New Delhi, May 26 -- Infor is a global enterprise software company that specialises in industry-specific cloud applications. Headquartered in New York, it was founded in 2002 and acquired by Koch Industries in 2020. Infor's primary focus is helping companies modernise their operations using cloud-based ERP and supply chain solutions, specialising in microvertical sectors.
The New York-based company has over 700 customers in India and counts Larsen and Tubro (L&T), Godrej Industries, Spykar, Plant Lipids, and DB Schenker among its clients. The industry manufacturing, food and beverage, and fashion industries are the largest business drivers for Infor in India.
To better serve their customers in India, Infor recently announced that it will be opening a data centre in India in partnership with its hyperscaler partner AWS.
"This data center will meet the growing demand for data residency and, increasingly, data sovereignty, especially in sectors like defense. The data center was initially slated to go live by the end of this year, but a two-month geopolitical interruption has delayed the timeline. It is now expected to be operational in the first half of 2026, with an investment of up to $2 million," said Phil Lewis, Vice President at enterprise software firm Infor, in an interaction with TechCircle.
Infor's other major data centers are on the East Coast in North America and in Frankfurt, along with smaller capacities in Dublin, Sydney, and Singapore, among others.
From a talent point of view, Infor considers India as an important region. Of its global workforce of 17,000 employees, 4,000 are based in India. The company has a strong presence in its global capability center (GCC) in Hyderabad, and earlier this year announced plans to expand its India headcount to 7,000 by 2028.
"Our Hyderabad center plays a central role in driving innovation, with full ownership of Artificial Intelligence (AI), process intelligence, and business intelligence development, management, and maintenance. Our staff works on product design, business and systems analysis, and software development. Additionally, we're investing in content developers who can tailor AI and automation capabilities to specific industries, something we see as a key driver of future economic value," noted Lewis.
Velocity Suite
To better understand what customers need, Infor conducted a global survey at the end of 2024, reaching 3,600 companies. The surveyed companies were asked about their biggest challenge in technology adoption. Most said that they don't know where to start. Faced with dozens of AI and automation tools, the complexity becomes paralysing, especially for legacy industries.
To this end, Infor has introduced Velocity Suite that packages advanced capabilities like process intelligence, process mining, and RPA-based enterprise automation. All of this is natively integrated with its applications, meaning customers get immediate access to secure, cloud-based tools that work within their existing business processes.
Infor has also developed a comprehensive library of prebuilt automation content, covering use cases like invoice processing, new customer creation, and vendor onboarding, so companies don't have to start from scratch.
A few clients have already adopted the Velocity Suite. "GMM Pfaudler, with operations in India, used our GenAI and automation tools to cut inventory processes from seven years to six months, saving over €1 million. The Miller Group built an automated proof-of-delivery system in just seven days, boosting productivity by 98%. A UK-based cheese manufacturer used our AI to analyse milk quality, improving yield by 1% per batch, adding €500,000 in value."
In India, however, the adoption of Velocity Suite is still in the nascent stage. Only its client, NCC, a construction company, is currently undergoing a proof of concept.
Businesses in India are taking a more measured approach to cloud adoption, lagging behind their global counterparts who are eagerly accelerating their move to the cloud, noted Lewis.
A June 2024 report from research firm IDC showed that the overall Indian public cloud services market is expected to reach $24.2 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 23.8% for 2023-28.
"The attitude here is 'we'll do it when we're ready'. That approach is risk-averse and works to a degree, but for a country with ambitions to become the world's third-largest economy, India also needs to start behaving like a tech-forward nation," said Lewis.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.