their systems (as is typical) have been functioning well and they’ve effectively managed their IT assets.

Tens of thousands of manufacturers still prosper on the System i platform, leveraging previous investments over an expanding lifetime. They’re putting freed-up IT dollars into new System i solutions to stay current with IT trends—without the expense or pain of a platform change. For example, they’re upgrading System i-based ERP systems via Infor’s Flex Upgrade and Flex Exchange programs. Others are extending ERP functionality with new System i applications from Infor, such as performance management (PM), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply-chain management (SCM).

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

Guest post by Dan Sundt, Senior IT Specialist, IBM

As readers of this blog know, Infor is building a dynamic array of IBM i solution improvements to allow users to expand IBM i functionality quickly and cost-effectively. I’m excited by the creativity and innovation that IBM partners, such as Infor, are using to reinvigorate the IBM i platform and by the enthusiastic reception these enhancements receive from the IBM i community.

Infor and others are doing the simplest—yet hardest—thing a company can do: listening to customers, in this case the users who rely on IBM i as the backbone of their businesses. A recent report from ITG¹ illustrates the ongoing value of IBM i combined with IBM Power Systems: costs that average 41% less than x86 servers and Microsoft Windows, and 47% less than x86 servers and Linux. IBM i deployments also offer lower software, support, and personnel costs.

IBM i still has more customers than any other IBM platform—hundreds of thousands of satisfied users in more than 115 countries and 20 industries. We’ve seen and heard the support for IBM i, and we’re doing more than just listening: we’re making substantial investments in the future of IBM i as a strategic element in IBM’s product portfolio.

How? IBM i, version 6.1, which came out in 2008, had something for everyone, such as enhancements to Java performance, storage area network (SAN) performance, support for a disk clustering, support for IBM BladeCenter, new encryption options, and IBM management through Systems Director. In 2010, IBM will be delivering a new release of IBM i that enables our clients to reduce costs, reduce energy consumption, improve IT staff productivity, and support business growth. For example:

• The integrated DB2 for i database will be enhanced with support for XML, enabling clients to store and search XML documents. IBM also plans that DB2 for i will support transparent encryption of a specific column in a database table enabling clients to better protect sensitive information.
  
  
• IBM PowerHA for i, which is a disk-clustering-based disaster recovery solution, will support asynchronous replication.
  
  
• Integrated storage management will further leverage solid-state disk (SSD) technology by automatically moving data that is accessed most frequently by SSDs, helping to improve application performance.
  
  
• New management tasks will be available in the web-based Systems Director Navigator for i, which provides a system administrator access to over 300 management tasks from a browser.
  
  
• Integration with IBM BladeCenter and IBM System x via iSCSI (internet small computer system interface) technology is being enhanced with support for software target support, allowing for a faster connection between IBM i and x86-based systems while potentially lowering the cost of the solution. With this support, IBM i provides storage resources for attached VMware, Windows, and Linux servers.
  
  
• Enhanced support for PDF documents enables the transformation of existing spool files to PDF files.

These are just a sampling of IBM’s plans for IBM i—and we’re just getting started. How can we help you get even more out of IBM Power Systems running IBM i?

Share your thoughts.

¹ ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/sa/wh/n/pol03062usen/POL03062USEN.PDF

Every day a host of new products emerge, enticing buyers to abandon old technologies and embrace the new. Sometimes the choice to upgrade is compelling, as older products become difficult (or impossible) to support. A great example is the recent change in TV broadcast standards. Given a choice between adapting their old television sets or buying new high-definition equipment (or cable or satellite television service), many consumers opted for the latter, and for good reasons.

But new isn’t always better, especially when there’s a community of like-minded individuals committed to staying the course with a product or technology that’s simple, effective, and, well, just right. In the 1980s, angry customers demanded that Coca-Cola return their favorite beverage to its original formula. Soon thereafter, their drink of choice, renamed “Coca-Cola Classic,” reappeared on store shelves.

