Infor Introduces Next-Generation Solution for Equipment Dealers and Service Providers

NEW YORK– Feb. 20, 2014– Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced the availability of Infor M3 13.2 for the Equipment industry, an updated enterprise resource planning (ERP) application that works to streamline equipment sales and service operations and drive profitability throughout the equipment lifecycle.

Infor Equipment offers the broadest, deepest solutions created specifically for equipment-centric customers who sell, rent and service serialized equipment and machinery. This newest version of Infor M3 is built with unique components to support equipment dealers, rental organizations and service providers, in the cloud and on-premise, making it easier for companies to grow their businesses faster and more cost-effectively. New capabilities include processes to automate the complex task of managing and claiming supplier rebates on parts sales, either for over-the-counter sales or as billed parts during service work.

The system will automatically select the most appropriate supplier rebate for the situation and apply this to the sales or service order. Enhanced measurement capabilities allow for greater control on how rental statistics should be calculated when rental equipment is due to be serviced, meaning fewer breakdowns in the field and greater rental utilization revenues. “As the equipment industry rapidly evolves, dealers are constantly looking for new ways to expand their businesses and service offerings.

They are looking for a flexible enterprise business solution that can address a variety of different business models and incorporate new technologies such as telematics and mobile,” said Andrew Kinder, senior director, industry and solution strategy, Infor. “This latest version provides a platform for growth and improved profitability for dealers and service providers.” Another major highlight of this release is Infor M3 Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM), the next-generation CRM solution for Infor M3. It provides a holistic view of customers across the entire continuum of customer-facing processes, and it is flexible and easy to adopt. Infor M3 CLM allows users to work collaboratively in real-time with customers and assists users with management of sales and rental quotations.

“Capturing rental opportunities is very important for a construction equipment dealer because rental margins can be up to four times higher than sales margins,” said Garry Bartecki, vice president, Associated Equipment Distributors (AED). “But, in today’s market there are dealer solutions and there are rental solutions. It is rare to find an application, like Infor’s, that can support both the dealer and rental requirements.” Organizations looking to upgrade or move to Infor M3 13.2 will be able to benefit from the Infor Implementation Accelerator for Equipment, a set of preconfigured industry best-practice processes, industry content, process flows and test scripts that were designed to deliver faster implementation times at lower costs, and lower risk, whether deploying in the cloud or on-premise.