Top 4 Takeaways from Infor Connect 2024

By: Keith Wayland    June 4, 2024

RPI Consultants had the pleasure of attending the Infor Connect 2024 conference in St. Paul, Minnesota late last month.

Infor, a leading cloud-based ERP provider shared many exciting developments and updates throughout the week, and we thought it best to identify our top takeaways from the 2024 event here.

Regardless of whether you were able to attend, we’re covering everything you need to know to stay up-to-speed with Infor and its product roadmap. Read on to find out our top four insights from Infor Connect 2024.

Takeaway 1: AI is Reshaping ERP Applications

Consistent with the rest of the working world, Infor is leaning in on AI and finding more use cases for technological development all the time. At the Connect conference, the product team showcased how these innovations will transform the way users perform daily tasks and solve complex problems.

Infor’s robust platform empowers users to develop and optimize processes using integrated AI capabilities. This strategic focus on AI is designed to enhance the user experience, drive productivity, and facilitate seamless data integration, ultimately enabling more informed and strategic decision-making across the organization.

One use case in current development addressed staffing challenges. Imagine your business is looking to cover an upcoming shift. The worker originally responsible for the shift had to call out and now there’s an opening that needs to be filled.

It’s a common scenario that often requires frequent outreach in the form of calls, emails, and messaging applications. With AI however, supervisors can sit back and let the application make recommendations based on availability, qualifications and who may go into overtime if the full shift is taken.

This digital assistant will allow the manager to make the final decision along with other human factors, such as who is looking to make extra money, who gets along better with the team they will be with, and if they want to split the shift to not incur any overtime from their budget.

The process turns what is usually a negative and stressful situation into a positive, employee-first opportunity. The employee calling in on short notice won’t feel like they have inconvenienced their supervisor and the person that gets the shift. It allows the supervisor to make an informed decision quickly, not reactively. It allows employees who want more shifts to be given priority.

And finally, the organization wins because the most cost-effective labor scenarios are uncovered.

This is just one way Infor is leveraging AI to solve real-world problems. And it’s a big indication of where the cloud-based ERP provider is headed. Not only is the software making better use of the data within the applications, but it’s also making decision-making easier and saving time.

While there is still much skepticism around AI, the fact is that it’s here to stay. And tools like Infor’s Generative AI will assist users in becoming more efficient in their roles, generating improved metrics and KPIs, and serving as a tool to help them excel in their tasks rather than replacing them.

Takeaway 2: Streamlining End-to-End Processing

Infor is constantly solving for ways to increase efficiency and productivity for organizations that deploy their cloud-based software. And the 2024 Infor Connect conference showcased some super exciting developments on the way.

The first is Integration Architect. This new functionality empowers users to streamline integrations between Infor technology and third-party applications by allowing APIs to seamlessly plugin and map to their respective destinations.

This is a major quality of life improvement for users who previously had to build custom Infor process automations systems (IPAs) from scratch.

Next is Infor Process Mining. Powered by AI, this application mines and tracks processes occurring outside of the Infor ERP system.

Take for example, processing an invoice in accounts payable, and then needing to go out to a third-party solution to review and complete the transaction. Infor process mining will monitor and measure the time spent handling that exercise.

The thinking here is that by tracking this activity, Infor can identify ways to expedite processing of manual tasks and develop solutions for automating it and giving time back to users.

Lastly, and not expected until 2025 is Infor Benchmarking. A rather bold addition, but extremely valuable insight for Infor users. In essence, businesses will be able to see how they compare against their own average data, as well as against other organizations in their industry and vertical.

Visibility like this can help businesses achieve better outcomes with their ERP software as well. By being able to see other organizations’ KPIs and performance, it may open new paths for improving and enhancing processes for greater efficiency. You don’t know what’s possible until you see others in your space achieving it.

Takeaway 3: An Emphasis on the End User

As we recently discussed on RPI Tech Connect, Infor has made it known that it is actively listening to, and acting on the feedback of its partners and customers. At Infor Connect 2024, the enterprise software firm doubled down on that priority.

Throughout the three day conference, end-users were given the platform to share work experience before and after migrating to CloudSuite.

These customer journeys highlighted the challenges encountered along the way and demonstrated how they were solved through advanced cloud applications, providing valuable insights for the entire Infor services community

And Infor is acting on the feedback provided by these users. In fact, the software team is currently working to customize the interfaces for teams based on their job title and functional area.

Going forward, when users login into Infor, they will immediately be greeted by the responsibilities and duties most pertinent to them. Relevant dashboards, outstanding to-dos, widgets, and more will show on the home screen of users, saving time and increasing overall organizational productivity.

In addition to functional improvements within the software itself, the user experience is also improving thanks to the adjustment in new functionality being rolled out biannually in April and October.

Because of this change, end-users have been able to consume and implement new features in a much more digestible format, while also having things to look forward to.

This balancing of reality and future functionality has become a cornerstone of Infor product development and a continued emphasis on the end user. This is consistent with priorities announced at last year’s Connect conference and in recent product enhancements, like Portal OS.

The major takeaway here is that Infor continues to prioritize the customer experience, constantly striving to deliver and sustain a better working interface for teams across healthcare, government, utilities, and beyond.

Takeaway 4: Connection Provides Mutual Benefit

The best products stem from a collaborative effort of the technically savvy, the partner implementers, and the organizations that deploy the software. Infor Connect provides a platform for organic and structured feedback from these parties to flourish, which ultimately drives product development.

As the cloud-based ERP provider made clear last year, it’s actively looking to enhance lines of communication to strengthen the feedback loop that is so integral to the future of its applications. And this year’s conference proved that was still the case and that Infor is still very much in tune with the insights both its customers and partners are providing.

Infor also made clear that it is focused on creating mutual benefits by making third-party solutions easier for customers to use through IPA systems, thereby improving the end-to-end solution.

Moreover, the software provider is enhancing the way third-party apps and its tech stack work together. If clients create solutions through IPA, Birst, RPA, AI, or other technologies, they can place them in the marketplace for others to purchase and access.

By eliminating barriers for partners to deliver solutions and collaborate efficiently, Infor prioritizes empowering its user base over competitiveness. Partners are encouraged to be part of the Infor product offering, and while the marketplace is still developing, it is improving steadily.

This approach also allows partners to generate extra revenue by identifying and addressing customer needs, thereby alleviating some of the burden on Infor itself.

This creates a community platform where knowledge sharing, and customer success are streamlined. It’s clear that Infor is dedicated to making the customer and partner experience more successful and easier, with updates and improvements continually being prioritized.

Infor Connect—it’s all in the name!

Putting Infor Connect 2024 Takeaways into Practice

The 2024 Infor Connect conference is behind us, but the developments are only just beginning. If you’re using Infor CloudSuite, or are interested in migrating to the software, RPI can help you maximize your investment and realize the benefits of the cloud ERP.

With over 25 years consulting in the Infor and Lawson ERP space, we have the expertise and technical know-how to help your business enhance its back-end operations while setting itself up for long-term success.

For a deeper dive into our key takeaways from Infor Connect 2024, check out the RPI Tech Connect podcast for an in-depth conversation with RPI Partner, Stephanie Kowal.