Another customer movement to retain a favorite product is afoot now, this one focused on adapting a proven technology for the future. This global initiative—i-Manifest—is intended to reinvigorate the System i platform. Composed of ERP and software vendors that support the System i platform, i-Manifest is making it clear to IBM that these vendors—and, more importantly, their customers—intend to stay with System i for the foreseeable future. And why not?

Tens of thousands of organizations confidently run their businesses based on the System i platform. They don’t need or want to rip and replace their existing system for costly and risky new technology. The i-Manifest initiative began in Japan, and is rapidly gaining support among companies in Europe and North America. Seventy-one founding members developed the initial manifest in support of System i, declaring: “We do not know of any machine other than IBM i which has resolutely protected user assets for 20 years and would continue to protect them in the future. We think we have a mission to convey its excellence and superiority. We can justifiably describe IBM i as ‘the miracle in computer history,’ especially when we speak to enterprise management, thought leaders in the business world, and all those engaged in information system departments.” [IBM i Manifest, Joint Declaration by 71 IBM i Partners in Japan, in Response to the Market Expectation for Management & Business Innovation]

So how can i-Manifest and the effort to reinvigorate System i reinvigorate your company, and how is Infor making it easier to stick with the platform?

• Infor Flex Upgrade and Flex Exchange allow users to get to the latest technology and stay current by cost-effectively upgrading their System i-based ERP systems.
  
  
• A host of Infor applications—performance management (PM), customer relationship management (CRM), supply-chain management (SCM), and others—enable manufacturers to cost-effectively extend their System i ERP with state-of-art capabilities.
  
  
• Infor Evolve components add functionality and value, in many cases as part of regular maintenance investments, allowing businesses to quickly connect to new components, such as MyDay role-based home pages, instead of building new components every time they upgrade.

 For more and more Infor customers and i-Manifest supporters, it’s time to put a hold on investment in new technology for technology’s sake, while they enjoy “classic” returns in their existing System i platforms. Maybe you should go classic, too, and start leveraging proven old-school savings as well.

Posted by Kevin Piotrowski, Director of Solutions Management, System i

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

One thing’s for sure: The mood out there—on the street, in offices, even on telecons—is much different. It’s a hundred times better than it was just a year ago. While the economy is still uncertain and anxiety-provoking, we no longer live under the cloud of a deepening recession. Instead of “How bad will it get?” we ask, “How fast will it recover?” More to the point, however, manufacturers everywhere should now be asking themselves: “Are we ready for what’s next?”

Countless companies battened down the hatches last year to keep their ships afloat and save as many crew and passengers as possible. And not surprisingly, if an activity or investment didn’t boost a company’s immediate ability to sustain cash flow and margin, it got shoved overboard. But now the seas are calmer and the sky is clearing. And after a moment’s relief at surviving the storm, a realization quickly hits most executives: “We should have been preparing for new business, new markets, and a new economy!”

That’s not to say that navigating 2010’s economy will be any easier; in fact, it may be more difficult and complex. Inventories across multiple organizations will be managed far more tightly as executives vow to never again suffer the product-clogged warehouses of 2009. Total cost of procurement will finally—finally—be more than an idea as manufacturers evaluate all the dollars associated with their purchases, both direct (shipping charges, customs duties) and hidden (cost of warehouse space, lost cash flow, inflexibility of bulk orders). Everyone will continue to do more with less, in part because they’ve now seen that they can, but, more importantly, because they know that they must. Eliminating wastes of time and resources is a strategic imperative now.

In short, manufacturers have taken their ships off of autopilot and are now seriously trying to assess every facet of their operations—every project, purchase, initiative, action, and opportunity. I say “trying” because many are stymied by the fact that their enterprise IT backbones just don’t support, enable, or streamline the kind of sophisticated analysis required for survival in 2010. That’s the bad news. The good news is this: If these manufacturers do bring their System i ERPs and solutions into the new decade, they’re pleasantly surprised to find that they can have leading-edge analysis and processes—without the heartache, problems, and costs associated with an ERP implementation.

