Infor

Infor
Private
Industry Enterprise software
Founded 2002
Headquarters New York City, New York, United States of America
Area served
 Global
Key people
Charles Phillips(CEO)
Duncan Angove (Pres.)
Stephan Scholl (Pres.)
Pam Murphy (COO)
Revenue US$2.8 billion (2016)[1]
Owner Koch Industries Golden Gate Capital Partners
Number of employees
 16,000 (2017)[1]
Website www.infor.com

Infor is a multi-national privately held United States-based enterprise software company.[2] Headquartered in New York City,[3] Infor focuses on business applications for organizations and delivered via cloud computing as a service.[4] Originally focused on software ranging from financial systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) to supply chain and customer relationship management,[5][6] in 2010 Infor began to focus on software for industry niches,[7] as well as user-friendly software design. Infor deploys its cloud applications through Amazon Web Services[7] and various open source software platforms.[8][9]

Infor acquired over forty other software companies since its 2002 founding[10] as Agilysis,[11] for example acquiring GEAC ERP[11] for US$1 billion,[11] Lawson Software for US$2 billion,[12][13] and GT Nexus for $675 million.[14] Infor had around 58 million cloud users as of July 2016,[15] as well as around 90,000 corporate customers overall.[1] Infor is active in 200 countries[16] and territories with around 15,000 employees.[1] Infor's customers included Bausch & Lomb, Ferrari, Heineken,[10] Wyndham Hotels, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, Boskalis, EBSCO, Legacy Health, and Best Western International.[4]

History

Founding and early acquisitions (2002–2009)

Infor was founded in June 2002[11] under the name Agilsys in Malvern, Pennsylvania.[11] With 1,300 customers to start[11] and a focus on enterprise software,[10] the company was constructed through a series of acquisitions[10][11] led by private equity backers Golden Gate Capital and Summit Partners.[17] In December 2002, Agilisys International acquired Brain AG,[18] followed by the acquisition of Future Three[19] the following June.[20] Agilisys moved its headquarters to Alpharetta in the Atlanta metropolitan area,[21] and in February 2004 acquired Infor Business Solutions, a German company headquartered in Friedrichsthal (Saar), Germany.[22] Daly.commerce[23] was acquired by Agilisys in early 2004. In September 2004, Agilisys changed its name to Infor Global Solutions.[24] On October 20, 2004, Infor announced the acquisition of Lilly Software Associates[25] and its VISUAL Enterprise (now referred to as VISUAL ERP[26]) suite of products.

In February 2005, Infor acquired MAPICS for around US D$347 million,[11] and subsequently acquired GEAC ERP[11] in 2006[27] for US$1 billion.[11] After a lawsuit filed in May 2006 attempted to halt SSA Global's merger with Infor unless certain shareholder demands were met,[28] Infor later completed the purchase and integrated the company.[29] Golden Gate’s early push for acquisitions resulted in Infor having 17,500 customers by the summer of 2006.[11] Also that year, Infor began rewriting industry-specific applications into up-to-date .Net and Java-based application providers.[30]

New management and move (2010–2013)

After several acquisitions,[31][32] in October 2010, Infor’s board of directors hired a new management team composed of four senior executives from Oracle Corporation, all four of whom joined Infor on the same day. Charles Phillips was appointed CEO, Pam Murphy was appointed chief operating officer (COO), and Duncan Angove and Stephan School became co-presidents.[10] Phillips established a new strategic direction as CEO.[10] In order to gain market share on Oracle and SAP, Infor also focused on providing applications with user-friendly interfaces,[33] while continuing to rewrite applications into new code.[30] The company acquired ERP rival Lawson Software for US$2 billion in 2011.[12][13] Infor launched its Infor10 line of products in September 2011. Within the products were the ION middleware suite and a new user interface.[34]

In the summer of 2012, Infor relocated its headquarters from Alpharetta, Georgia[21] to New York City, citing the availability of engineers and designers in “Silicon Alley,”[35] investment in the technology educational sector by a consortium of universities, and the proximity to customers.[21] With several hundred employees remaining in Georgia, Infor’s new "loft-style" offices at 641 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan were designed with the intent of promoting "collaboration and transparency."[21] Infor acquired Groupe Laurier CIM in August 2012.[36] On December 4, 2012, Infor announced it had acquired Orbis Global, which used a software as a service model for its marketing resource management software. Infor integrated Orbis Global's technology into its own customer experience product suite.[37][38]

