Infor Connect 2024: AI, Efficiency, Connection and More

By: RPI Tech Connect   June 12, 2024

In this episode of RPI Tech Connect, RPI Partner Stephanie Kowal shares the major highlights from Infor Connect 2024. The conference, known for its focus on innovation and connectivity, provided details regarding several key trends and updates, including the transformative role of AI in ERPs, emphasizing user needs, streamlining end-to-end processing, and the importance of connection.

Tune in to find out how Infor is leveraging AI to enhance job performance, the user experience improvements through customized interfaces, and the exciting new tools like Integration Architect and process mining.

Whether you were able to attend the conference or not, this is a session you won’t want to miss if you’re looking a concise recap of the 2024 Infor Connect conference.

Interested in listening to this episode on another streaming platform? Check out our directories.

Meet Today’s Guest, Stephanie Kowal

Stephanie Kowal has over 15 years of experience working in materials management, process improvement, project management, and system administration. Certified in Infor CloudSuite and Infor Supply Management Suite, Stephanie is a Partner at RPI Consultants and oversees the entire Infor CloudSuite practice and leads multiple teams across the Infor Lawson consulting practice, including Supply Management, Finance, and Project Management.

Prior to joining the leadership team, Mrs. Kowal spent four years as an RPI consultant gaining diverse experience on Infor implementation and optimization projects. Stephanie is most motivated by complex systems that impact multiple departments, processes, and stakeholders.

She takes great pride in the ability to listen to diverse perspectives, distill common requirements, and align them through shared objectives and goals. Before joining RPI, Mrs. Kowal was the Supply Chain Consultant & System Administrator for a large health system.

Meet Your Host, Chris Arey

Chris Arey is an experienced B2B marketing professional with nearly a decade of working in content creation, copywriting, SEO, website architecture, corporate branding, and social media. Beginning his career as an analyst before making a lateral move into marketing, he combines analytical thinking with creative flair—two fundamental principles required in marketing.

With a Bachelor’s degree in English and certifications from the Digital Marketing Institute and HubSpot, Chris has spearheaded impactful content marketing initiatives, participated in corporate re-branding efforts, and collaborated with celebrity influencers. He has also worked with award-winning PR professionals to create unique, compelling campaigns that drove brand recognition and revenue growth for his previous employers.

Chris’ versatility is highlighted by his experience working across different industries, including HR, Tech, SaaS, and Consulting.

About RPI Tech Connect

RPI Tech Connect is the go-to podcast for catching up on the dynamic world of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Join us as we discuss the future of ERPs, covering everything from best practices and organizational change to seamless cloud migration and optimizing applications. Plus, we’ll share predictions and insights of what to expect in the future world of ERPs.

RPI Tech Connect delivers relevant, valuable information in a digestible format. Through candid, genuine conversations and stories from the world of consulting, we aim to provide actionable steps to help you elevate your organization’s ERP. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the ERP scene, our podcast ensures you’re well-equipped for success.

Tune in as we explore tips and tricks in the field of ERP consulting each week and subscribe to RPI Tech Connect below.

Transcript

Chris Arey (00:03)
Infor Connect 2024. AI, efficiency, connection, and more. The annual Services Connect Conference proved to be another successful show for Infor. Tune in as we identify our top findings from the event this year.

Chris Arey (00:07)
The annual Infor Connect conference is officially behind us. And as expected, it delivered a number of exciting updates. The event was a fantastic opportunity to connect with partners, customers, and of course, the Infor team. With several breakout sessions happening almost every hour over the three -day event though, compiling everything can be quite challenging. To help us capture the major takeaways from Infor Connect 2024, we have a special guest joining us on RPI Tech Connect today, RPI partner Stephanie Kowal.

Stephanie has been with RPI for nearly a decade and began her career here as a supply chain consultant. Since then, she has ascended the ladder and now helps oversee RPI operations. Stephanie, welcome to the show. Is there anything else you’d like to share before we jump in today?

Stephanie Kowal (00:59)
Thanks for having me, Chris. Yeah, I’m excited to be here and to talk more about where Infor is headed. I’ve been involved in this ecosystem for about 15 years, and boy, has it changed along the way.