What does this mean to you? With Infor’s Flex Upgrade and Flex Exchange programs you can cost-effectively upgrade your ERP system. Like many executives, you look at an emerging new economy and an organization that is vastly different than a year or two ago. Maybe you need a more robust system to accommodate your acquisition of a failing competitor (congratulations on that wise move). Maybe you need functionality specific for a new industry you hope to pursue. Or, as is often the case, maybe it’s well past time to bring software innovations to your firm—innovations that might have made the recession less stressful. Flex Upgrade allows users to upgrade a solution for a small license fee (if any) and implement quickly and cheaply, and Flex Exchange allows users to do just as it sounds: Exchange a solution for a comparable solution for just a small transaction fee and competitive service rate.

There’s still time to prepare for all the growth that a revving 2010 economy will offer. Take account of your System i, and ask:

• How have my markets, suppliers, and customers changed, and what will those changes require of my enterprise system?
  
  
• What business functions need to be added to System i to reduce the happy strain of renewed revenue growth?
  
  
• What tired applications are well past their “use-by-date,” and how much longer will you force your executives and staff to manage with these archaic tools?

Preparing for the new economy presents promise and opportunity, especially considering the state of business just a year ago. But you’ve got to be ready to Flex. Are you?

Posted by Kevin Piotrowski, Director of Solution Marketing, System i

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This website content, in whole or part, does not constitute an offer of any kind and may not be incorporated into any contractual agreement with Infor or its subsidiaries and affiliates. The Infor Flex program is available for a limited period and subject to change at any time, with or without notice to you. Restrictions apply.

“Space: the final frontier...

While it may not be the final frontier in cost reductions, a recent Aberdeen Group research study, E-Payables Benchmark 2009: Accounts Payable Rising (by Andrew Bartolini, Aberdeen Group, September 2009), sees accounts payable (A/P) as the next frontier in cost reductions. In this report, Aberdeen discusses the next step many companies are taking in their cost reduction efforts: trimming expenses related to their A/P department.

The companies surveyed for the report are categorized from best-in class to those considered laggards in performance scores. What differentiates best-in-class companies from the rest are two significant factors: lower invoice processing costs and faster invoice processing cycle times than their peers, saving significant time and cost per invoice. Just by looking at these two indicators, you can see how improving invoice processing can save your company money and increase productivity.

Closing the Gap
So my question is, how can A/P departments close this gap? The typical A/P department supports all aspects of a company’s cash management objectives—from capturing early payment, to extending days payable outstanding (DPO), to volume discounts and providing contract support for orders and payments. Easier said than done, right?

As a user of the System i platform, you already have the structure in place. Here’s your opportunity to adjust your operations and optimize your A/P department by utilizing the ERP’s capabilities in purchasing, receiving, and payment processing to avoid creating duplicate controls (Excel files or Access database anyone?) and ensure the proper audit trails are in place (especially important for public companies concerned with SOX). But wait, there’s more….

Go Paperless, Save Green
Wouldn’t you like to take steps to conserve our resources and save a buck or two along the way? By implementing a document management system, you can reduce or eliminate paper usage. Paper invoices usually cost more and take longer to process and, chances are, 90% of the invoices you process every day are either faxed in or emailed and then printed. Don’t forget that duplicate copies are created along the way, too, and that paper approvals take days to get processed. Beginning to understand why your invoice processing operation may cost more than you thought?

The goal of document management is to help you eliminate paper and filing cabinets and speed up business processes via electronic workflow. These functions are all integrated into the ERP system so you never have to leave your ERP screen to look up purchase orders, receivers, or invoices and payments. The cost savings are hard to ignore, and reporting shorter invoice processing times and reduced invoice processing costs to your CFO just might be the news he was hoping for.

View this on-demand webinar to learn more about document management solutions.