"Micro-vertical" focus and pivot to cloud (2013–2014)

After the 2010 management changes,[35] Infor began specializing in "micro-verticals," purpose building its software to meet the needs of customers in niche industries. Arguing that similar businesses have similar software needs,[34] CEO Phillips explained in January 2012 that the food and beverage industry, for example, is made up of smaller "micro-verticals" such as bakers, butchers, and breweries, each of which have unique needs.[35] In contrast to many of its competitors, Infor designs software with the intent that companies can use the programs immediately, without consultation or customization.[35] As of 2013, Infor continued to rework industry-specific applications from older software languages into more widely used .Net and Java programming languages.[30] On April 2, 2013, Infor announced the acquisition of CERTPOINT Systems, a software as a service learning technologies company.[39][40] On May 16, 2013,[41] Infor acquired TDCI, Inc.,[41][42] and by late 2013, Infor had launched 300 new products[43] and hired 1,500 new engineers since 2010.[44] Among other companies, Infor acquired PeopleAnswers in January 2014.[45] Advancements in cloud computing[35] enabled Infor to integrate applications into suites for specific industries and sell them as a service.[46] Infor debuted its Infor CloudSuite product, which is delivered exclusively through Amazon Web Services (AWS), in 2014.[7] CloudSuite is designed to integrate software solutions intended for "micro-vertical" industries.[47] Infor also formed partnerships with Red Hat and EnterpriseDB to offer an open-source PostgreSQL stack that year,[9] and Infor's net income in 2014 equaled US$121.7 million.[48]

GT Nexus acquisition (2015–2016)

"Infor is the amalgamation of more than 40 software acquisitions brought together by private equity backers Golden Gate Capital and Summit Partners. Beginning in 2002, Golden Gate began assembling the company to provide the kind of nuts-and-bolts enterprise software that has proved one of the hottest sectors in tech. Under [CEO] Phillips, the company has surged. It now sells its wares to more than 70,000 corporations, including clients Bausch & Lomb, Ferrari, and Heineken."
— Fortune on August 15, 2015"[10]

The company saw around a 300 percent increase in service bookings in 2015, with revenue up that year up around 60 percent. New clients that year included Wyndham Hotels, Ferrari, the San Francisco Municipal Transport Agency, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, Boskalis, EBSCO, Legacy Health, Best Western International, and Kaman Industrial Technologies, among others. By July 2015, Infor had around 45 million users signed up to use its cloud computing software.[4]

On August 11, 2015, Infor announced its upcoming acquisition of GT Nexus for $675 million. At the time, GT Nexus was the world's largest cloud-based global commerce platform,[14][49] with customers such as Nike Inc., Adidas AG, Home Depot Inc. and Procter & Gamble[50] and $100 billion of trade in direct goods conducted each year though its network.[49] Explained Bloomberg, the acquired technology allows Infor customers to "leave elaborate business-management systems that run at headquarters untouched while supplying those clients’ plants with programs specialized by industry and delivered via cloud computing."[50] Infor acquired Predictix in July 2016,[15] at which point Infor related that it had "more than 58 million users" in the "Infor cloud."[15] Active in 200 countries and territories with around 15,000 employees,[16] Infor is currently the third largest enterprise technology provider in the world.[10]

Investment by Koch Industries (2017)

In February 2017, Koch Equity Development LLC invested $2.68 billion in Infor, for a 66.67% equity ownership stake in the company. Infor is valued at $10 billion, and has $6 billion of debt, most of which is publicly-traded.

Software

Since CEO Charles Phillips joined Infor in 2010, the company has focused on creating applications that result in a positive user experience, among other factors such as efficiency.[12][51] Infor deploys its applications primarily on the Amazon Web Services cloud[52] and open source platforms.[53]

Primary software lines developed by Infor
Name Type Description
Infor ION Integration platform Launched in 2011,[54] Infor's Intelligent Open Network (ION) is an XML-based integration platform.[54] It is described as "middleware" designed to help Infor customers integrate their Infor enterprise resource planning systems with other Infor products,[54] for example Infor's mobile and social media products Motion and Mingle.[54] ION is also a component of Business Vault, Infor’s Windows-based analytics tool.[54]
Infor Xi Product line Infor Xi[55] refers "to the latest versions of Infor's premiere offerings," with user experiences designed by New York City professionals to give all of Infor's products a cohesive feel, as well as improve efficiency and integration between products.[56] The first version of Infor Xi debuted in 2014 at Infor's[57] Inforum user conference.[57][58]Infor Xi is the technology platform underneath the new version of applications delivered by Infor now known as Infor CloudSuite Financials and Supply Chain Management .[59]
Infor Mongoose Application development framework Infor Mongoose is an application development framework intended to allow customers to modify their Infor applications. The program is written such that users do not need to know programming languages or a source code. It can also be used to build applications, for example simple web components or more complex ERP systems.[60]