Chris Arey (01:15)
Awesome, well so happy to have you here today and you know for hanging out and can’t wait to hear more about Infor Connect. You know it’s an exciting event that I know everyone looks forward to and loves to talk about after the fact.

Stephanie Kowal (01:29)
Absolutely. It really was a nice time to connect with everyone throughout the breakout sessions and panels and presentations. And really, altogether, there were about four main themes. Really heavy was Gen .ai and how it’s reshaping the RP world.

A lot of focus on end user experience, which was a theme that was brought up on last year’s import connect and they really invested in along with that streamlining end to end processing and really focusing in on connection within the ecosystem.

Chris Arey (02:15)
Yeah, I love to hear that. And you know, you mentioned some of those trends and I think to myself, that sounds like it’s in line with some of the general developments we’re hearing like across the broader working world. If you know, if you spend any time on LinkedIn, these are topics that I think are trending. But like AI, for example, and maybe that’s a good place to start. How is Infor putting the power of AI to work? What kind of use cases did they share?

Stephanie Kowal (02:40)
Right, yeah, it’s really all over the place wherever you look. But it’s great to see Infor really putting it to work. They’re enhancing how our teams are performing their job duties. And the use cases that they honed in on were helping manage and maintain the ERP system in place and also just helping with real world experiences like.

Staffing scenarios and using the data and being able to question and ask and make better decisions.

Chris Arey (03:17)
Cool, yeah, so you mentioned the staffing scenario. I think I heard Melissa and Ken talk about that, but what exactly is the AI doing to help with that kind of situation? Would you mind sharing?

Stephanie Kowal (03:31)
Yeah, of course. So yeah, for those that may be exploring out there, you may try to use like ChatGPT and ask it a question, right? But it doesn’t understand your business case, your data. And in this use case they talked through, it was essentially an employee wasn’t able to make their shift, right? So they were looking for someone to fill it, right?

So the analysts could go ahead and type in, hey, I’m looking for…coverage for this date and it would come back and say, yeah, these three team members are available and they’re actually here. They’re working right now. So you could go ahead and just go ahead and ask them, right? And then you also could follow up and check in on your overtime, right? And then it would give you recommendations to go, actually, these two team members would be a better fit for what you’re looking for.

Chris Arey (04:24)
That’s so cool to hear like the robot can like analyze the schedule and be like, well, based on what I’ve seen here, it looks like these are the right, the best fit candidates to fill this vacancy. And you got to figure too, like how much time that’s saving, you know, people like you think about an experience like that previously, someone calls out last minute for a shift. That’s probably pretty stressful, but it sounds like AI is maybe even turning it into a positive.

Stephanie Kowal (04:52)
Right, absolutely. And also in that scenario, it’s protecting that organization’s bottom line, right? And making sure that those funds may be available for something else. And that’s really powerful. You see a lot of jokes these days where I don’t want AI taking the creativity out of my life. I want it to help me do my laundry and wash my dishes, right? So I kind of see this helping with that.

Chris Arey (05:12)
Yeah.

Stephanie Kowal (05:19)
not taking that valuable time to analyze the data. It doesn’t want to take that away. It still wants you to make your own critical decisions, right? But making that a little easier to sort through.

Chris Arey (05:30)
Heck yeah, let’s go technology. Woo, it’s a big win right there. And so you mentioned something else too there. So like, I feel like when people think of AI, they think language models. So I’m curious, did at the, you know, at Info Connect, did they share anything about generative language models to help with anything?

Stephanie Kowal (05:34)
Hahaha!

Yeah, absolutely. There’s so many different places you can take it, right? But the scenario that I heard about was more related to building a skills library. So the idea here is that where users would typically have to create those from scratch, the AI will allow them to populate these themselves. So for example, if you want to create a job requisition for a supply chain analyst, you can pull from an existing library of listings.

And include the qualifications and descriptions for that job type, as opposed to writing new qualifications and duties from scratch. So, tremendous value add, right? It’s not that you should just take it as face values, but it’s giving you that starting point so that you can really focus in on what’s important to you and what needs to be modified.

Chris Arey (06:43)
Yeah, those are some serious quality of life improvements. And I’m happy you mentioned the artistic argument too, because this is very in line with saving people time and taking away some of the mundane things they’ve already done. So way to go in for it. Thank you for this addition. OK, though. So it sounds like we’ve talked about the AI and what to expect in terms of how that’s going to be simplifying workloads.

