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.

Products break and have faults – roughly 5% occur after they’re sold and up to 25% occur within the factory gates. Worldwide, manufacturing faults are estimated to cost companies a staggering $1.3 trillion.

Dan Somers, CEO, Warwick Analytics, explains to Dennis that his company’s approach to solving this expensive problem hinges on data. Lots of data, and the more reliable the better. His company’s proprietary algorithms work best in industries where data is plentiful: electronics, automotive, pharmaceutical and aerospace. That’s especially true for companies that have live data and can test every product that goes out the door.

Because Dan’s solution is aimed at real-time results, it requires a huge amount of computational power. That makes HANA the perfect partner because HANA works in real time and provides highly reliable results. As a member of the HANA Startup Program, Warwick eventually became a fully-fledged SAP partner.

According to Dan, pairing up HANA with Warwick’s algorithms yields significant ROI. Net-net: companies utilizing Warwick’s HANA application could look forward to a low-cost future, or redeployment of resources, or make additional money while at the same time producing better and safer products.

Show Notes

:22 Warwick Analytics seeks to find the root causes of manufacturing defects

1:44 Manufacturing faults cost companies $1.3 trillion annually

2:39 Warwick uses data, not more engineers, to propose a quick-fix solution

4:29 Dan’s approach works best in industries where data is plentiful

5:28 Part of Warwick’s magic lies in cleaning up algorithms, because real-world data is dirty

6:22 HANA is the perfect partner because it works in real time

7:28 Why pairing up HANA with Warwick’s algorithms provides significant ROI

8:28 What parts of the process can Warwick’s solution assess?

9:26 Dan has proven his concept, and is now working with several customers

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.

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

Is radio a dead format? Far from it, according to Daniel Mruk, CEO – Bear Clan Studios, whose signature product, WaveSnap, seeks to deliver contextually relevant ads inside radio shows, disintermediating the old actuary model.

Daniel, whose Kansas-based startup won an award for Most Innovative Solution at the SAP Startup Forum in Boston, tells Jon that his business places a sound barcode advertisement into music – a process they call “WaveSnapping”. As people listen to the radio, they earn points and rewards that are redeemable for offers. The most valuable currency is time, says Daniel. “So if you’re spending time doing something, why not get something back?”

By harnessing the power of individual data points, WaveSnap essentially says to radio stations, “This is the kind of music your target demographic is listening to, and these are the kinds of products they want.” Daniel also shares his plans to move the tech to television – just as soon as it’s proved itself reliable on the radio side of things.

Though he still needs to evaluate SAP HANA with his developers, Daniel says that HANA might be the right platform to handle things, especially as the company scales. With 2 or 3 seconds amounting to a lifetime from a consumer’s point of view, the most attractive HANA features for WaveSnap would be real-time capabilities and multiple data sources. With speed not very far behind.

Show Notes

:43 On being awarded Most Innovative Solution at SAP HANA Forum

1:11 WaveSnapping involves putting a sound barcode advertisement into music

1:42 Each radio listener is its own data point

2:23 The tech tells you what people are listening to and the products they want

3:00 Radio is the proving ground for moving the technology to television

3:35 HANA might be the right platform to handle things as the company scales

4:31 HANA features most attractive to Daniel are real-time and multiple data sources

5:06 Real-time is critical: 2 or 3 second difference is a lifetime in consumer’s eyes

5:23 WaveSnap is upgrading radio to the modern era, doing away with old processes

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.

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

The massive amount of data being created today doesn’t necessarily have the right structure for analysis. Nor does it easily fit into an existing schema or relational table. Hadoop-savvy companies (like Hadapt) have been able to take the Apache Hadoop open-source product and do some nifty things with parallel programming. The opportunity? Fortune 500 companies that are itching to give their analysts access to that data with some easy-to-use Hadoop front ends.

At the SAP HANA Startup Forum in Boston, Scott Howser, VP Marketing at Hadapt, tells Jon that it’s all about getting those Hadoop-enabled tools into the hands of the masses. By enabling SQL for Hadoop, and also embedding a relational database, Scott says that Hadapt is giving its customers a competitive advantage that – up until recently – has been restricted to companies with an ample supply of PhDs and quants.

The guys talk about Hadapt’s current customer focus of fraud detection for financial services ,as well as enhancements they are pursuing for Consumer Behavior Analytics (CBA). Scott says that Hadapt’s CBA work has attempted to use information like click-throughs and windowing to harvest more granular data about transactional behaviors.