Guest post by Ken Anderson, Business Development Manager, IntelliChief


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Bruce Richardson, software industry veteran and formerly chief research officer at AMR Research—now part of the Infor team—has launched a new blog, The View from Inside. Check out his blog each Monday for weekly insights and perspectives on the enterprise software market.

Ever catch a ride with a friend who drives a high-end car—but not the latest model? Ever tempted to ask when he or she might trade it in for this year’s sexy new thing? Go ahead—but prepare to be surprised. Because often the answer—at least among successful, affluent drivers—will be “Newer than what?” Why? Because auto aftermarket options such as Bluetooth, navigation systems, and DVD players are frequently superior in quality and price to manufacturer-installed components, meaning that a well-maintained, high-performance vehicle can actually outperform newer rivals—without the pain of instant depreciation and monthly car payments.

I’ve been thinking that more CIOs ought to ride in one of those high-performance, no-monthly-payment cars. Because thousands of executives today run their companies based on the high-performance, low-cost System i platform. These leaders and their IT departments are being enticed by vendors large and small to move to newer platforms. My hope is that, like the successful, affluent drivers above, these CEOs and CIOs will thoroughly consider whether such an expensive new purchase is necessary, especially compared to what they can do now—and in the future—with System i.

• Programs such as Infor’s Flex Upgrade and Flex Exchange allow users to stay current and cost-effectively upgrade their System i-based ERP systems. If, for example, a merger or acquisition stresses your current ERP system, the Flex programs offer the ability to jump to a more robust system, adding both functionality and access to software innovations.
  
  
• Other manufacturers extend their existing System i ERP, adding capabilities such as performance management (PM), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), etc. Infor solutions can keep your company’s System i current while minimizing IT spend. For example, Infor PM allows System i manufacturers to break free of outdated, spreadsheet-based performance management. I’ve got nothing against spreadsheets, but why not get real-time reporting and analysis of operational and financial data? Or the ability to more rapidly use that data to streamline processes and improve productivity?

• With service-oriented architecture (SOA) for System i ERP by Infor, many manufacturers will extend the life of System i for years to come. How? By using Infor Evolve components that add functionality and value for each maintenance dollar, allowing them to quickly connect additional components instead of building a new component each time they upgrade. Ray Wang, vice president, Forrester Research Inc., wrote that Infor’s Evolve components “allow new and old Infor clients to leap frog old code. Overall very impressive.” [Infor’s Evolve Strategy Fits Their Customer, ZDnet, March 16, 2009] Not surprisingly, many manufacturers feel the same way.

Manufacturers getting more from their System i platforms are like those savvy drivers with their up-to-date “classic” cars. Their operating costs continue to fall as they extend the life of their platforms even as timely additions address new needs. Employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders are all happy with a comfortable, safe, technologically advanced ride—and grateful for the fact that there’s no debt hanging over their investment. In fact, the only thing they might miss is that new car smell—or the five seconds of fun that comes with tearing open the shrink-wrap on a complicated new piece of software.

But not much.

Posted by Mark Wright, Senior VP and General Manager, System i

Guest post by Christina McKeon, Director of Product Marketing, Performance Management, Infor

A compass is a simple gadget, fixed on Earth’s magnetic north pole, which has improved the safety and efficiency of travel through the centuries. But a compass just points in the right direction, travelers still need to have an end destination in mind.

Using a complete document management solution allows organizations to rid themselves of paper, improve document compliance, save time, and minimize waste in storage and forms obsolescence while streamlining their business processes.

To address this business issue for our customers using Infor ERP BPCS, ERP LX, ERP System21, ERP PRMS, and ERP XA, we have partnered with Quadrant Software to provide you with the document management tools to meet your business needs.

In its article, “Infor Taps Quadrant for Document Management Deal,” IT Jungle provides an overview of the Infor-Quadrant Software partnership and the solution’s benefits, and reaffirms Infor’s commitment to the System i platform and its System i customers.