Stephanie Kowal (06:59)
Mm-hmm.

Chris Arey (07:12)
Let’s shift gears here and talk about other ways Infor is focusing on the end user. What kind of developments did you see there?

Stephanie Kowal (07:20)
Great question. Really glad you asked. It’s something that I believe Infor communicated that it was going to be prioritizing at last year’s Connect conference and really drove them this year. For one, all throughout the Infor events, they were sharing challenges they faced in job functions and really how they were resolved by moving to CloudSuite.

And these customer journeys and experiences not only show how software empowers the users to carry out their jobs more efficiently, but the significance change management played in helping those users realize the potential of the software.

Chris Arey (08:03)
Very cool. It’s always nice to see that at a major software conference like this, that they’ve provided a platform for their end users to kind of share their journey, you know, what the challenges, the progress, the outcomes, what that looked like for them. And, you know, so just so nice to hear that that’s still happening and that they’re encouraging it. And you know that in doing so,

They’re acting on that feedback to enhance the user experience. The stories are great, but was there anything in particular that they said that they would be doing to improve that experience for users?

Stephanie Kowal (08:47)
Yeah, of course. So from Infor specifically, they shared earlier this year the modification of UI for users depending on their functional area. So when they log into the system, their home screen will display outstanding to -dos, widgets, and dashboards that require their attention based on their practice. So just trying to pull out.

Those exceptions that matter to them. And really the idea here is that it’s going to make it a lot easier and faster for users to get the information they need.

Chris Arey (09:29)
Yeah, that’s a very intentional customization, it sounds like. It’s gotta save so many people time. I think of someone like a supply chain analyst who’s maybe not in front of the computer all that much. When they have to log in to the Infor and check something, to immediately be greeted with the things that are most pertinent to you and things that require your attention without having to go hunt around.

You know, for what it is that you need to be looking at, like to have that right up front sounds like a major like improvement. Yeah, so there’s a lot of noise in today’s world. But, you know, you mentioned something there and I’m wondering if you could share a little bit more about it, but like this portal OS, like I think that permanent shift or like people had to move off ming.le to portal happened, was that April or is that right?

Stephanie Kowal (10:03)
Right, get rid of all the noise.

Yeah, yeah, totally right. They started to send out communication earlier this year. And so far, it’s going really well. Throughout the past several years here with the creation of Cloud Suite and just continuing to hear their user base, get more feedback, they keep iterating on that, right? And keep just trying to do what they can to improve that user experience.

So in this latest iteration of Portal OS, they’re just focusing more on modernizing that experience, taking what we see out there and other great software that we love, simplifying the tabs and session experiences, and giving the user a little bit more control over what works for them, right? Because that can be very different based upon the functional area or even just the person and how they function with their workload. So.

Pretty powerful. Customization can be a really scary word, but how this software is being developed, it allows that flexibility where IT can still support what’s going on in the system, right? And giving that user what they need to make changes immediately and not have to wait.

Chris Arey (11:38)
Yeah, and you mentioned something there I want to sidebar real quick. Customization can be scary. It’s like choice paralysis with like Netflix or something, right? Like you log in, you’re greeted with all these different things you can do and it’s like, well, how do I, where do I begin? And so for Infor to be taking this proactive approach to simplify that experience based on the user’s functional area and what’s important to them. They’re doing them a great service and doing that I would say, would you agree?

Stephanie Kowal (12:05)
Absolutely.

Chris Arey (12:07)
Okay, so nice, developments all over the place. And I think we’ve gotten through two of our takeaways now, the AI, enhancing the end user experience. And now I wanna get into this next one you mentioned, which is this streamlining end to end processing. That sounds like a lot, I’m hoping you can simplify that for me.

Stephanie Kowal (12:26)
Yeah, yeah, I can definitely see how that might be tough to understand. Essentially, Infor is looking for ways to simplify processes by enabling organizations to be more self -sufficient. So for example, they’re introducing Integration Architect, which allows direct connection of APIs between Infor and third parties. So plug-in and map directly wherever it needs to go. So instead of building custom IPAs from scratch, it’s going to make integrating a lot easier.

