As usual there was a significant presence from Touchstone, with colleagues from across the business eager to learn of Infor’s plans.
With a full agenda, the Infor SunSystems Partner Conference was kicked off by Allan Gleeson, Sales Director at Infor SunSystems, who shared highlights from 2023 and the short to medium term vision for SunSystems. The day ended with Andrew Newman, VP and GM of the SunSystems IBU declaring 2024 as “The Year of the Product”, the year in which SunSystems Cloud cements itself once more as a leading player in the mid-market FMS space.
Key Takeaways from the Infor SunSystems Partner Conference
Here are the key takeaways from the conference which are significant for all SunSystems users and prospective users.
-
Strong uptake of SunSystems Cloud
In December 2023 the 100th SunSystems Cloud customer was signed up, by the time of the conference that count had increased to 110 proving that SunSystems moving to the multi-tenant cloud is a popular choice. The 100 included both new and, arguably most importantly, existing customers moving from self-hosted to a SaaS solution. SunSystems MT Cloud is the clear direction of travel.
-
Global Growth
Not only is demand growing for SunSystems Cloud in EMEA, but also in APAC, so much so that this year Infor will be looking to bring on a second SunSystems farm for the APAC region.
-
Stability & Performance
It is fair to say like any new product SunSystems Cloud has not been without its challenges and a few teething problems. However, Infor have been quick to react to both customers and partners, and utilising resources to fix issues quickly.
-
Functional Improvements
There will be two major releases in April and October every year which will contain new features and functions. At the conference, Infor shared the upcoming developments (see later), which will prove particularly useful to the end user community.
-
Development focus
Given the direction of travel is Cloud, it therefore makes sense that the development focus and effort is going to be SunSystems Cloud. Infor will be developing the cloud environment using Infor OS (Operating Service) to underpin the application to leverage new functionality – which just isn’t possible in a self-hosted deployment.
-
API’s and Connectivity
For an application to survive and thrive in the Cloud it must have the ability to connect to other solutions and SunSystems Cloud is no different. SunSystems has always been a “hub” for financial transactions that start off in other applications, therefore strengthening the API’s is necessary which Infor recognise, and are working on. A real-life example of this is the work we have been doing with our friends at Sysynkt and integrating it seamlessly in real time to SunSystems Cloud.
-
Infor Datalake
If you want to get to your SunSystems data in the Cloud you must get it from the Infor Datalake which is part of Infor OS, however right now that is not easy and requires some complex plumbing. Recognising this in the coming releases SunSystems data will be populated into the Infor Datalake making it much easier for it to be consumed by corporate data warehouses and visualised by BI tools such as Microsoft Power BI.
-
Dashboards and Widgets
The ability to have reporting dashboards, KPI’s, and your own widgets is being added – making the whole user experience more informative and personal, which is paramount to user acquisition.
-
Lightweight Budgeting Tool
Something SunSystems has been lacking and which was addressed partially by Vision Budget Manager. This new functionality which is on the roadmap will allow SunSystems users to collaborate during the budget preparation and submission process, using the power of Infor OS.
-
Infor OS (Operating Service)
One of the speakers at the Infor SunSystems Partner Conference was Phill Knott from the Infor OS team who was advocating for partners to do more with Infor OS and leverage its capabilities for the benefit of their customers and SunSystems users. Infor OS offers rich functionality and an entire development capability to produce mini applications and string together processes. I am confident we will be seeing more innovation using this powerful platform.
Conclusion
Reflecting on the key points that I have detailed above and putting myself in the shoes of a SunSystems user, the Infor SunSystems Partner Conference left me feeling that there is a strong sense of direction and purpose, something that up until a couple of years ago was missing. From a SunSystems Partner perspective, the general sentiment is that as SunSystems Cloud matures it will regain some of the ground it has lost over the years. It will attract a new cohort of users and those long-standing users, of which there are thousands, will finally see new and very useful functionality arriving. However, they will have to migrate to SunSystems Cloud to take advantage of it. If Infor deliver what they have articulated, then 2024 will indeed be “the year of the product” and will be a firm foundation for future development.
To find out more about SunSystems Cloud and how TouchstoneFMS can help your organisation implement the best-in-class financial management system in the UK, contact us by email at info@touchstonefms.co.uk or by phone on +44 (0)20 7121 4702.
David Singh is the General Manager and Infor Business Unit Director at Touchstone FMS as well as Co-Chairman of the SunSystems Product Advisory Board. Having worked in the ERP/FMS software sector for the last 40 years, David has a wealth of skills and experience in business systems and is also a qualified accountant. With several senior management and directorial positions under his belt including operations, project delivery, supports, sales, and marketing, he describes himself as a “bit of an all-rounder” and a huge fan of SunSystems.
