“Impressive and impressively vague.” That’s how Jon’s recent blog post described SAP’s lofty goal of building a big data organization, as outlined on Day One of Sapphire Now 2013. Steve Lucas, EVP for Database and Technology at SAP, took the time to join Jon at Sapphire Now to tell him exactly what building a big data organization means.

These days, Steve says, SAP has a classic analytics organization that focuses on BI, dash-boarding, reporting, EPM and GRC. And it also has a classic D&T organization with integration and storage tools – HANA, Sybase, middleware and EIM.  Citing some surprising feedback from customers who aren’t considering SAP for their big data fix, Steve  saw that he clearly needed to be more relevant in this area – part of which means not confining the focus to SAP technologies, but extending that to other, classic big data-associated technologies like Hadoop.

In terms of enabling transaction and other unstructured data to come together, Steve cites an example of a customer taking social commentary and news feeds and dumping it all into Hadoop – while, at the same time, looking at running their business suite on top of HANA.  If a customer’s past purchase history, stored in ERP, could be married with their social commentary sitting over in Hadoop, a company might be able to take advantage of cross-selling potentials. To do that, all of the pieces and parts need to come together — a bit of big data, a bit of HANA, a bit of analytics – which, Steve admits, means there’s still some work left to do.

Steve also talks about his role taking over SAP Analytics (again), and what his plan is going forward. Stability of the platform is one thing, but what is the growth potential?

The guys talk about whether Steve’s vision might spread his efforts too thinly, a point he suggests can be mitigated as like-minded colleagues step up and lead. And, having lived through the whole enterprise-BI wave, Steve sees people shifting back to very fast BI purchases – department-centric and very tactical. They want their answers now, with high-quality visualization, the ability to go mobile and the option to predict.

Steve’s  #1 Challenge to his analytics management team? Attract 250,000 followers on Twitter – something that, Jon notes, won’t be the product of press-release blasts. Nor by purchased followers, either, adds Steve. Given the need to move quickly, Steve says the JD-OD Team should check back on his progress no later than by Tech Ed time.

Show Notes

:37 First day’s sports-themed presentation hit the right notes, Steve says

1:36 Big data presence means offering solution packages that match up with solutions like Hadoop

3:19 Combining big data, HANA and analytics to meet customers needs

4:50 Steve: SAP is number one in the world at analytics – and must lead like they are

6:34 Like-minded analytics folks at SAP to be given the opportunity to step up and lead

7:27 People want answers now, with high-quality visualization, mobile and predictive tools

7:58 Steve’s #1 Goal: Analytics management team must have 250,000 followers on Twitter

8:46 Check back in 3 months – if SAP is going to go fast, they should have advanced the story by then

At Sapphire NOW 2013, the JD-OD team sat down with Ralph Steinbach, Director Software Architecture of Danone Group – known in the U.S. for making Dannon yogurt – to ask what cloud could do for the world’s market leader in dairy products.

In Ralph’s view, cloud matters because his company is a loosely coupled one with a lot of local business units. Since Danone places emphasis on cash flow management, they’re not interested in investing in significant CapEx upfront.

But why the  HANA Cloud? Ralph likes the convergence of technologies at SAP.  Through HANA, SAP focuses on big data. Their cloud platform allows you to run your IT business outside your own company. And they have a solution for mobile, which means you can address your consumers globally – all while staying on the same platform. Which is exactly what Danone needed. Further down the road, Ralph has found that the  major benefit, other than farming out IT, comes back to mobile, which allows Danone to address a billion or more consumers with the same cloud apps.

Danone’s first cloud project built on the HANA Cloud, presented by Ralph at Sapphire, is a customer call center. Why build it on the cloud? Because it was faster. And they could leverage the latest SAP UI5  technology. The advantage to having CRM on the cloud? Ralph says that today, they can use it in-house. Tomorrow they might want to use it in a remote call center. Or to extend the access to their hotels. With a cloud deployment, everyone can use the same application.

The guys talk about old-school versus new-school developers. Jon has a hard time imagining the old school ABAPpers easily making the transition to  Java. On the contrary, Ralph says, the old schoolers at Danone were more than happy to embrace something new, working practically day and night to master the code. Perhaps even more important, Ralph adds, marketing and IT are doing more than finally saying “Good morning” in the elevator. They’re working together because each side sees the benefits in using the latest technologies.

