Infor Insights: ERP Predictions for 2024 and Beyond

By: RPI Tech Connect   January 03, 2024

In the pilot episode of RPI Tech Connect, RPI Consultants’ Managing Partner Keith Wayland, shares his Infor ERP predictions for 2024 and beyond. As an industry expert, Keith analyzes the events that transpired over the last 10 years to get to where we are today. As a final value-add, Keith offers the audience sound advice for staying ahead of Infor development.

Join us as we explore past developments and the impact they’ll have for members of the Infor community going forward.

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Meet Today’s Guest, Keith Wayland

With over 25 years experience working in the Lawson & Infor community, Keith Wayland is an ERP industry expert and the Managing Partner at RPI Consultants.

Previously a Lawson Financials and Supply Chain consultant, Keith has worked on hundreds of implementation and post-implementation support projects. He previously served as a Project Manager, Financials Lead and Procurement Lead, and has been responsible for business process review, system configuration, data conversion, testing, training program development, end-user training, and post-live support.

Keith has pioneered techniques and business processes for RNI and INR cleanup, buyer message reduction and other procurement system optimizations. As one of the foremost invoice matching experts in the Lawson industry, he has provided expertise to dozens of Invoice Matching implementations with multiple configurations and business processes in both Shared Service and decentralized environments.

Meet Your Host, Chris Arey

Chris Arey is an experienced B2B marketing professional with an extensive background 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 (00:03)
Welcome back. This is RPI Tech Connect, and I’m your host Chris Ari. Today, we’re getting into the good stuff. 2024 Infor ERP predictions. We’ve got a very special guest joining us. The man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Keith Whalen, ladies and gentlemen. Keith is RPI Consultants’ managing partner, and he’s got a crystal ball into the world of Infor. Keith, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?

Keith Wayland (00:29)
Thank you, Chris. I hope I can live up to the hyped intro. Yeah, as you mentioned, I’m one of the partners here at RPI. We specialize in providing professional services around ERPs and business applications, primarily surrounding Infor. I’ve been working in the lawsuit Infor space since 1999, originally as a financials and supply management consultant. And then over time, I progressed to, you know.

Chris (00:32)
Hehehe

Keith Wayland (00:58)
help support and maintain the growth of this company.

Chris (01:02)
Cool, man. We’re happy to have you here and thanks for spending the time. My goal for this episode is to identify the top three predictions for Infor in 2024. But I think before that we start talking about those, it’d be a good idea to maybe talk about what happened in 2023 and even before that. How’s that sound? Cool. So yeah, 2023.

Keith Wayland (01:25)
which sounds fantastic.

Chris (01:30)
Lots of surprises, changes, curveballs, things that maybe people wouldn’t have expected. I think the big one was the announcement to extend on-prem support to 2030. That was a big, a big, you know, I don’t think anyone saw that. But even with like the, you know, the focus onto UX improvements and reporting and just kind of like, you know, listening to what the community was asking for. But what do you think though? Like what…

Keith Wayland (01:41)
Definitely.

Chris (01:58)
How did these things come about and what led to it and where are we headed?

Keith Wayland (02:02)
So, I mean, there’s a couple layers here. I would say from, you know, the decision to extend support is a good example. There’s been sort of a cultural change over the last few years developing it in four, which has prioritized more of a focus into the long term, right? And so that changes your drive to get customers new products, maybe how you position those products, how long you take to develop them and support them.

And so I think that long-term vision revolves or has ended up revolving around a more customer-centric model right more based on outcomes and customer satisfaction than necessarily Moving software and showing numbers right and I think that that’s gonna have some very positive outcomes I think similarly when you look at things like the updates to the UI that’s listening to the existing community, right and adapting to make sure that they’re in a position to you know

to do good work and get referrals. So I think that’s something that we saw in 2023. If I could go back a little bit deeper for a second, this has been a long-term evolution into the next generation of ERPs. And…

Chris (03:08)
Yeah.

