ERP users can’t access data from their mobiles

In its study of more than 281 manufacturing executives, conducted with US-based analyst Mint-Jutras, only 27% of respondents were performing any functions with their ERP software using a smart phone. Nearly half (47%) said they had little to no access to ERP from any mobile device. And among CRM (customer relationship management) users, 32% said they had little to no mobile access to their applications. Interestingly, however, respondents also indicated that mobile interfaces to ERP will start to figure in their software selection processes, particularly where ERP and CRMK are concerned. "We realise how important mobile access to key enterprise data is today and will be in the future," says IFS CTO Dan Matthews. "That is why we are … delivering mobile functionality through the IFS Cloud – a set of web services running inside Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud environment," he adds. Matthews explains that by putting most of the logic for the apps inside IFS Cloud, IFS also reduces the overhead of providing apps for multiple device platforms, "allowing us to get more mobile functionality to customers to market faster than would otherwise be the case". IFS recently launched its Touch Apps initiative, which gives smart phone access to users of the IFS Applications enterprise suite via Microsoft's Windows Azure Cloud.