Show Notes

:43 Danone’s global footprint

1:48 Why cloud?  Because it lets companies start small and then pay as you go

3:01 HANA Cloud’s features fit with Danone’s digital marketing strategy

4:22 SAP’s shift into B to C helped Danone in its quest to reach customers; so did mobile

4:57 Danone’s new CRM system was built on cloud because it was faster

5:59 Having CRM call system on cloud allows for in-house use today, flexible tomorrow

6:37 Next cloud project is a web app where customers can buy medical products online

7:40 Old-school developers embraced the challenges of working in a new environment

8:12 Marketing and IT finally see the opportunities in working together

Do platforms matter? And if they do, why?

The JD-OD team sat down with Aiaz Kazi, SVP for Platform Strategy at SAP, at Sapphire NOW 2013 to get Aiaz’s take on how platforms change the game for both partners and customers in terms of building apps.

Aiaz says platforms absolutely matter. Looking at any successful company in practically any space proves the point. Whether it’s consumer products,  enterprise software or hardware, if you don’t provide a platform that others can build on, you won’t have a long-term sustainable company

A classic case? The return of Apple in rolling out the iPod and the iTunes marketplace – bold moves that transformed a hardware company into a platform company. Aiaz goes on to say that, for him, a platform has two key components. One is the technology that people build on. The second piece involves monetizing the applications that are being built.

When it comes to how people perceive SAP’s platform, Jon points out there are some varied opinions, as well as a degree of confusion. What does SAP plan to do about this? Aiaz says that with HANA having matured rapidly since it was introduced, HANA now provides both the application development and the data management capability at the foundation. This eliminates the forced choices of the past. The essential message needs to be further spread — HANA is both a database and a platform.

Aiaz emphasizes that the true way to look at HANA is as a platform, the core foundation of all the applications that SAP will be delivering on top. Nowhere is that seen more clearly than in the energy of the startups that are using HANA. The way Aiaz sees it, a platform isn’t a platform until you have many thriving applications on it. Aiaz needs 5 million applications on his platform. Doing that means fueling the imagination of the startups.

But as Aiaz sees it, you don’t do it by pushing the platform in a conventional marketing sense. You do it by enabling the ecosystem, which means re-thinking and re-inventing it, as well. Startups are bringing an entirely new base to SAP — with 60% to 70% of them, perhaps more, building for net-new SAP scenarios.

Show Notes

:52 Successful companies provide a platform others can build on

1:56 Platforms give customers a chance to rethink processes

2:30 Platform’s two key components: buildable tech and potential for monetization

3:16 Varied opinions exist on  SAP’s platform strategy

4:40 Why HANA, which is a database and a platform, eliminates forced choices of the past

5:42 Generating 5 million apps on HANA depends on fueling the imagination of startups

7:50 SAP’s intent is not to sell the platform, but to enable the ecosystem

Disclosure: SAP paid most of Jon’s travel and expenses to Sapphire Now 2013.

What to do with a “green font” problem — as in, resource management software that is 17 years old? Make a big change, that’s what.

The JD-OD team sat down with Daniel Gerster, Principal and CIO of Roland Berger, at Sapphire NOW 2013 to find out what motivated the worldwide consulting form to settle on SAP Business ByDesign from among 80 competitors.

Daniel says that the company was initially thinking on-premise install – that’s why there were 80 solutions to evaluate. Once they started kicking tires,  the cloud ERP solutions stood out. Why cloud? It all starts with flexibility, according to Daniel – meaning with cloud software, you buy only the number of seats you need, but you can easily scale up. Second, there’s speed of implementation. As Daniel explains, by going cloud they could let the IT experts be the tech experts while the consultants continue consulting. Lastly, new features, updates and functionality automatically updated every quarter beats old, over-customized software anytime.

Daniel emphasizes that his company was really looking for an integrated solution, with all of the standard processes in one system. In Roland Berger’s evaluation, ByDesign emerged as the only ready-to-use cloud solution offering those benefits. With a successful proof of concept successfully conclude this spring,  the company plans to have offices in the first three countries productive on ByD this Fall.

