Infor tells Geac ERP system users to relax

Geac System 21 ERP system users should not worry about the acquisition of their software provider by Infor, as the deal nears completion. “All they have to do is look at our track record with other acquisitions,” says Mike Frichol, vice president of global industry marketing for Infor’s Discrete Manufacturing Group. “We have continued to maintain and support all those customers. In fact, our maintenance renewal rates are 96.8% – much higher than they were before we acquired these companies.” The acquisition by Infor partner Golden Gate Capital is due to close towards the end of March. And it’s all part of a two-phase strategy, according to Frichol, which most recently resulted in the group buying enterprise asset management software firm Datastream. Phase One, he says, was about assembling ERP systems and users to build what he calls critical mass. “Now we’re in Phase Two – building up the company and focusing on functionality for our selected industry sectors. “So our strategy has shifted towards acquiring cross-industry solutions. Think of Mercia for demand planning, the process PLM [product lifecycle management] solution from Formation Systems – and now Datastream. We’re building up the portfolio to offer additional value to customers.” Frichol won’t be drawn on what might be next – although he does refer to the trend towards increasingly global supply chains and trading partners. “So there’s a lot of interest in solutions that connect between companies… We’re always looking.” Behind the acquisition activity, though, he refers to building a technology infrastructure on which new and existing software solutions can be maintained and developed. “We’re building that so that we can share best of breed functionalities across our systems. It’s all part of our new SOA [services orientated architecture] approach.” And the value of that? “We have a large customer base of AS/400 [IBM iSeries] users who are very happy with their solutions but if they want additional functionality that’s not available on iSeries we will provide that for them through our SOA approach. They can then run a hybrid system.”