Infor Discusses Digital Transformation in China in Newly-Launched IDC Talk Podcast

Deep insights and rich exchange by industry experts; current environment to pave the way for growth of contactless business

CHINA - Media OutReach - 8 July 2020 - Infor, a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry, today announced that it took part in the pilot episodes of IDC Talk in China, an all-new podcast of the International Data Corporation (IDC), bringing together the exchange of deep industry insights and the sharing of successful enterprise application of ICT technology. A recurring theme is leveraging innovative technologies and exploring unique business models in a post-pandemic environment.

During the first three episodes of IDC's new podcast, which went online on June 22, Infor executives - managing director of Greater China and Korea region, Boon Khoo; vice president of sales for Greater China and Korea, Becky Xie and director of business consulting for Greater China and Korea, Chong Lu shared tips and insights on the state of digital transformation of Chinese enterprises.

The coronavirus pandemic has stimulated demand for digital transformation among small- and medium-sized enterprises. This is coupled with a strong desire to turn crisis into opportunity by leveraging innovation and technology to find new ways to empower a safer, stronger and more integrated business.

Wu Lianfeng, vice president and chief research analyst of IDC China explained, "This pandemic has caused people's work, lives, and consumption habits to go digital, driving the growth of contactless business. This is on track to becoming a long-term and far-reaching trend. IT technology is invaluable in response to the pandemic. What technology transforms is not the power of the present, but the future."

Over the past two decades, Infor has provided digital transformation solutions to manufacturing enterprises spanning the logistics, distribution, automotive, healthcare, food and beverage, hi-tech and electronics fields. In this, Infor has implemented plans of action aimed at key application scenarios in specific industries.

During the podcast, Infor executives noted that Chinese equipment manufacturing company, Equipment Company of Dongfeng Motor implemented Infor LN, Infor ERP and CloudSuite EAM systems to standardize its business, processes and data management. The company was also able to establish a real-time production system, business and financial integration, full-spectrum quality control, and comprehensive traceability. During the pandemic, they were able to quickly transition to producing protective masks.

"We feel fortunate to have Infor as our partner in digital transformation," said Fang Mingqiang, chief engineer of information systems planning at Equipment Company of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. "We sought to streamline our workflows and get rid of any obstacles that had arisen to enable us to better keep up with the latest industry trends. With Infor ERP and EAM, now we can manage end-to-end business processes, standardize all data, as well as ensure real-time visibility of production, finance, and quality control. As a result, Dongfeng Motors has greatly increased our performance while lowering costs, and customer satisfaction is up 11.45%. Now we are able to provide clients with digitalized products and expand our scope of operations."

By working together with Infor, another pharmaceutical company was able to integrate its global supply chain and service departments. It also moved its logistics and customs businesses to a single platform and deployed a centralized supply chain control hub aligning its manufacturing network across its technological platforms. In this way it is now able to flexibly respond to black swan events such as this pandemic, and increase its market share while boosting sales growth through daily operations.

In 2020, China is making a national effort to develop what has been dubbed "new infrastructure", which includes new and emerging technologies such as 5G, the industrial internet and cloud computing. At the same time, data is becoming a key factor of production and is being marketized. Given these trends, companies will be focusing more on the aggregation of their own data resources and strengthening the establishment of data management capabilities, which will spur business innovation.

Infor managing director of Greater China and Korea region, Boon Khoo, said, "As enterprises work to catch up to the fast-paced development of new infrastructure, they not only need to build a multi-level supply chain network, but also to better integrate and utilize human resources, data and machines, while fortifying their hardware with the proper software to achieve better flexibility and resilience."

About Infor
Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. With 17,300 employees and over 68,000 customers in more than 170 countries, Infor software is designed for progress. To learn more, please visit www.infor.com.