Show Notes

:48 Roland Berger is a strategy consulting firm: 2,700 employees in 36 countries and 51 offices

1:28 Company’s data stored in several systems; some software was 17 years old

2:44 SAP’s cloud solution was chosen from among some 80 competitors

4:10 ByDesign offered benefits that allowed the company to focus on what it does best

6:17 ByDesign distinguishes itself as the only really ready-to-use cloud solution

7:14 Rollout objective is for the first three countries to be productive this fall

Outside of SAP, the future of  Business ByDesign is much-debated. As for Financials OnDemand, now “SAP Cloud for Financials”, there are plenty of questions. Who better to clear it up than Rainer Zinow, SVP of the Cloud Unit at SAP.

Zinow  sat down with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 to provide an update on how things have been going over the last year or so. He also sets the record straight regarding some tweeted info on Cloud for Financials that was heavily discussed.

The guys kick it off by talking about how ByDesign, which started out as a pure mid-market solution, has found its way into two new additional markets: 1) Subsidiaries of SAP’s Business Suite install base, and 2) Very large professional services deals, which were unexpected as wins when ByDesign was solely SME-focused.

Given that a number of  ByDesign subsidiary projects have gone live, Jon asks what kind of feedback SAP has received. Rainer cites a recent article in CIO Magazine in which the CIO of HILTI, Dr. Martin Petry, says he’s found a way to roll out a new country in 8 weeks – a real breakthrough compared to on-premise ERP (see the JD-OD interview with HILTI on ByD). Petry’s overall point? ByD is a lot faster to rollout, and, given the built-in mobility and cloud access, it’s well suited to subsidiary units. Last but not least, Rainer notes, Petry doesn’t depend on SAP to provide a country-specific version. ByDesign customers can now customize their own country-specific versions.

As SAP’s customers continue to customize ByD, the country count is going up – 20 SAP-created versions are expected by the end of the year, along with 26 additional country versions built by SAP customers. As for development resources, Rainer estimates that about 80 partners are building last-mile capabilities for customer-specific projects.

As for any confusion about ByDesign versus Financials OnDemand, Rainer has this to say: Financials OnDemand is nothing else than the kernel of financials in ByDesign. SAP then adds additional interfaces to Cloud for Financials,  so that other applications can feed into the sub-ledgers, which wouldn’t be needed in a ByDesign world. And SAP builds other applications on top of Cloud for Financials, some of which may be available to ByDesign customers in the future.

Show Notes

:32 ByDesign, moves into two new additional markets

2:13 HILTI’s ByDesign for subsidiaries experience

3:08 By year’s end, ByD will be in 20 countries; customers have customized 26 other country versions

4:11 80 partners have development capabilities to build ByD add ons

5:26 ByDesign vs. Financials OnDemand

Molson Coors is a household name in the U.S., with a strong presence in Canada and Europe, as well. Lately, though, the beer maker has upped its focus on growing its Asian markets, specifically those in Japan, India and China. However, that expansion posted ERP rollout challenges.

David Stanbridge, IT Portfolio Manager for Molson Coors International Europe, sat down with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 to talk about how SAP Business ByDesign turned out to be the right fit for the company’s growth plans in Asia.

David says that it became clear that a  full-on SAP ERP approach was too complex  for their smaller Asian deployments. Given that the strategy from a corporate perspective is SAP,  it was a natural choice to look at other SAP offerings. Another key selling point? ByDesign’s Sarbanes-Oxley compliance component.

The first rollout, which took place in India earlier this year, took three months to implement from end to end. Yes, some folks were a bit resistant to moving off the spreadsheets they are used to, but planning for change is always a factor with new software implementations. Lesson learned: upcoming rollouts in China and Japan are expected to take advantage of more classroom-based training, especially since a number of the finance people there speak only Chinese.

Beyond compliance and integration, David believes there is just as much benefit to be had around growth. Given ByDesign’s capacity to quickly add new users, as well as its scalability, David gives a positive verdict on Molson’s ByDesign installs to date.