Keith Wayland (03:16)
And therefore, it’s a massive company. They have a lot of solutions, right? Giant solution stack, some various point solutions, various ERP systems, you know, mid-tier, large-tier across various industries, right? And over the last five years, especially, but dating back a decade, they have been working on…

on four primary next generation ERP systems, right? The one that evolved from the system we typically work with called Lawson that went by CloudSuite for a minute, now it’s called InforFSM, as well as M3, Sightline, and LN.

So those all have multi-tenant, SAS-based, and for OS. But software doesn’t get developed overnight, right? And so it’s been a process, it’s been a process. And then the one that we focus on, you really see the end of all that effort, right? The…

product reaching maturity. And you see that based on the functionality there is today, based on there being a complete solution. Payroll was the last component about four years ago at OneGA.

And you also see that based on the size of the community that is live on this new product. Now up to several hundred customers with a lot of those coming over the last two years. So it’s been a long progression to get here. Now that they’re there, you would ask, well, why do they have four destination ERPs? That’s because Infor’s strategy is very industry-centric. And so these ERPs, they’re lined up to do the extra mile to match up.

with certain lanes that they’re in.

Chris (05:02)
Very cool, and I think some of these things were kind of discussed at the InforConnect conference last year, kind of illustrating where they’re headed and what they’re focusing on, product development.

Keith Wayland (05:12)
I mean, absolutely. The InforConnect conference was the best conference I went to last year. They have one coming up this year. I think it’s in late May. If anybody’s listening to this, I highly recommend going. It’s the single best place to go and get an understanding of the direction that they’re taking with the software. And the single best thing about that conference, which I think is emblematic of where Info is going as a whole, is that all the presentations are done by product managers and developers. So you’re not talking so much to them

marketing and sales team, though they have a role too, right? It’s not about narratives and selling you something. It’s about saying, hey, this is what we’re seeing, the feedback we’re getting from the community, what needs to improve, this is our plan on how to do it. And so this year there’s been a very heavy focus around reporting in general, there’s some inherent challenges in multi-tenant SaaS models with reporting. Infor has a front and center. It has some really interesting strategies for how to manage that old data that was done in old systems, right?

of transactions that doesn’t fit right into new ones but you want to have access to. Right now they have this data lake.

You just throw the data in, but it’s unstructured, so it’s hard to report on. So what they’re working on is that they call it a lake house, which is kind of cute, right? But it’s like, it’s basically a model for you to put that data in so you can get easy access to it in the future. So they’re doing some really great stuff. I feel like, you know, sometimes it’s hard to get that honed in message until you go there and hear them sort of articulate it. And then you really understand what’s going on. So, yeah, yeah. Anybody that’s listening?

InforConnect, you should look it up. It’s well worth your time.

Chris (06:52)
I think what makes it such a unique event too is that, like you said, they’re actually giving demonstrations of what the product can do today and what it’ll be able to do in the future as opposed to selling you on the promise or the story or the typical kind of marketing that you might see for big software companies.

Keith Wayland (07:12)
You know, absolutely, it’s product-centric. And I think that’s a very positive direction. I will say when you look at a product, there’s a feature functionality it has today, but the feature functionality it has today, the needs of your organization are not gonna be static over time.

So when you look at it, you also need to know that this is a company that can not only has a mature product, but is continuing to invest in it, right? And is understanding the direction things are going to go, machine learning, AI, right? The areas they’re focused in are the right ones from what we see going into the future. I’ll point out the average life cycle of ERP.

is 20 years, right? It’s hard enough for us to see five years into the future. Can you imagine 20? Like, I don’t even know what the world’s gonna look like in 20, but I think it’s… Yeah, minor commitment. So I think a big part of that element when you’re looking at various ERPs is aligning with one that also has that commitment to make sure that the product is evolving, right? 15 years ago, this would have been going to the cloud.

Chris (07:58)
Just a minor commitment.

Keith Wayland (08:15)
And for make that commitment, it’s got those multi-tenant says products, other ERPs didn’t, and they got left in the dust, right? So I think that’s an important part of it.

