Moore on INFOR – Part 2 – A Municipal CIO’s Journey of Discovery

Currently on CIO.COM and other media outlets there is a fair bit of coverage regarding the acquisition activity of Oracle and SAP.  Growth, growth and more growth.  I wouldn’t call it hype, more like a hum, and if you are not listening closely you might miss the hum.  Why are we not seeing anything about INFOR.  I receive email alerts and webinars from Oracle, SAP and their partners on a regular basis, but what about INFOR.  With INFOR’s ( www.infor.com ) acquisition of Hansen Technology ( www.hansen.com ) 1687 customers in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have a new business partner, is INFOR quietly growing into a market force, or are they just really humble and like to keep their successes below the radar?

Who is this company, growing through acquisition?  Well as one of their new customers I decided that it is better to pursue some answers than wait for the invite in the mail to their next social function.  Last week on CIO.COM I posted my first blog regarding INFOR advice.cio.com/chris_moore/oracle_sap_and_infor , well this week I have had an opportunity to speak with INFOR’s Senior VP Public Sector Group, Bruce Gheesling.  WOW was I pleasantly surprised, besides clearly being a driven focused market leader, Bruce is a very personable and gracious person.  Very passionate about the local level of government and understands the distinction between local government and Federal Government, very impressive. It was a pleasure speaking with him, and VERY refreshing to find someone like that in leadership, especially in an organization that provides services to over 1680 cities in 3 countries on 4 continetns.  Cities that you all live in !!!!

                          So KUDOS to you Bruce!!!

Bruce and his team are building and rebuilding after the Hansen acquisition, and they are adding key products and services to their Public Sector portfolio.  Bruce and his team are running the Public Sector business as an independent group, but still are very tied into INFOR’s corporate resource base.  I understand that INFOR will have a revised product roadmap out soon, which I know many municipal CIO’s are looking for. 

I would have to put my CIO-Confidence meter at between 60-75% Confidence, I have the base information I need about the operation and a clear sense of how INFOR plans to move forward.  But I am from Missouri so I need them to “SHOW ME” before I am a true believer!

This all raises an interesting point regarding customer care during acquisitions.  Companies like INFOR, ORACLE and SAP have acquisitions down to a science, maybe even an art.  Growing through revolution and not organic evolution.  The one area that they could all afford to spend much more time on is managing the customer through the acquisition.  I look forward to seeing INFOR take municipal solutions to the next level in the best interest of our citizens and our political leaders.

To those in leadership in IT solutions companies, maybe it is time to think about taking communications and customer care to the next level.  Take note of the youth between 16 and 20, they practice hyperconnectivity, constantly connected 7/24 maybe time to use the technology to connect !  OR…. Maybe we need to wait until today’s youth are in leadership before we all see a new communication model.