Show Notes

:41 ByDesign fits with the company’s growth plans for Japan, India and China

1:18 With the corporate perspective being SAP, ByDesign was a logical option

2:37 Sarbanes-Oxley compliance aspect another ByDesign benefit

3:08 First rollout in India took two or three months to implement

3:45 Some people hesitant to move off spreadsheets

4:24 Upcoming China and Japan rollouts will likely use some classroom-type training

5:15 ByDesign’s scalability and growth potential the right fit for the company’s needs

When Aasonn started in 2006, every solution they offered was cloud-based – except for financials. Now, that’s in the cloud, too.

Allen Peterson, CEO of Aasonn, talked with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 about the recent decision to go with Cloud for Financials (formerly known as Financials OnDemand).

Allen says the functionality of Financials OnDemand and SAP’s product roadmap, played major roles in the decision. So was being able to integrate other SAP products, such as Cloud for Travel. The ability of those two programs to natively talk to each other solved a couple of the Aasonn’s problems – and was also a key part of their decision to move to cloud.

How have customers taken to sharing Aasonn’s vision? Allen says that, with everyone concerned about marketing terms like ROI, Quick Time to Value and Easy to Consume, the latter has been answered very quickly. With ROI and Quick Time to Value, the proof is in the doing: Aasonn was able to get its system in and up in three months, including multi-org, multi-currency and multi-country.

But is the cloud secure? And can it scale? With 1,500 customers in 30 countries over the last 6 years (4,500 projects), Aasonn can look to its own experience. As Peterson sees it, cloud is a secure solution. When you add in ease-of-access and scaleability, it’s a persuasive option for many customers. In Peterson’s experience, cloud security is almost always greater than on-premise security.

Show Notes

:39 Aasonn went all-cloud when starting up in 2006, and recently moved financials there

1:14 SAP’s commitment and product roadmap key to Aasonn’s cloud decision

1:51 Aasonn aimed for a pain-free integration, and got a good result

2:17 Native integration of other SAP products was a big factor

2:58 Multi-org, multi-currency and multi-country was live in 3 months

3:59 Aasonn’s cloud pitch: “Work anywhere from everywhere”

4:41 Cloud security almost always greater than on-premise security

With 22,000 employees and a presence in 120 countries worldwide, HILTI needed a cost-effective business management system – without the pain associated with a typical on-premise ERP install.

Christoph Baeck of HILTI Asia IT Services visited with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 to explain why his company chose SAP Business ByDesign to manage its far flung subsidiaries.

As Christoph says,  he’d become very skilled at rolling out ERP 6.0  because of the number of times he’d done it. By comparison, ByDesign looked to be a more affordable solution, and a better fit for smaller “spokes.” There are currently 8 HILTI subsidiaries on ByDesign, mainly in the Eastern European and Middle Eastern regions. By the end of this year, HILTI plans to have 20 subsidiaries that are live, with more than 1,000 users. Heavy localization is avoided, apart from what’s legally required.

Jon asks Christoph how HILTI measures the results. As Christoph explains, success of the implementation is measured less in currency and more by the degree to which key systems can now talk to each other. Prior to ByDesign, local offices were having a hard time following their processes  from a global point of view. Now they’ve changed not only the IT system but the process behind that. Another result? The HILTI workforce generally seems to have embraced the benefits of a system that’s integrated with the “hub.”

Show Notes

:41 HILTI’s presence in 120 countries worldwide created the need for ByDesign

2:32 Why ByDesign is the better solution for subsidiaries with smaller workforces

3:07 Rollout of ByDesign creates less pain than typical ERP

4:10 End-of-year goal: 20 subsidiaries and 1,000 users live with ByDesign

4:39 Except for what’s legally required, localization is avoided

5:15 Though hard to measure monetarily, key systems have undergone big (and positive) changes

6:05 Subsidiaries largely seeing the benefits of an integrated system

At the end of all three Sapphire NOW 2013 conference days, Jon gathered a rotating cast of characters to assess the week’s events. The day 1 shoots are broken into three segments: the keynote assessment (above) and also a look at SAP mobility and the HANA startup program. On day 1 Jon was joined by John  Appleby, Harald Reiter and Graham Robinson.

The first item at hand? Scoring the Day 1 keynote address delivered by co-CEO Bill McDermott.

We join the conversation with Harald saying that a message from previous years rang truer than ever this time around: “This is a new SAP. Not old-school SAP.” John adds that SAP wants it known that they are reaching the end consumer – part of SAP’s attempt to position itself as a B to B to C company.

