Traditional ERP Software Manufacturers' "Survival"

In 2012, due to the slowdown in the manufacturing industry, the management software industry, especially the local software market, performed poorly. In addition, the industry's focus on new applications such as cloud technologies and the different perceptions of corporate users have caused a certain gap between industrial market promotion and application requirements. From 2013 to 2013, the management software industry has been moving toward a rational regression of the combination of emerging technologies and traditional businesses. Both UF and Kingdee made strategic adjustments in 2013 to integrate emerging technologies into traditional software, focusing on the development of the industry and in-depth management of high-end customers, re-locking old customers. Similarly, Oracle and SAP have also stepped up the integration of emerging technologies and services, using new technologies as an entry point for "on demand" to provide customers with more flexible solutions.

In the same year, IFS, which increased the deployment of new services such as mobile applications and cloud computing, not only achieved the expected goals in terms of technological innovation and application practices, but also gained the same benefits in the market as the veteran management software vendor has always been. Go forward. In 2012, IFS achieved a 10% product growth, and EBIT margin reached 7%. Why is IFS able to grow in a contrarian direction? In today's fierce market competition and severely-developed software industry, how does IFS position itself and how it seeks to transform itself in a new environment? Recently, IFS Greater China General Manager Lin Shi Dong accepted an exclusive interview. Through Lin Shidong's presentation, we saw the wisdom of a traditional ERP software vendor "survival."

Transformation and upgrading have become a trend

“Manufacturing is one of the industries most concerned by IFS. The downward trend in the manufacturing industry in 2012 also has a large impact on IFS. However, the sluggish manufacturing industry does not mean that it can abandon this market. The financial crisis has caused manufacturing companies to shift their sights. To the cost-saving IT system, while paying attention to the manufacturing industry, IFS also pays attention to other industries, and the petroleum, petrochemical, natural gas and aerospace markets have performed well. Driven by these two industries, the overall IFS performance has increased, and the product turnover has increased. With an increase of 10%, the EBIT margin has reached 7%.” When Chang Yan.com's total programming Yan Ling asked about IFS performance in 2012, Lin Shidong first presented a perfect performance answer.

In fact, IFS can develop steadily, and it has a lot to do with the style of IFS corporate culture and leaders.

Lin Shidong is a Singaporean and joined IFS in 2002. Since May 2008, he has served as the general manager of IFS Greater China. If you evaluate his professional development achievements in China in the past six years, he hopes to hear "Raymond (English name Lin Shidong), your Chinese is getting better and better!" Lin Shidong laughed. IFS China, led by Lin Shidong, is a team that has a deep understanding of management software products and markets, and has won praise from customers for its “steady, practical and close to users”.

"From the perspective of long-term development in the IT field, what users need is a service that can provide the greatest value. It's just that a software or hardware product can no longer meet the needs of users. The challenges of managing software in the future will be even greater, and the scope will be broader. The sales cycle will be longer and transformation and upgrading will be the trend."

Through continuous contact with users, Lin Shidong found that compared with 10 years and 15 years ago, the traditional ERP concept has undergone a fundamental change, and cloud computing, mobile applications, corporate social networking, and big data technologies have set off an ERP revolution. . Traditional ERP contains many functional applications, but customers may not always be able to use it, and they have not achieved good results in the industry concerned. ERP application functions under new technologies will become simpler, easier to use, faster and save costs. The traditional ERP database is particularly large and must be configured in the company's servers. However, with cloud computing technology, both small and micro enterprises and large-scale enterprises that have developed to a certain degree can be flexibly applied. The ERP application based on cloud computing technology can prevent enterprises from carrying out large-scale infrastructure construction and realize the goal of energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection.

IFS hopes to bring new ERP concepts to users instead of sticking to traditional product service methods. Although there is still some distance from the application of ERP scale with new technologies, IFS will move ahead based on the future direction of management software. Because if the technology can not keep up, 20 years later, the traditional ERP vendors will certainly be eliminated.

Mobile Apps and BI Let Users See Real Value

With regard to the current users' reaction to the next-generation information technology, Lin Shidong believes that "mobile applications" and "BI" can best help users realize the value of "touching the visible."

In the past two years, topics such as cloud computing, mobile applications, corporate social networking, and big data have become hot, and technologies such as cloud computing and corporate social networking have brought significant changes to the company. However, the ability of users to absorb new technologies is still very limited. It still requires a development process from concept to landing. Users are more concerned about performance, that is how to better demonstrate business value through software. So at this stage, in the actual product delivery process of IFS, cloud computing applications only account for a small percentage, and users pay more attention to mobile office and business intelligence analysis.

In order to improve mobile application services, following the acquisition of 360 scheduling in 2010, IFS acquired Metrix LLC, a mobile and service management company, in 2012, and subsequently released the IFS Touch Apps series for smartphone applications, providing customers with good mobile applications. Experience.

In the field of business intelligence analysis, IFS has achieved integration of BI and ERP. Before BI and ERP were separated, the data exported from the ERP system was re-imported into another system for analysis. This has many technical defects. IFS embedded BI can directly aggregate and organize reports and reports of different styles across all application interfaces. It can also import information into Microsoft Excel for further analysis in one click, and display related information in different forms in the analysis panel. BI analysis data, through the IFS Enterprise Explorer (enterprise browser) to achieve the graphical (table) display, and provide the company's long-term planning (such as rough demand planning) required professional analysis tools, and IFS business analysis components. In a comprehensive view, the integrated IFS ERP system after BI is more concerned with the user's demand point, provides data analysis value through data analysis, and leads the front end of the user's business.

IFS Localization Service Innovation Continues to Deepen Application of User Scenarios

In addition to technological innovations in cloud computing, mobile and BI applications, IFS is also making continuous efforts to better serve the seven industries. Seven industries that IFS is concerned about are: aerospace and defense, utilities and telecommunications, industrial manufacturing, process industries, automotive, retail and wholesale, construction, contracting and service management. At the same time, IFS has its own user industry associations and continues to deepen the use of user scenarios.

In order to better serve its customers, IFS has achieved two major changes within the company: First, to establish R & D centers focused on the industry, IFS R & D center leadership mostly from the solution corresponding to the industry. They have rich experience in the industry, and are good at developing agile methods to develop products and solutions suitable for the industry. Second, IFS organizes industry user conferences each year to discuss in depth the latest needs and perspectives from the industry's business level. Then absorb and integrate these requirements into the product, avoiding the mismatch between product and business. It is worth mentioning here that our users in China have also been actively participating in IFS global trade association activities.

In the future, IFS will adhere to a new generation of information technology and will actively focus on the changes in the functions of enterprises and products so as to meet the needs of industry customers. In 2013, IFS will continue to increase its efforts in global market promotion, develop more local partners in China, and exert its value in environmental protection and corporate social responsibility.