Chris Arey (13:03)
Okay, well that sounds pretty sophisticated to be honest with you. It’s putting a lot of, I guess, power and almost self -service into the hands of the end user. Do you think that’s going to be easy for people to adopt and use?

Stephanie Kowal (13:18)
never. Nothing is ever quite as easy as you think it’s going to be. But it’s hard to say since it’s not quite out yet. But it’s very likely that it will save businesses time, though they’ll still need some support and building those customizations to maximize the use of the functionality. So cloud software changes all the time, right?

And that’s… the exciting part about it, but also the burden. And I think the great thing about what Infor is focusing on is more so simplicity in that and making it easier for the everyday user to hop in and get that baseline understanding and build off of it. So still a great opportunity to partner with a professional services firm to get you started. To get you started.

Chris Arey (14:14)
Yeah, so like they’re giving them the building blocks to be more self-sufficient, but there’s probably still a need for training and setup and all those things. Is that right?

Stephanie Kowal (14:22)
Absolutely. Yep.

Chris Arey (14:24)
Good, good. Thank you for clarifying that and it makes sense from my perspective. So we got the integration architect. What other ways is in for streamlining the end-end processing or what can we look forward to on the horizon here?

Stephanie Kowal (14:41)
Yeah, a very exciting development, especially coming from my supply chain background, is supposedly in the works for 2025, which is benchmarking. And I’m not quite sure how Infor will be getting the data, but essentially the idea is that Cloud Suite users will be able to benchmark their processes against their own performance, but also organizations across their industry and vertical.

Chris Arey (15:10)
Very cool that you say that. That’s some sophisticated technology right there. And to be able to pull that data and show, I think it’s one thing to measure against yourself, but it’s another to see how others within your space are doing. And you said something there, with your supply chain background, hearing about this benchmarking idea, are there ideas that come to mind of things that you would like to see how others are doing?

Stephanie Kowal (15:37)
Yeah, for sure. So say, for example, organizations processes is cumbersome and they think, well, this is just the way that it is. But then with the benchmarking data, they can see how others are performing and just see how fast and agile they are. And you can improve and optimize processes by seeing what other orgs are doing. You know, there’s this community where you can ask questions and dig in, but it’s also difficult to conceptualize that or see how you might stack up against that other organization. They may be a total different size and scale, right? So it gives a little bit more context behind that as well.

Chris Arey (16:17)
It’s almost like this, you don’t know what you don’t know and then you see someone else doing it like, wow, we could be doing that too? It’s almost like a motivator. Super cool. So then I think I also heard something about process mining, something developing there. What is that and how is it gonna help?

Stephanie Kowal (16:23)
Right. Mm-hmm.

Sure, yeah. Infor process mining essentially measures and tracks processes. It’s going to provide visibility into the actual business operations and processes by automatically applying advanced process mining algorithms, which is a whole lot. The result is more so a clear view of the end -to -end business processes and hope for increased alignment between current process models and operations. So simply put, it’s going to help users more efficiently use their applications and understand what’s working and where there might be room for improvement.

Chris Arey (17:23)
Okay, that sounds like, that could assist with like powering the benchmarking info too then, because it’s measuring what’s working, how it’s working, and kind of like what’s happening also outside of Infor, and kind of like, I guess measuring those, the effort and time spent. So yeah, what do you?

Stephanie Kowal (17:44)
Yeah, exactly. Super powerful, somewhat difficult to conceptualize sometimes, but data is really valuable, right? But you got to figure out what the heck are you going to do with it and how is it really helping you make business decisions? And yeah, exactly what you said is right. It’s having the system track this information and see, you know, am I maybe having a breakdown with this?

One potential vendor or user that’s processing the data. Hey, we just moved our AP department under supply chain and we’re moving forward with some efficiencies and this processor is moving a ton faster. Why is that? What can we learn from that data? And really the idea is with this process mining, it’s going to be pointing that stuff out for you versus you trying to figure out how to go through that data yourself.

Chris Arey (18:39)
Yeah, that’s great. That’s just another way that Infor is to serve it up, you know, the most valuable information without having to go dig for it. It’s a, that’s something I feel like we could all ask for in our lives in every aspect. Like here it is, here’s what you need to look at and not go hunting through these different places. So love that. Thank you. And with that though, so I think that brings us to our takeaway number four and our final one, which is this, I love this too. It’s connection is key. Infor Connect, connection is key. It’s beautiful.