However, the guys discuss the issue of geographic and gender diversity as a downside.  Graham translates that to mean there was too much testosterone on the stage. Plus, he jokes, they missed out big time by not having a cricketer up there. John says that, for him, it was a very male, American-vibe on day 1. He wants to see if that is balanced out on day 2 and day 3.

Show Notes – Clip #1  (above)

:21 Two main messages: SAP is a B-B-C company that is also very human

2:00 ”A little too much testosterone on the stage”

2:58 NFL/NBA theme underscored emotional loyalty enterprise companies need with customers

The guys shifted gears to discuss SAP’s Afaria cloud announcement that came later in day one:

Show Notes – Clip #2

:30 Day 1 highlights – rapid fire

1:34 Afaria cloud announcement: significant, if underplayed. Pricing is clear – for a change

2:37 Afaria, SAP’s “rough diamond”, costs users a flat charge of one euro per month

3:12 Partnership with Mocana keeps private and business phone lives separate and secure

The second video kicks off with quick takeaways from Day 1.  The guys then hash out the Afaria cloud announcement as significant, but surprisingly underplayed. The big thing for Graham is the pricing, which, unlike previous SAP ventures, is transparent, clear, easy to find – and, at a euro per user per month, competitive, as well.

The conversation turns to how SAP is addressing the security issues, as well as the partnership with Mocana, a mobile security vendor. Harald explains that upside this way: You have a private life and a business life on your phone. And, with Mocana, the business life gets secured and controlled. But your private phone life is essentially untouched.

Next up – assessing the SAP HANA Startup Program:

Show Notes – Clip #3

:20 Startup program is well on its way, though issues remain

1:14 Some startups, with 300+ customers, are startups only in a HANA context

2:36 Are enough startups saying, “I want to use HANA because it’s the best”?

3:32 With no downloadable option, HANA remains hard for some developers to use

The guys agree on one point at the outset: With 400+ startups participating and a $30 million funding pipeline, the program makes for a good story. But for building apps on HANA, a couple of key developer issues remain. Jon points out that startup and developer engagement is a little bit different, only because a lot of the startups involved have significantly more resources than an individual developer on their own steam.

Jon notes that, with some of the startups having as many as 300 customers already, it’s hard to consider them all classic startups – though they are new to HANA. Still, as Graham says, with no downloadable option, it’s hard for developers to get their hands on HANA. So there is work still to do on HANA developer engagement, despite the significant progress made. The guys also touch on the relevance of developer topics to SAPPHIRE Now – a conference with a business user focus.

Disclosure: SAP paid most of Jon’s travel and expenses to Sapphire Now Orlando. 

This isn’t your mother’s CRM. What do we have instead? Solutions that are adopted by 90% of the sales force – nearly triple the rate of the average CRM toolkit.

Garth Hamilton, SVP for Strategy and Delivery at Liquid Analytics, sat down with the JD-OD team at Sapphire NOW 2013 to provide insight into why salespeople in the field have adopted Liquid’s CRM at such high percentages compared to the norm. He also talks about how Liquid’s approach to CRM, enabled by SAP HANA, helps to transform sales reps from order takers into trusted business partners.

Garth explains that Liquid decided to build a holistic tool set that goes after a day in the life of the sales rep. Liquid’s product can tell a tablet-carrying rep when certain customers need a re0stock in real-time, down the specific item numbers. By turning a five-minute appointment into one minute of order-taking and four minutes of business talk, the rep adds value both to the customer and the company.

And because Liquid has built the app to enable the salesperson’s day, and not as a management app, adoption levels have come in on the high end. The product is built on top of the SAP Mobile Platform, and uses HANA One to drive the real-time analytics, with options for on-premises or cloud management. With thousands of users already, Garth says it’s a matter of doubling and tripling in scale to get to critical mass. One challenge: Getting the stuff that Liquid offers on executives’ radar screens – a classic marketing problem.

Demo Notes

:55 Moving from order takers to trusted business partners

1:57 Real-time order management

3:17 Streamlining order process strengthens customer relationhips

4:04 Adoption levels are  nearly triple the CRM average

4:51 Combining mobility, analytics/big data and cloud

6:11 Getting Liquid’s solution on executives’ radar

With the Liquid Decisions app, a sales rep does more than just walk into a customer’s business and asking which of his 20,000 items are needed – predictive analytics show the specific items and quantities that the business likely needs to restock its shelves.