Programs and divisions

Hook and Loop

Infor created Hook and Loop in 2012 as an internal creative agency of writers, designers, developers, and filmmakers, with the intent of designing user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing software.[61] The Hook & Loop agency was established in New York City with the initial goal of building a new UI to work across the Infor 10x product line. With the overhaul dubbed “SoHo,” the goal was establishing a “holistic” user experience with a unified design.[62] The agency was founded with five people, and by 2014 had 80 employees.[63]

Infor Partner Network (IPN)

The Infor Partner Network (IPN) provides business services to customers using Infor products.[64] In 2016, Infor stated it had 700 partners through the program, with 125 in North America.[65] The program supports members of the "Infor Partner Network"[66] in various ways,[65] including training, certification, and funds.[66] Products sold through the partner network include Infor CloudSuite Industrial and Infor CloudSuite Business.[65] Partners also sell Infor ION and the social collaboration platform Infor Ming.le,[65] as well as Infor ERP products for distribution and management, for example programs such as Infor SyteLine, Infor LN, Infor XA, Infor VISUAL, Infor M3, Infor Distribution SX.e, and Infor Distribution FACTS.[65]

Infor formed alliances with companies such as HCL Technologies, in 2015.[67]

Dynamic Science Labs

Infor Dynamic Science Labs is a team of scientists in Kendall Square on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus that are building applications using by predictive analytics and machine learning. The founder of this team and Infor's Chief Scientist is Dr. Ziad Nejmeldeen, a PhD from MIT, and an expert in data sciences. Infor Xi, the company’s platform for enterprise apps, is powered by Dynamic Science Labs.[68]

Digital & Value Engineering

Infor’s value engineering organization helps customers identify, quantify, realize and measure tangible business value from the use of technology solutions. The program was formally set up in 2013 by Riaz Raihan, SVP, who came to Infor from SAP. By 2015, the team expanded its mandate to digital engineering. Infor Digital Engineering helps customers build and execute on digital strategies that included IoT, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, cloud, mobile, social and machine learning.[69]

Education Alliance Program

Infor’s Education Alliance Program allows college and university students to intern at the company. Student interns are placed on a team in an Infor department, with the opportunity to switch between departments.[69]

Philanthropy

In 2013, the company was recognized as a ComputerWorld honors laureate for its work with Habitat for Humanity, partnering with the organization to provide software at free or reduced prices.[70] Through Habitat for Humanity, Infor employees also participate in a Volunteer Build Program, Employee Giving Campaign, and Annual Global Village Build.[70] Infor also sponsors the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's “Light the Night Walks” events,[71] held in years such as 2012.[72] Infor has furthermore supported the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) by funding its "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" event.[71]

