By Nick Castellina, Director of Industry & Solution Strategy at Infor®.

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has been mistakenly stereotyped as a back-office miser, worried about only one thing: the company’s bottom-line. CFOs have often been frugal, protecting the company’s wallet with an unwavering vow to be prepared for the proverbial rainy day. At least, that is the old-school notion.

Expectations are high, as long as AI delivers real business value

What do IT decision makers really think about AI? Are they buying the hype? Are they laying some groundwork for artificial intelligence implementations?

Random interviews with several IT managers across a variety of industries on The Hub show floor at Inforum 2018 reveal what one might expect — a variety of opinions on AI. But most all believe it could be big, possibly very big.

Another widely held belief is that tapping into the capability of AI to optimize human potential will take some trial and error. To some extent, this reflects the thinking of sports superstar Venus Williams, who told a packed General Session at Inforum, “Failure is a huge part of knowing your pushing yourself hard enough.”

But all agreed on one thing: IT must acknowledge AI in some way, and at least begin to closely and seriously examine how it might fit into their organizations. After all, as Williams said, “It’s not where you start, but where you finish.”

Manufacturers eager to jumpstart growth opportunities are embracing digital strategies. New technologies offer exciting ways to leverage sensor data, engage with customers, and automate processes. New ways of looking at products, services and the complete value chain are transforming the way we think about manufacturing products and distributing them to the market. While the potential impact is promising, it can also be intimidating. Where do you start? How do you measure success? This checklist provides nine elements critical to a successful digital deployment, based on a timely report by R “Ray” Wang of Constellation Research.

A panel of experts recently convened to discuss what the coming years hold for manufacturing. They all agree that manufacturing is “enjoying a moment,” and that optimism remains high among manufacturers. Still, there are challenges to overcome and technologies and processes that will be important for manufacturers to keep on the right path. In this paper, we’ll highlight 10 trends and challenges manufacturers need to keep an eye on.

The Internet of Things will allow manufacturers to provide B2B customers with a controlled level of involvement in manufacturing oriented business processes. This benefits both parties because both have the same objectives. 

To date, more than 400 global manufacturing leaders have responded to the LNS Research Manufacturing Operations Management survey, which focuses on identifying the top objectives, challenges, and trends across manufacturing verticals.

Infor is named as a global competitor global cloud ERP market.

Global Cloud ERP Market report is in-depth study on how the status is for  industry. This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of the leading companies. It also includes profiles of leading companies and brands that are driving the market with their recent developments, product launches, joint ventures, merges, and accusations. The global Cloud ERP Market report also gives a deep knowledge about market definition, classifications, applications, engagements and market trends while also showing the CAGR figures for the Forecast years 2018-2025. SWOT analysis is used to find the market drivers and restrains.

With digitalization, manufacturers can achieve ROI in two ways: By reducing costs or by increasing revenue. According to, “Manufacturing's next big act: Building an industrial digital ecosystem,” nearly two-thirds of manufacturers expect digital manufacturing technologies, such as increased use of sensors, to help reduce overhead by at least 11%. A very optimistic 23% even hope to see cost savings of more than 30%. Most are basing their projections on the efficiencies gained from automation. In addition, more than half expect to see revenues gains of at least 11% (with 18% expecting revenues to rise more than 30%) over the next 5 years.

By Nick Castellina, Infor industry & solution strategy director

Digital manufacturing. Industry 4.0. You’re probably familiar with these terms, and maybe you’ve even successfully piloted these concepts. But how do you roll out such an initiative more broadly, beyond a specific use case, to ensure you are deploying operational intelligence to your entire operation and across factories, and gaining the promised productivity increases?

Many companies start with a predictive maintenance pilot, according to Capgemini’s podcast: “Emerging Trends in Digital Manufacturing with Pascal Brosset.” Improving the reliability of critical assets has an obvious payback, uses proven analytics, and is overseen by a limited, self-contained team: maintenance. Further, more and more equipment manufacturers provide maintenance services or applications along with the asset itself, which further accelerates the maturity and popularity of this use case.

Manufacturers in all segments, from food and beverage to industrial machinery and equipment, know that digitalization is coming and they need to adapt or risk obsolescence. They all want to find an easy way to do that. But there’s no easy method for achieving digitalization, also known as digital transformation or Industry 4.0. Research shows manufacturers are ready to move forward, but with small steps in carefully controlled pilot projects.

While this a move in the right direction, manufacturers should also recognize that short-term initiatives will not offer the massive gains of an enterprise-wide re-vamp of processes. The true potential of digitalization will come from new revenue streams and outcome based selling. That type of strategy must start at the top, and start now.