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Infor introduces next-generation solution for equipment dealers, service providers

New customer life cycle management tools, rental counter and cloud deployment option now available.

By Phumeza Tontsi
Johannesburg, 06 Mar 2014

Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70 000 customers, has announced the availability of Infor M3 13.2 for the equipment industry, an updated enterprise resource planning (ERP) application that works to streamline equipment sales and service operations and drive profitability throughout the equipment life cycle.

Infor Equipment offers the broadest, deepest solutions created specifically for equipment-centric customers who sell, rent and service serialised equipment and machinery.

This newest version of Infor M3 is built with unique components to support equipment dealers, rental organisations and service providers, in the cloud and on-premises, making it easier for companies to grow their businesses faster and more cost-effectively.

New capabilities include processes to automate the complex task of managing and claiming supplier rebates on parts sales, either for over-the-counter sales or as billed parts during service work. The system will automatically select the most appropriate supplier rebate for the situation and apply this to the sales or service order.

Enhanced measurement capabilities allow for greater control on how rental statistics should be calculated when rental equipment is due to be serviced, meaning fewer breakdowns in the field and greater rental utilisation revenues.

"As the equipment industry rapidly evolves, dealers are constantly looking for new ways to expand their businesses and service offerings. They are looking for a flexible enterprise business solution that can address a variety of different business models and incorporate new technologies such as telematics and mobile," said Andrew Kinder, senior director, industry and solution strategy, Infor. "This latest version provides a platform for growth and improved profitability for dealers and service providers."

Another major highlight of this release is Infor M3 Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM), the next-generation CRM solution for Infor M3. It provides a holistic view of customers across the entire continuum of customer-facing processes, and it is flexible and easy to adopt. Infor M3 CLM allows users to work collaboratively in real-time with customers and assists users with management of sales and rental quotations.

"Capturing rental opportunities is very important for a construction equipment dealer because rental margins can be up to four times higher than sales margins," said Garry Bartecki, vice-president, Associated Equipment Distributors (AED). "But, in today's market there are dealer solutions and there are rental solutions. It is rare to find an application, like Infor's, that can support both the dealer and rental requirements."

Organisations looking to upgrade or move to Infor M3 13.2 will be able to benefit from the Infor Implementation Accelerator for Equipment, a set of preconfigured industry best-practice processes, industry content, process flows and test scripts that were designed to deliver faster implementation times at lower costs, and lower risk, whether deploying in the cloud or on-premises.

For more information, please visit: www.infor.com/industries/equipment/.

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Infor

Infor is fundamentally changing the way information is published and consumed in the enterprise, helping 70 000 customers in 200 countries improve operations, drive growth, and quickly adapt to changes in business demands. Infor offers deep industry-specific applications and suites, engineered for speed, and with an innovative user experience design that is simple, transparent, and elegant. Infor provides flexible deployment options that give customers a choice to run their businesses in the cloud, on-premises, or both. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.

Infor customers include:

* Nineteen of the top 20 aerospace companies
* Twelve of the top 13 hi-tech companies
* Ten of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies
* Twenty-one of the 25 largest US health delivery networks
* Sixteen of the 20 largest US cities
* Eighty-four of the top 100 automotive suppliers
* Thirty-one of the top 50 industrial distributors
* Five of the top nine brewers

Editorial contacts

Kirsty Thompson
Watt Communications:
Wattcomm@wattcommunications.co.za