Accolades

Infor has won a number of awards since its founding in 2002. The company has received several SIIA CoDie Awards, including the 2014 Best Healthcare IT Solution and Best Social Business Solution.[73] In May 2015, Infor’s XTreme Support won a Confirmit ACE (Achievement in Customer Excellence Award) for the seventh consecutive year.[74] In August 2015, Infor’s CloudSuite, Talent Science, and Ming.le Mobile products won People’s Choice for Favorite New Products at the Stevie Awards.[75] In 2016, Plant Engineering named Infor’s EAM solutions as "Product of the Year" in the Energy Performance Management and the Maintenance Software categories.[76]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Corporate Overview" (PDF). Infor's. October 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  2. ↑ "Infor's Corporate Fact Sheet" (PDF). Infor. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  3. ↑ "Infor Opens Headquarters in New York City, Unveils New Branding". Press release - Infor. October 18, 2012. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  4. 1 2 3 "Infor Announces Strong Fiscal 2015 Results". Press Release - Infor. July 22, 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  5. ↑ Press Releases: "Rush University Medical Center Monitors Health of Business with Infor Performance Management". - Infor Global Solutions. - April 16, 2007
  6. ↑ Weier, Mary Hayes. - "Infor Settles Into Big Leagues With $227M Workbrain Deal". - Information Week. - April 7, 2007 (reference no longer available)
  7. 1 2 3 Greene, Jay (March 26, 2014). "Facing new rivals, Amazon expands its cloud-computing offerings". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  8. ↑ "Infor Continues to Experience Significant Growth in Healthcare". infor.com. February 29, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  9. 1 2 Dignan, Larry (April 17, 2014). "Infor CEO Phillips talks cloud, UI, and industry focus". ZDNet. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Lev-Ram, Michal (August 15, 2013). "The redemption of Charles Phillips". Fortune. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Prickett Morgan, Timothy (August 7, 2006). "Infor Closes SSA Buy and Acquires Remaining GEAC Bits". IT Jungle. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  12. 1 2 3 Henschen, Doug (November 21, 2013). "Infor CEO Charles Phillips Talks Enterprise Apps". Information Week. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  13. 1 2 Bort, Julie (March 18, 2013). "Ex-Oracle Exec Plots His 'Revenge,' 3 Years Later". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  14. 1 2 Chao, Loretta (August 11, 2015). "Infor Buys Supply Chain Management Firm GT Nexus". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  15. 1 2 3 "Infor Acquires Predictix". Nogalis. July 7, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  16. 1 2 "Infor Announces Strong Third Quarter Results". Infor. March 8, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  17. ↑ Woodie, Alex (April 9, 2012). "Infor Raises More Money, Finally Completes Lawson Transaction". itjungle.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  18. ↑ "Agilisys Acquires Application Software Provider Brain AG". Agilisys Press Release. December 2, 2002. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  19. ↑ "Parallax Capital Partners and Golden Gate Capital Acquire Future Three Software, Inc.". parallaxcap.com Press Release. June 10, 2003. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  20. ↑ "Agilisys acquires top North American automotive rival - Future Three Software, Inc." - PR Newswire - June 10, 2003
  21. 1 2 3 4 Woodie, Alex (November 29, 2011). "Infor to Move HQ to NYC". itjungle.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  22. ↑ "Agilisys Acquires infor business solutions AG". Press Release - Agilisys. February 27, 2004. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  23. ↑ Woodie, Alex - "Agilisys Acquires daly.commerce" - ITJungle - March 22, 2004
  24. ↑ Solutions, Infor Global. "Agilisys Changes Name to Infor Global Solutions". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  25. ↑ Solutions, Infor Global. "Infor Global Solutions Acquires Lilly Software Associates". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  26. ↑ "Infor VISUAL ERP Solution, VISUAL business ERP Software". Synergy Resources. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  27. ↑ "GEACEIN Solvency Innovation" (PDF). Fact-Finding.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-10. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  28. ↑ Date Singh, Shruti (May 31, 2006). "Lawsuit filed to stop SSA Global's merger with Infor". Crain's Chicago. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  29. ↑ Prickett Morgan, Timothy (January 27, 2005). "Infor Solutions Buys MAPICS, Takes It Private". IT Jungle. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  30. 1 2 3 Swartz, Jon (April 21, 2013). "Charles Phillips' comeback means competition for Oracle". USA Today. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  31. ↑ "Infor Acquires Qurius" -Infor Global Solutions - July 1, 2010
  32. ↑ "Infor Acquires Bridgelogix" -Infor Global Solutions - June 2, 2010
  33. ↑ Dignan, Larry (April 22, 2013). "Infor to ramp product cycle, launches social, middleware, cloud apps". ZDNet. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  34. 1 2 Kanaracus, Chris (February 29, 2012). "Infor Refreshes Its Lineup for 'Micro-Vertical' Industries". CIO. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 Kanaracus, Chris (January 10, 2012). "Infor CEO Charles Phillips Discusses Software Vendor's Remaking". PC World. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  36. ↑ "Infor Acquires Groupe Laurier Infor Global Solutions - August 8, 2012