Chris (08:24)
I think one of the other cool things about the InforConnect is the name itself, right? It’s an opportunity for like-minded folks of the community to connect, but also for Infor to gather feedback from people. It shows that they’re really intent on listening and providing what’s being asked of them. Would you agree with that?

Keith Wayland (08:34)
Absolutely.

Absolutely. And we saw some very senior VPs standing in a hotel lobby, just talking to customers. And it was wonderful to see, right? Because that’s a real opportunity to get, not feedback that’s coming through a survey, or through third parties, or through what your team is telling you, your customer support reps, and so forth, but directly, right? Like what their experience is, what their challenges are, what they’re looking for and seeking from that long-term partnership.

Chris (09:12)
So I’m hearing some of these predictions kind of come together, but before we start specifically box them in here, there’s one more thing I want to talk to you about here. So we’re seeing these developments made and how Infor as a company is kind of shifting priorities, but I’m curious, are there any applications in particular in Infor that are kind of being prioritized more than maybe they were in the past?

Keith Wayland (09:19)
Hmm.

I mean, I think I wouldn’t say that any are not being prioritized, but what I can see is really growing very quickly and getting a lot of market share over the last few years and seems to have a lot of traction is their workforce management product.

This is a very powerful, robust tool, has amazing functionality, and it’s able to meet some very complex requirements, especially as they relate to scheduling, right? And you look at scheduling requirements in areas such as healthcare, which is a really big deal with nursing shifts and the types of nurses, and within maybe cities where you have maybe police and firemen and so forth. So we’re very excited about that product. Everyone’s very excited as well. Yeah.

Chris (10:26)
Cool, yeah, workforce management seems to be all the buzz. I suspect it’s due to some of the things that we’ve been seeing happen in the general workforce with shifts in retention and employee engagement. And I think that WFM is a good application for managing those priorities. But it’s cool to see that it’s kind of, I don’t know, I wouldn’t say coming into its own, but it’s definitely.

Keith Wayland (10:45)
Absolutely.

Chris (10:55)
Herculating, right?

Keith Wayland (10:56)
I mean, I would say that several of these, and WFM is one of them, right? They’re ready for prime time, right? These products are fully baked. And I think that, you know, I wish Iifor was more marketing-centric because that helps get the word out, but this is the best secret in the industry, right? It’s like when people start looking at these products and seeing what they can do and how they operate and the level of usability.

Chris (11:15)
sure.

Keith Wayland (11:26)
I think they’re going to be very impressed.

Chris (11:29)
Nice, okay. All right, so I think we’ve got our top three. And the first two are kind of, they kind of go together, but I see here leaning into the partner-centric ecosystem. You look at a conference like Info Connect, it’s creating a platform for people to communicate and share feedback and empower the people who are working with them to deliver these solutions. And on the other side of that is prediction number two here, which is.

product improvement, it’s taken priority. Maybe they’re shifting away from this services organization and being more focused on product, so that in turn they can help their partners, enable their partners to deliver this best in breed type product. Would you agree with that?

Keith Wayland (12:14)
I totally do it. And I think both of those really come down to a shift in term into a long-term vision from a short-term one. There’s different operating priorities and goals that the informed has right now.

Chris (12:29)
Nice. And then the last one here is this continued emphasis on workforce management. It seems like there’s an emerging market and WFM is arguably the best application for workforce management needs. And I think that we’re gonna continue to see that kind of maybe not emerge, but capitalize on the vacant, or I guess the need for it, right?

Keith Wayland (12:56)
Well, I mean, there’s a need for it. I think that the main driver right now of people implementing the systems.

is not that they’re going without, right? People have systems in place, they have to schedule today, they have to track time, they have to manage their payroll and their financials. It’s going from these old technologies that were on-premise, needed heavy maintenance, and were transaction driven, right? So I’m capturing this data and maybe I can report on it to this new generation that’s sort of process driven. How does it work for an invoice to flow through the organization? What are the different people touching it?

it, right? How does the payroll come from, the time coming in and all the pieces that go throughout that? So there’s an opportunity for people that are old technology to take advantage of these products that are next gen and ready for prime time.