So where might HANA fit into the picture? While Hadapt is still in the tire-kicking stage concerning whether to use HANA, Scott sees several areas of interest. Example? Using HANA to speed the processing of combined transactional and analytics data. Hadapt also has a relational engine that lives inside Hadoop – this could potentially be transitioned to HANA for in-memory database performance.
Show Notes

:40 By using SQL on Hadoop, Hadapt has exposed analysts to the data they need

2:23 Hadapt wants to give everyone a competitive advantage, not just the Quants

3:13 Fraud detection and customer behavior analytics are Hadapt’s current focus areas

4:34 Use of HANA could enhance Hadoop’s relational engine and marry different workloads

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.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Paul Meissner of Five Ways Accounting came to a crossroads that many accountants face: Do you continue working for corporate? Or do you go out on your own? Dennis sat down with Paul to find out how that crossroads led to the founding of Five Ways Accounting.

Without a single client, Paul started his own business. He implemented up-front, fixed-fee billing that helped him stay cash-flow positive from day one. By relying on a cloud-based solution, Paul believes that he’s removed a barrier – with both clients and financial advisors — as to who holds the data and information. The result is a powerful form of increased communication that helps him grow a lot closer to his clients, and grow his business quickly.

Paul has numbers to back up his model. Example: getting rid of timesheets gave his firm 25% efficiency. Paul figured he was wasting about 3 months of a year doing timesheets. Then, using cloud solutions on top of that has probably given him 30-40% increased efficiency. Translation: get more work done in less time. Paul also reports that he uses a lot of social media and that 80% of his new clients have come from Twitter. Not a bad way to start.

Show Notes

:22 Paul’s dilemma: continue corporate life, or go out on his own?

1:32 Paul switched to the cloud – without having a single client first

3:19 Collaborating online removes the data barrier between accountant and client

4:06 80% of Paul’s new clients have come from Twitter

5:31 Cloud solution adds 30-40% efficiency

The real effect of changing over to a cloud-based accounting system like Xero is not unlike going to a dentist, reports Gavin Waring, CEO of Fresh Numbers. When a client suddenly sees where they’re losing money, or where their weaknesses are, it’s as though a dental probe touches a raw nerve.

Gavin describes to Dennis how he’s gone about changing the internal culture of his accounting firm – which, in turn, has caused his clients to change. Switching to Xero involves looking at the business as a whole rather than the mere bookkeeping aspect of it.

As a result, Gavin has his accountants working toward benchmarking particular industries, and using collective data to help clients. Example: telling a plumber that he’s 5% out on his costs by comparing his numbers with data from 30 other plumbers. That’s just one reason why Gavin is sold on Xero to the point that he would not advise competitors to make a similar switch – because he wants their clients.

Show Notes

:40 Moving to cloud accounting is disruptive – in a good way

2:04 How Gavin guided his internal staff – and clients – through the changes

2:51 Gavin would not advise competitors to go to Xero – because he wants their clients

Professional accountancies are increasingly moving to cloud-based systems like Xero. That doesn’t mean the transition is a simple one. Dipping your toes into the Xero cloud accounting system isn’t enough; you have to dive in. That’s the viewpoint of David McPherson, Principal of McPherson Financial, whose firm has transitioned to Xero.

While chatting in Melbourne, David reports that things have finally fallen into place. The firm’s biggest challenge? Not being able to take on the system in bits and pieces. It’s all about embracing and changing the whole process. Was the change worth it? David reports a 40% increase in revenue over the last 8 months. He’s also been picking up clients he wouldn’t have gotten before – because of increased efficiencies using Xero.

David’s verdict? Despite a significant amount of change and a few growing pains, the move onto Xero amounts to a success story.

Show Notes

:37 Wading in to the Xero cloud system isn’t enough; you have to be “right in”

1:38 After a difficult start, the team has gotten things in place within the last 6 months

2:15 For David, the biggest challenge lies in embracing and changing the whole process

3:09 As systems integration progressed, the team realized they’d get a better result in the end

3:54 By using Xero, David’s revenues have grown by about 40% over the last 8 months

5:08 David’s move to Xero amounts to a success story that bodes well for the future

Accountants don’t want to be accountants anymore, says Lisa Stribely, Director of the Australian accounting firm Hansens. Talking with Dennis from Melbourne, Lisa explains that the new breed of accountant looks and behaves differently from the old-school variety – a point that hits home for Dennis himself, who was once a chartered bean counter back in the day.