  37. ↑ Infor Acquires Orbis Global (Press Release). Infor. New York. 4 December 2012.
  38. ↑ Kanaracus, Chris (4 December 2012). "Infor acquires Orbis Global to boost its marketing software clout" Infoworld. IDG News Service.
  39. ↑ Infor Completes Acquisition of CERTPOINT Systems Inc. (Press Release). Infor. New York. 2 April 2013
  40. ↑ Infor Announces Agreement to Acquire CERTPOINT Systems Inc. (Press Release). Infor. New York. 4 March 2013
  41. 1 2 Infor Completes Acquisition of TDCI, Inc. (Press Release). Infor. New York. 16 May 2013
  42. ↑ Infor Announces Intent to Acquire TDCI, Inc. (Press Release). Infor. New York. 23 March 2013
  43. ↑ Kanaracus, Chris (April 22, 2013). "Infor launches version 10x, plans IBM SmartCloud launch for its apps". PC World. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  44. ↑ Lauchlan, Stuart (March 12, 2014). "Exclusive: a Spanish inquisition with Infor CEO Charles Phillips". Diginomica. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  45. ↑ "Infor Announces Acquisition of PeopleAnswers" - Jan 8, 2014
  46. ↑ "AWS Partner Story: Infor". Aws.amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  47. ↑ "Infor Cloudsuite". www.infor.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  48. ↑ "Selected Consolidated Financial Data - Infor". SEC. May 31, 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  49. 1 2 Wainewright, Phil (August 11, 2015). "Infor buys GT Nexus in bid to own the ‘Commerce Cloud’". Diginomica.com. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  50. 1 2 Aaron, Ricadela (August 11, 2015). "Infor to Buy GT Nexus for $675 Million as CEO Phillips Bulks Up". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  51. ↑ "Infor Named a Leader in the Gartner 2016 Magic Quadrant for Marketing Resource Management (MRM)". Press release - Infor. March 2, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  52. ↑ "Micro-Vertical Innovation on the AWS Cloud: Infor, an Advanced APN Technology Partner". aws.amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  53. ↑ Kanaracus, Chris (September 26, 2012). "Infor launches open-source strategy, embraces Red Hat stack, MySQL". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
  54. 1 2 3 4 5 Woodie, Alex (March 12, 2013). "Infor ION: More Than 900 Loosely Served". IT Jungle. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  55. ↑ Essex, David (September 17, 2014). "Infor outlines Infor Xi's vision for the cloud". Search Manufacturing ERP. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  56. ↑ Woodie, Alex (May 6, 2013). "Infor Exudes Total Confidence At Annual User Confab". IT Jungle. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  57. 1 2 Woodie, Alex (September 23, 2014). "There's No i in Infor Xi". IT Jungle. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  58. ↑ Lauchlan, Stuart (November 3, 2015). "Inforum Europe – time flies when you’re reinventing a software business". Diginomica. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  59. ↑ "INFOR XI Platform: A primer | Velocity Technology Solutions, Inc.". velocitycloud.com. Retrieved 2017-04-27.
  60. ↑ "The Infor Customer Upgrade Initiative - Mongoose". infor.com. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  61. ↑ "Thinking Outside the Box". Leaders Magazine. December 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  62. ↑ Reed, Jon (January 23, 2015). "Inside the Enterprise UX revolution – a day at Infor’s Hook & Loop". Diginomica. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  63. ↑ Krigsman, Michael (April 28, 2014). "Infor and ‘No Fugly Software’: Design as a competitive weapon". Enterprise Irregulars. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  64. ↑ "Evolve Information Solutions Joins Infor Partner Network". Press release - Infor. January 19, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  65. 1 2 3 4 5 "2016 Channel Chiefs Details". Vendors. 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  66. 1 2 "IPN Channel Partner program overview". www.infor.com. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  67. ↑ "HCL Technologies enters into partnership with Infor". First Post. June 24, 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  68. ↑ Green, Chloe (October 28, 2015). "The view from the cloud: how Infor CEO Charles Phillips is setting out to build the 'social network of companies'". InformationAge. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  69. 1 2 "Market Operations / Business Analysis Scholar, Infor’s Education Alliance Program". Macaulay Now. October 5, 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  70. 1 2 "The ComputerWorld Honors Program" (PDF). ComputerWorld. May 21, 2013. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  71. 1 2 "Corporate citizenship". www.infor.com. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  72. ↑ "Infor Raises $72,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society". Infor. November 15, 2012. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  73. ↑ "2014 Winners". siia.net. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  74. ↑ "Infor Named 2015 Confirmit ACE (Achievement in Customer Excellence) Award Winner". Infor - Press Release. May 18, 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  75. ↑ Gallagher, Maggie (August 11, 2015). "Winners Announced in People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products". Stevie Awards. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  76. ↑ "2 Infor Solutions Win "Product of the Year" Awards". infor.com. January 21, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
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