Chris (13:53)
Cool. WFM, it’s one of those applications you hear and you think, like, oh, I have something else that manages those tasks, but it really is its own animal and it does things that other solutions aren’t doing. Right?

Keith Wayland (14:08)
Yeah, absolutely. So I would look at the primary ones is automation of manual tasks, ability to identify and manage exceptions, and increased productivity from your workforce.

Chris (14:25)
The scheduling being a big one too, right? It took a self-service component to that where folks can like log in and make their own schedules. And it’s just.

Keith Wayland (14:27)
Absolutely.

So it depends, right? I mean, usually there’s a central person that organizes it to make sure that you’re fully staffed, but there’s definitely requests that go out there and trades and, you know, it’s a little bit different in each organization and there’s certainly some complexity. But again, there’s a lot of opportunity for improvement in that. And this is a tool that will allow you to do that.

Chris (14:54)
Okay, so we’ve got our top three predictions and I guess it’s really only a matter of time to see how these take shape in 2024. We’re just in the beginning here, but as we’ve seen in years prior, lots of things can change, lots of things can happen. But I’m optimistic and it seems like an exciting time for the industry and those of the M4 community. So with that though, I’m wondering, before we wrap up here.

Keith Wayland (15:13)
Absolutely.

Chris (15:19)
If there’s any piece of advice that you would offer today’s audience or those in the informed community, given these predictions, how are folks supposed to respond? What can they do?

Keith Wayland (15:31)
You know, I look at this stuff that we’re talking about today, and I consider myself a student of, I’ve seen this evolution for 24 years, right? From the days of Lawson to the Info Requisition, the migration to CloudSuite, the introduction of WFM, all these other components. And I consider myself an expert in that area because it’s what I follow every day, right? And I think leveraging expertise.

would be my advice is like if you have a legal situation, you hire a lawyer, why do you hire a lawyer? Because they know the context, the terms, they know how to navigate the systems, how to advocate for you, right? And that exists in every walk of life. And I think if you’re evaluating ERP’s, if you’re looking at M4, you know, and it’s not just self-serving, there’s other experts out there, you should leverage that community, right? Like we’ve been following this for a long time. You know, we know what approaches work and which ones

Thank you.

Chris (16:27)
Yeah, that’s a great point too. It’s like, it’s one thing to buy software, it’s another to like implement it and maximize it to the best of its ability. And sometimes like you think about these organizations, like they’re focused on their own goals and priorities. And like an ERP system is to help support that. So leverage the resources available, to optimize that solution, right?

Keith Wayland (16:51)
Well, and I’ll add to that is there’s a lot of smart people out there in all these organizations and they can figure it out. But it’s like, why reinvent the wheel? Like, if it’s going to take a long time to figure out something that somebody else already solved, right? Like, why not just take the solution, write that and save the time? We call it taking the same hill twice, you know.

Chris (17:00)
That’s true too.

Nice, I like that, that’s a good point. Was there anything else you wanna share before we wrap up here today?

Keith Wayland (17:20)
No, just that I’m very excited about this podcast. I’m grateful to yourself and to your team for putting this together. And I think that for us, if you go back to 20 years ago, it’s always been a core strategy to put information out into the market. And it’s nice to find different avenues through which to do that. And yeah, I hope that we can over time.

give folks things that are helpful to them to understand what’s happening across this product landscape.

Chris (17:56)
Cool. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate the kind words. We’re excited to be doing this podcast. Our goal, like you said, is to put the good word out there and help people understand what’s, what’s happening in this landscape. For those of you tuning in, we appreciate you stopping by. We hope you found these predictions useful. If you’ve got a question about today’s episode, or you want to learn more about how we arrived at these predictions or something else in general, feel free to contact us at podcast at rpic.com.

Again, that’s podcast at RPIC.com. Thanks for your time and see you next time. Thank you, Keith.

Keith Wayland (18:31)
Thank you, Chris.