Mark Davison at Inforum 2017 in New York – Addressing one of the five key categories outlined as part of its future strategy, Infor has launched Networked CloudSuites which it says is an evolutionary step that extends mission-critical business applications beyond the four walls of the enterprise across the value chain.
Earlier at Inforum, CEO Charles Phillips listed the five key areas determining the company’s strategic direction: Industry expertise; the cloud; the network; analytics; and artificial intelligence.

By delivering core functionality from the GT Nexus commerce network into Infor CloudSuite industry suites, Infor is able to connect the core applications of an enterprise with its logistics, supplier, and finance networks, increasing network-wide visibility, collaboration, efficiency, and responsiveness, making an enterprise more agile and competitive.

“We’ve built what is essentially a platform that allows a lot of people to connect in realtime,” says Infor’s Kurt Cavano. “In the old days, you’d take a photograph and send it out on email; today, you hold the photo up in the middle and let everyone look at it. That’s a pretty good metaphor for what we’re doing with the commerce network.”

CEO Phillips adds:”The days when a single company was responsible for all aspects of its products, from sourcing to manufacturing and shipping to point-of-sale, are long gone; commerce today requires an extended network of suppliers, production, 3PLS, and financiers, yet the software that companies rely on has not adapted to this business model. Leveraging the power of the GT Nexus commerce network,

Infor is able to offer true multi-tenant, multi-organisation public cloud solutions that provide a single instance of the truth, making an enterprise more agile, responsive, and competitive.”

Networked CloudSuites are the next step for Infor CloudSuite, which in early 2014 was the first set of industry-specific application suites delivered on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. These suites unify multiple applications into a single suite for specific industries such as healthcare, public sector, distribution, and various manufacturing industries like aerospace and defence, automotive, food and beverage, and industrial manufacturing.

With built-in functionality from Infor’s 2015 acquisition of GT Nexus, Networked CloudSuites expand Infor CloudSuite beyond the four walls of the enterprise with functionality for:

  • Logistics network – live shipment tracking, ocean booking, 3PL services, and ocean container tracking
  • Supplier network – order issue and acknowledge, advanced shipping notices (ASN), and invoicing
  • Finance network – receivables financing, payables financing
  • Network platform – community benchmarks and collaborative issue management.