Garth Hamilton, SVP for Strategy and Delivery at Liquid Analytics, shows Jon how the app enables sales reps while they’re in the field, real-time:

Show Notes

:18 Liquid Decisions dashboard uses map and pins to communicate customer issues

1:07 Goals screen uses predictive analytics to help reps meet periodic goals

1:53 Tapping restock icon shows CRM-style information about the business

2:19 RapidOrder function IDs products and quantities that customers should need, right now

2:55 Predictive analytics also generate a Recommended Products page

3:28 App verifies quantities against warehouse stocks, checks credit and confirms order

Disclosure: This video is part of a project commissioned by SAP to amplify startup activity and developer innovation on HANA, mobile, and the SAP cloud.

Most of Infor’s customers are evaluating the cloud in one form or another. What can be done on it that’s real, that’s safe, that’s production-grade? What’s more, who they should use, and what are Infor’s plans?

To get a better grasp on those ideas and concerns, the JD-OD team caught up with Ali Shadman, SVP for Business Cloud and Upgrade/S at Infor, at the recent Inforum 2013 in Orlando.

The guys discuss a couple of major announcements that came out of the conference, including a new relationship with IBM, where Infor will partner with Big Blue to move their applications to the SmartCloud platform. Another bit of news — Amazon Redshift will support Infor’s newly-announced SkyVault.

But what about cloud outages? Amazon has certainly had a few. Is this something Infor’s customers need to worry about? Ali points out that if, say, Netflix crashes and you can’t watch a movie for an hour or two, your world is not going to stop. But if you’re running a manufacturing floor and the floor goes out for three or four hours, it’s serious. Ali explains how Infor is approaching these issues to make sure its customers are not on the wrong side of cloud outages.

Show Notes

:37 What can be done on the cloud that’s real, safe and production-grade, customers ask

1:19 Clients see edge applications as easier to move than transactional systems

1:51 Partnership with IBM SmartCloud will span a range of Infor systems

3:22 Cloud outages influence Infor’s choice of vendor, and how they provide systems

3:47 The use of Amazon Redshift, and Ali’s detailed criteria for deciding who to go to

With Dennis behind the camera, Jon sat down with Nick Borth, Product Manager at Infor, to see where his customers are with mobility and what they were saying during the recent Inforum 2013 event in Orlando.

Nick says that, surprisingly enough, customers want to roll out their own mobile apps — despite the learning curve involved. Nick also reports receiving a lot of enhancement requests for Infor’s mobile apps. Which suggests an evolving ecosystem that combines Infor’s apps with those that customers develop

The guys talk about the double-edged idea that customers want others building apps for them while also wanting to take on that job themselves. Also surprising? It’s not just larger companies that want to build their own apps. A number of smaller companies are asking Infor for that capability. Nick’s approach? Deliver, but do it simply and quickly.

For the wrap, the Jon delves into consumer tech banter and asks Nick who comes in second after iOS and Adroid, Nick’s take? In the enterprise space, Microsoft will play a significant role. But here’s the catch: more often than not, though, the third option is actually web. As a result, Infor looks to support HTML5 and Javascript before it goes to a third native platform.

Show Notes

:34  Customers want to build their own mobile apps?

1:12  Ecosystem evolving to include Infor-built and customer-built apps

1:57  One key: giving developers security and integration tools

2:41  Road Warrior app is a success story

3:52  Customers’ desire to build their own apps is more prevalent than many thought

4:37  Apps are a quick way in  - and an easy way for customers to get value

5:23 Why Infor looks to support HTML5 and Javascript before going a third native platform

Disclosure: Infor paid Dennis and Jon’s travel and hotel for Inforum 2013.

Duncan Angove, President of Infor, says his company is one of the few in enterprise software that can scale up to the really big companies, and scale all the way down to the really small ones.

Speaking with Dennis at the recent Inforum 2013 in Orlando with Jon behind the camera, Duncan explains that two factors have driven Infor to its current position: First, they have a purpose-built ERP strategy, not just by micro-vertical but by size of customer. Second, the ION platform is very elegant and lightweight, yet also super-scalable. And, Duncan adds, with the release of 10X, Infor expects growth to be exponential, not linear.