Lisa goes on to note that accounting graduates today are effectively saying that they want to be business analysts. They want to have people contact with clients, they want to have genuine positive impact on their clients’ business. As for crunching numbers, they want to utilize tools that create efficiencies. The new tools also provide real-time data visibility, which allows for a new kind of client relationship. And yes, they want the job to be fun – and sexy.

While the debate over these new approaches goes on, Lisa confirms that the new outlook has had a positive impact on her firm’s performance. The implications? The accounting profession is no longer one for shy and retiring types that want to sit in a corner.
Show Notes

:39 Accountants don’t want to be accountants anymore

1:41 Today’s accountants would rather be perceived as business analysts

2:27 How real-time accounting tools enable closer relationships with clients

Paris, France-based Hubwoo, a rising star in the procurement space, is looking to compete with the biggest procurement players by building new alliances. Following a recently announced partnership with Microsoft, Dennis met with Rinus Strydom, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Hubwoo, at the Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013 in New Orleans.

Hubwoo’s strategy is to be the world’s largest open B2B network, without friction on commerce. As Rinus sees it, that’s a fundamentally different approach than Hubwoo’s competition. Hubwoo doesn’t believe that it’s necessary for a business to pay a tax or a toll in order to post an invoice or receive a purchase order. Payment should only be required if the service is truly value-add.

Rinus predicts that 2013 and 2014 will put Hubwoo head-to-head with procurement’s household names. Hubwoo intends to sell into all large enterprise areas while also working closely with Microsoft and their Value Added Reseller (VAR) community. On  top of their existing commerce base, Hubwoo plans to add an influx of community elements, such as ratings and market-place type buying.

Show Notes

:34  Hubwoo’s procurement plans: changing the market

1:29 The Microsoft Alliance

2:19 Subscription and sell-side services

3:39 The  multi-channel strategy

4:13 Taking on competitors of all sizes

4:53 Future product developments

5:37 Getting the message out: replacing  ”antiquated systems”

When the Lotus Formula One Racing Team began evaluating new ERP solutions, they settled on  Microsoft Dynamics AX. Dennis caught up with Phil Kennard, Commercial Manager, Lotus F1, at Microsoft Convergence 2013 to gain some insight into Phil’s successful implementation of AX.

The guys discuss issues with implementing an ERP solution for a racing car team, which, Phil says, is just another company that makes widgets – albeit very fast, very sexy widgets. Due to the specialized nature of F1 resource restrictions – such as competition agreements that dictate which racing teams can use resources like wind tunnels and trap testing – Phil needed a unique solution. One key variable? He needed the ability to see where he stood regarding his usage agreements at the touch of a button. Under the old system, that process would have taken at least three days. As Dennis points out, that’s 2 and a half days too long.

As Phil sees it, the key challenge to adopting a new ERP solution lies in getting user buy-in – not an easy thing when you’re pushing to build race cars. So far, F1 users have responded well to the AX rollout approach.  Dennis and Phil agree to check back in a year for a progress report.

Show Notes

:42 The search to implement a new ERP solution

1:55 Reference checking was key decision making factor

2:29 Phase One implementation: finance, HR and payroll happened

3:28 No margin for error in the race car industry

4:16 2 ½ days saved in process monitoring time

5:26 Driving user adoption of AX

6:29 Team members with AX and other ERP experience helped push the implementation

7:18 The absolute focus required of F1 activities also helped ease the adoption of AX

Cloud-based accounting systems from SaaS vendors like Xero have changed the way accountants do business.To get the latest views from the field, Dennis visited with four Xero accounting partners in Australia: Gavin Waring, CEO of Fresh Numbers, David McPherson, Principal of McPherson Financial, Lisa Stribely, Director of Hansens and Paul Meissner of Five Ways Accounting.

During the video series, Dennis asks the four partners to speak to how Xero has impacted their firms. Gavin says that partnering with Xero allowed for benchmarking particular industries and using collective data to help clients make comparisons to competitors. David grew his revenue by about 40% over an eight-month period. Lisa points out that, since accountants don’t want to be accountants anymore, but business analysts, the cloud helps her utilize tools and efficiencies to help clients, rather than just sit behind a desk crunching numbers. And Paul reports that, without a single client, he started his own business, implementing up-front, fixed-fee billing that helped him stay cash-flow positive from day one.

Show Notes

:37 Gavin would not advise competitors to go to Xero – because he wants their clients

2:13 David’s revenues have grown by about 40% over the last 8 months

3:02 Lisa: today’s accountants would rather be the equivalent of business analysts

4:35 Paul switched to the cloud – without having a single client first – and made it work