I listened to the newly released Enterprise Software Podcast ( subscribe here ) and have the following notes to share.

This episode featured three Infor channel executives talking about the strengths of Infor’s products, their channels, and where they see Infor heading.

Infor Background via Wikipedia: 

• Founded June 20, 2002
• Over 50 acquisitions made
• Koch Industries is the owner – $11 billion market cap ( February 2020 )

Podcast Hosts:

• Bob McAdams
• Darcy Boerio

Infor Channel Team:

• Salena Butler, SVP & General Manager
• Kari Finnigan, VP Channel
• Anh Profiti, VP Channel

Notes from this podcast episode

( link to full podcast )

It is Infor’s 20th anniversary this year

Infor have offered a channel since inception. Note: They discuss having a direct team on this podcast so it doesn’t seem as if they mean 100% channel. 

Over 3,000 partners worldwide

• channel partners – sell/demo/implement
• alliance partners – advisors
• solution partners – integrators/developers
• complimentary partners – extend solutions

About 30 channel partners are in the industrial manufacturing partner segment

Ideal Partner Has These Four Components:

1. Sales
2. Marketing Resources
3. Pre-sales ( demos )
4. Delivery ( consultants )

 The majority of partners are exclusive to Infor by choice.

They believe Infor has these primary competitors: 

• Acumatica
• Netsuite
• SAP
• Microsoft

Note: Missing are  Epicor, Sage (X3)

Infor has a substantial market share in manufacturing.

Highlights that make Infor’s partner program unique

1. The investment that Infor has made with channel managers. Most channel managers have two to six partners ( by design ), which allows for better business planning.
   1. EQ Selling (third party) is providing Infor to build a partnership
2. Defined market space and clear rules of engagement
   1. Partners are not competing with the direct sale team. Partners cannot compete against each other on the same opportunity
3. The program was built to meet the partner where they are. 
   1. Gold partner ($5 million) is the top tier for Infor; revenue is significant but only part of (a) revenue, (b) capacity.

Where do you see info in three to five years? 

• More business with channel partners
• Micro verticals ( out of the box )
• Evolve the partner program with additional enablement

Events

• Partners are invited to all of Infor’s events ( with the direct team)
• Co-selling ( trade shows )
• Partner summit
• Customer user groups ( after event meetings with partners )

For more information on becoming an Infor partner – click here.