Stephanie Kowal (19:14)
Yeah, absolutely. These conferences are an opportunity for stakeholders, partners, and customers to get together. In addition to the immense value you get from these sessions and fireside chats are the side conversations that happen throughout the whole experience.

Chris Arey (19:35)
Infor Connect, it’s all in the name, right?

Stephanie Kowal (19:37)
Absolutely. In fact, more than one person told me, and I felt this myself, some of the best conversations were riding in one of the two very slow elevators.

Chris Arey (19:49)
It’s like they did it on purpose, like just trapping folks in close quarters and be like, watch the magic happen. Like let’s see what they, you know, maybe they’ll learn something from each other or, you know, make networking opportunities. It’s so cool.

Stephanie Kowal (20:03)
Exactly. We, of course, handed out our stuffed dogs, right? And my dog Duke is the latest and greatest. And I would go, that’s my dog, and show them the picture on my phone. So yeah, the connection provides mutual benefit to all of us. Infor is actively introducing ways to enhance the partner, client, product, provider relationship. And for example, Infor focusing in on enhancing the way third party apps and its tech stack work together. So, you know, if clients are creating solutions through IPA, Burst, RPA, AI, other technologies, they can place them in the marketplace for others to purchase and access.

Chris Arey (20:51)
That’s great news. You know, you say that and it’s like, I feel like a lot of times, and this is true, like in software, but also like, elsewhere too, but basically it seems like the best solutions and work arounds oftentimes come from the community and the people who have like, you know, experienced a challenge and you know, found a solution for it. And like, it makes me think of like, you know, Reddit threads or something where it’s not someone says like, I’m having this very unique, like, you know, challenge with X. Can you, what would you recommend doing? And people just like comment and are so helpful. And to hear that like,

Stephanie Kowal (21:18)
Yeah.

Chris Arey (21:30)
People are finding solutions or better ways for Infor core applications and third party point solutions to work together and then making them more accessible on this marketplace sounds like a win for everybody involved.

Stephanie Kowal (21:46)
Yeah, exactly. And it’s through events like this that really bring people together, realize that you have some of the same challenges, you can learn from one another, just make some connections. And yeah, it’s a great thing.

Chris Arey (22:04)
Good. Well, thank you for sharing all that with me and hanging out on the show today. We are getting close to time now. And in RPI Tech Connect tradition, I like to conclude these segments by asking the guest one question. It’s a very important question. If you could offer today’s audience one piece of advice regarding Info Connect and what we’ve discussed today, what would it be?

Stephanie Kowal (22:31)
I love this. I connect well with quotes and I found one from Peter Senge that connected with me here, which is, learning is all about connections. And through our connections with unique people, we are able to gain a true understanding of the world around us.

And again, going back to what I shared at the beginning of my time in this space and seeing all these…really great developments over the past 15 years that I’ve been in this space. It’s just events like this again, that bring us all together and make sure that we’re solving the right problem. Like what are those problems? And listening to one another and being in the space where we as partners are able to connect with customers, but also in for.

A lot of what our team shared was just being able to meet some of the product team face to face and just make that connection. So.

Chris Arey (23:36)
That’s a great way to segue there. And I have to say, you’re the first guest on the show who’s actually ended with a quote. So thank you. No, that’s excellent. I have to ask though, who’s Pete Senge?

Stephanie Kowal (23:43)
Yay!

I have no idea.

Chris Arey (23:51)
Well, he’s got some good words, so thank you for that. And it’s generally good advice too. So, well anyway, so we’re about time now. So I wanna thank you again for hanging out with me today. And for those of you listening in, thanks for stopping by. If you have a question about today’s segment or wanna learn more about RPI Consultants or Info Connect, please reach out to us at podcast@rpic .com. Again, that’s podcast@rpic.com.

Stephanie Kowal (23:53)
It sure does.

Chris Arey (24:20)
I’m your host, Chris Arey, and this is RPI Tech Connect. Until next time.

Stephanie Kowal (24:31)
Thanks, Chris. Thanks all.