Infor today announced that construction and home decoration leader Fetim Group has chosen to migrate its complete Infor M3 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application to the cloud. In addition, Fetim will use Infor ION™ to help integrate a range of third-party, best of breed applications, all of which will be deployed in the cloud.
The home furnishing market has seen radical change in the past five years. An increase in online shopping, combined with globalization, has dramatically reduced the position of the retailers that were once Fetim's core market, whilst opening up substantial opportunities for direct sales. Fetim is moving its applications to the cloud to help equip it with the agility to respond to these changes.
Fetim also took the decision to move to the cloud version of Infor M3 following a period of international acquisitions that resulted in large fluctuations in the number of users and IT resources required. As a growing company, Fetim has traditionally had to rationalize the overcapacity and excess legacy hardware that comes as part of acquisition. This has carried with it substantial cost and is a distraction from core commercial activity.
As an existing Infor M3 customer, Fetim has been able to influence the functionality included in newer versions of M3 and will deploy the cloud version of Infor M3, with minimal customizations. This will help Fetim to achieve standardized processes quickly. Integration with other applications such as a third party warehouse management system will be handled by Infor ION.
Another driver for Fetim's move to cloud is to support a move from desktop to mobile infrastructure, to shift fixed capital investment to variable operating expenditure and to better handle the speed of change for security requirements. Security is a key concern for Fetim and after having successfully dealt with a range of malware and email based threats to the business as a result of its global buying presence, Fetim has chosen to outsource the management of this risk to specialists including Infor and its cloud partner, Amazon Web Services (AWS), going forward.
"By turning fixed costs into variable, the Group expects savings across many aspects of the business, but most notably fewer retained staff following acquisitions, and better alignment with our changing needs for speed, storage, mobility, and security," said Frans Beerkens, IT Director, Fetim Group. "Whilst the financial case for any IT investment is very important, the overlying driver for Fetim to go to the cloud was more strategic, with agility, flexibility and focus at the core of our decision-making. Fetim will focus on product innovation and our rapidly developing channels of distribution. Our IT partners focus on the technology."
"This comprehensive migration is a great validation of the benefits of cloud and will be an exemplar for many international manufacturers exploring the options of the technology," said Lisa Pope, senior vice-president, global strategy, CloudSuite, Infor. "There are many lessons here for businesses scrutinizing cloud possibilities, from the need to consider integration to how to reduce customizations and so preserve the benefits cloud can bring. It is clear that Fetim has a thorough plan to fully exploit the possibilities offered by cloud and will reap the benefits of increased competitive advantage."
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