Duncan confirms to Dennis that Infor plans to dive into micro-verticals, especially those that are under-served or not served at all. Infor’s equipment cloud, for instance, focuses on the heavy machinery space –a market Infor felt could be served better. The company has also released a micro-vertical called Printing & Packaging – which targets some 400,000 companies globally. The company can now get to market about 12 months after deciding which micro-vertical to target, unlike the old 3 to 5 year cycle.

As for the recently announced SkyVault, Duncan says that Infor wants to leverage the cloud as the world’s supercomputer – not just for storage, but for computing power. That’s in keeping with the bigger picture, which, Duncan stresses, is to pick some really big problems that haven’t been solvable before — and go crack them.
Show Notes

:45  Duncan: Infor can scale its solutions to most any size of company

:57  Specialized programs running on the ION platform deliver simplicity of integration

1:45  With the release of 10X, Duncan expects growth to be exponential, not linear

2:18  Infor focusing on micro-verticals that are under-served or not served at all

3:23  With SkyVault, Infor wants to leverage the cloud as the world’s supercomputer

4:00  Collaborating with customers and solving real-world problems

To get a better idea of how data sharing can benefit both manufacturers and customers, Dennis paid a visit to Chris Moore, Director, Hi-Technology Group Ltd., an SMB based in the UK and Slovakia. Hi-Tech has chosen to implement the ION extension from Infor in order to expand the service element of its business. With ION in place, once key customer agreements are entered into the system, Hi-Tech can show the client where the product is – at any stage.

Chris believes that Infor’s solution takes the guesswork out of the manufacturing process. That means visibility into where the product is from a scheduling standpoint – at all points. In the long run, that means better customer relationships.

As for future plans, Hi-Technology Group wants to push the data to mobile devices so that employees, salespeople and executives can look at the business from wherever they are in the world. As Dennis points out, that’s hardly the way business used to be done. There’s a whole new level of tech-enabled service capability now.

Show Notes

:37  Hi-Tech specializes in working with customers at any or all stages of the product process

1:19  Hi-Tech uses technology to interface with customers on the same level as larger companies

2:14  Infor’s ION extension takes guesswork out of the manufacturing process

3:09  How ION helps Hi-Tech provide a better customer experience

3:57  Data sharing allows customer and company to have a “level understanding of the product”

4:14  Hi-Tech hopes to push the data onto customer-supplied mobile devices

5:19  Pushing data directly to customers would add a significant service component – and value

If only for pulling off the user experience piece, the Inforum 2013 was a success, says Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research, who traded chit chat with Dennis at Infor’s annual user group event in Orlando with Jon behind the camera.

The guys talk about the big themes they heard discussed, including how Infor plans to engage business users. Ray sees the company as targeting the CFO sale by going after CMOs, many of whom now report directly to CFOs. Ray’s POV: with Infor managing to prove, over the last 10 years, that their programs are cheaper to run than those of Oracle or SAP, the question of cost savings has already been answered. Now it comes down to innovation.

Dennis and Ray trade information and opinions about ION and Ming.le, as well as recently announced partnerships with IBM and Amazon Redshift. Ray points out that those last two shouldn’t be compared, because IBM and Amazon cloud options are very different.

How does Ray see things 12 months out? Infor is currently targeting market leaders (5% of the overall market) with an appeal to fast followers (15% of the market) close behind. If Infor nails down those two, Ray expects we’ll soon see the long tail. At that point, the competition should start getting worried. If, Dennis adds, they aren’t already.

Show Notes

:42 Ray deems the Inforum a success, if only for pulling off the user experience piece

1:05 Infor is appealing to business users by going after CMOs, targeting the CFO sale

1:28 With Infor cheaper than the competition, what to do with cost savings?

2:12 The pros and cons of ION

2:48 Assessing Ming.le, Infor’s collaboration play

3:34 A roundup of Infor’s cloud announcements, including IBM and Amazon Redshift

4:15 Why Redshift shouldn’t be compared to IBM

5:07 Infor targeting market leaders and fast followers, which should concern the competition