The 2015 IFS World Conference held in Boston last week served as a showcase for IFS to roll out Version 9.0 of IFS Applications and also served as a global users group get together. Unlike many of its competitors, IFS holds global conferences on an semi-regular basis, primarily when it has a major release or substantial new functionality it wants to unveil periodically, instead of annually. It also holds them at varied locations around the globe so they tend to attract a more geographically diverse attendance than many other user group meetings that are typically regionally oriented. The 2015 event appeared to be a large success with over 1,000 attendees from around the globe. The IFS Applications 9.0 unveiling, which was the focal point of the event, was well received and highlights IFS' continued evolution as an enterprise applications provider.
IFS announced it reached its 1 Millionth user mark recently marking it as one of the larger independent single product enterprise applications vendors outside of SAP. Unlike many competitors that, while much larger like Oracle or Infor, have multiple ERP and other enterprise applications, IFS has a single suite solution built around an enterprise resource planning (ERP) core. It has experienced steady growth over the last 15 years by focusing on market segments either ignored or not well served by the larger vendors such as the construction sector, project based manufacturing, aerospace and defense/aviation and asset-intensive industries.
This is not to say competitors don't have solutions to address those industries--they do. But IFS does not demand you choose out of a portfolio of products to get that specialized functionality, rather it is part of the single IFS Applications product. This, coupled with a strong regional focus has allowed IFS to build a strong partner network and they used the 2015 World Conference to announce a new partnership with Accenture, which is the largest systems integration (SI) to sign on as an implementation partner, to date. In support of its partner program IFS also announced a new partner certification and education program, the IFS Academy.
Among the announcements regarding V9.0, the addition of Microsoft Azure as a Cloud based solution was a key one. Both V8.0 and V9.0 will be available as a single-tenant managed solution on Azure. Another key announcement was that V9.0 is will be available for in-memory deployment before the end of 2015. As part of its in-memory strategy IFS is offering the In-Memory Advisor tool to help customers understand what elements of IFS Applications benefit most from in-memory deployment.
IFS also announced new functionality in a number of areas including service management, mobile services and predictive capabilities including those targeted at enterprise asset management (EAM) users in asset intensive-industries. New customer relationship management functionality was also added. The user experience was also upgraded included enhanced look and feel, new home page capability that iFS refers to as your "lobby". Architecturally IFS has added IFS Stream, a new notification system and a layered architecture to support easier upgrades. There were also a number of functional enhancements to support global businesses.
IFS had several of its V9.0 early adopters present their experiences with the new version and they all were enthusiastic about the new capabilities and usability enhancements. Discussions with existing customers reflected a relatively high degree of enthusiasm as well about moving to the V9.0 sooner rather than later. This reflects an overall characteristic of the IFS installed base, a high degree of customer satisfaction. By focusing on select industry segments and particular geographies IFS has built a loyal customer base that serves as a good word-of-mouth reference group.
IFS is the "little engine that could". It continues to grow amid an enterprise applications market that seems to be dominated by a few mega players. It has done this by focusing on areas not well served by these companies and by supporting traditional manufacturing and service industries with leading functionality as well.
IFS does have some issues it needs to address however. It does not have the brand awareness a company its size should have, which has kept its growth to a lower level than it should be. It also has not capitalized on marketing its vertical industry domain expertise to the extent some of its larger competitors have. So despite having an architecturally sound product with rich functionality it misses many opportunities. It does seem to have recognized that and this year's conference included an "industry influencers" track specifically targeted at the press and analyst community.
All things considered, IFS remains good short-list candidate for manufacturers, field service organizations and asset-intensive companies seeking a single-suite solution to their enterprise applications needs either with an on-premise or Cloud-based solution.
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