Driving ERP Velocity: How Infor’s Industry-First Cloud Strategy Speeds Digital Transformation

Indian enterprises are at a critical inflection point in terms of pivoting their digital infrastructure towards the next phase of evolution. With the advent of GenAI, and data as the fulcrum for business outcomes, there is considerable reimagining and reinvention happening in terms of how IT was done in the past and how it is approached now.

ERP remains a key entity in the enterprise ecosystem. What started as a movement within the manufacturing sector has today evolved into a diversified industry play, with ERP adoption spanning multiple sectors. It is now morphing into a highly tailored enterprise offering, aimed at meeting the needs of various industries.

As Indian enterprises accelerate digital transformation, the shift from traditional ERP systems to cloud-native platforms has become the new norm. Infor, a global leader in industry-specific enterprise software, is making strong strides in the market with a well-integrated suite of solutions and is upping its game in India. It is also strengthening its R&D presence and introducing offerings tailored to micro-verticals.

In this exclusive Q&A with Dataquest on the sidelines of the Velocity Day event in Bengaluru, Terry Smagh, Senior Vice President and General Manager for APAC & Japan, and Phil Lewis, SVP, Solution Consulting, International (EMEA & APJ), Infor share how it's holistic industry centric cloud solution strategy and its new “Velocity Suite” are designed to bring greater value, scalability, and resilience to businesses. Excerpts.

How do you see India’s role in the cloud ERP transformation journey, particularly in terms of shifting from legacy systems and Capex to Opex models?

Terry Smagh: At Infor, we're focused on evolving traditional ERP into cloud enterprise applications. India is at a critical inflection point. Over the past three years, we've seen major shifts, not just due to geopolitical factors, but also macroeconomic changes across APAC.

We’ve been in India for over 20 years, and our commitment is growing. Around two and a half years ago, we set up a major R&D and delivery hub in Hyderabad, which now employs approximately 4,500 people. Our goal is to expand that to 7,000 by 2027.

But the move to cloud isn’t just about cost reduction or infrastructure. It’s about reimagining operations. Flexibility, agility, scalability, and profitability are central. We help customers realise “time to value” quickly with industry-specific, micro-verticalised cloud solutions—whether it’s automotive components or food processing.

Is micro-verticalisation your biggest differentiator when it comes to your enterprise suite?

Phil Lewis: Absolutely. Infor has long been known for its industry-specific approach, but today that’s only the starting point. Businesses now expect more, they want real impact, not just technology.

We’ve gone beyond ERP to build full ecosystems around industries. This includes applications, technology platforms, development and customer success teams, all aligned with specific verticals. That’s what we call “Industry Cloud Complete.”

At our Velocity Day in Bengaluru, we launched the Velocity Suite. It includes process mining, enterprise automation, RPA, AI, and GenAI—all pre-integrated and tailored to industry needs. What sets it apart is that it's ready-to-use from day one.

The name ‘Velocity’ seems to hint at speed. Is the idea to accelerate the pace of transformation?

Phil Lewis: Exactly. It’s about helping customers realise value faster. Most manufacturers we speak with want to adopt automation and AI, but they often don’t know where to begin, feel overwhelmed by choice, or lack the right skillsets.

Velocity Suite tackles these concerns with a three-phase framework:

• Diagnose: Using process mining to map inefficiencies and bottlenecks.
• Automate: Leveraging RPA through our Value Plus library to address specific problems.
• Optimise: Deploying AI and GenAI where it makes a tangible, industry-specific impact.

This isn’t just tech for tech’s sake. It’s a structured and measurable journey towards operational excellence.

What are the biggest challenges you’re hearing from customers today?

Terry Smagh: A recent study found that 81% of C-level executives across APAC are focused on three things: customer-centricity, tech-driven optimisation, and agility.

Customers don’t want multi-year ERP deployments anymore. They want outcomes, pretty fast. That’s why we’ve partnered closely with AWS. We’re among their top five global R&D collaborators, and we integrate their innovations directly into our data fabric.

Our update cadence reflects this urgency. Instead of yearly patches, we release functional upgrades every month that were driven by real customer feedback from our ‘Experience Labs’.

Phil Lewis: To add, our research across 3,600 manufacturing leaders surfaced four common traits in high-performing organisations:

• Robust processes as a strategic edge
• A data-first culture
• Agility in adapting to new work models
• A relentless focus on customer success

Everything we build, Velocity, data fabrics, industry clouds, is aligned to empower these four “Vectors to Value”.

With AI and GenAI disrupting the workplace, what’s Infor’s view on workforce transformation?

Terry Smagh: We’ve never promoted technology as a means to reduce jobs. Our mantra is “skill to scale”. It’s about elevating human capability, not replacing it.

AI and GenAI are not new to us. We’ve been using them to help manufacturers optimise for years. What’s changed is accessibility. And it’s people who still design, train, and enhance AI models.

A good analogy: cars have moved from petrol to EVs, but their purpose hasn’t changed. Likewise, technology transforms processes, but people remain at the heart.

Phil Lewis: Our CEO, Kevin Samuelson, gives a grounded viewpoint on this: “It’s not AI that will take your job - it’s the person who knows how to use AI.” That’s the principle guiding everything we do. We enable customers embrace the right technologies responsibly, driving productivity in a way that’s simple, non-disruptive, and relevant.