Following the news that John Lewis has chartered a fleet of ships to limit the impact of supply chain disruption on its Christmas season, Alan Laing, UK&I Managing Director at enterprise software firm, IFS has praised the company – noting that others can learn from their foresight and planning.

As reported by the BBC, John Lewis is chartering a fleet of extra ships, along with a number of other businesses, to make sure it has Christmas stock on time.

IFS HAS PRAISED JOHN LEWIS' FORESIGHT AND PLANNING CAPABILITIES IN LIMITING THE IMPACT OF SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION AHEAD OF CHRISTMAS

Following the news, Alan Laing, UK&I Managing Director at enterprise software firm, IFS has praised the company, noting that others can learn from their foresight and planning.

Alan Laing, UK & Ireland Managing Director at IFS commented: “Supply chain disruption has dominated the business and news agenda for much of the pandemic period, and it is clear that firms are increasingly worried about what that may mean for seasonal sales in the run up to Christmas. The measures announced today by John Lewis show a business that has made an intelligent assessment of the potential pain points in its supply chain operations and put in place a well-considered mitigation plan well ahead of time, proactively minimising disruption and ensuring their customers still receive the service they’ve come to expect from the retailer. Others can learn a lot from this example, leaning on resource planning software to gain true visibility of their business and plan for a range of potential scenarios to make sure they are delivering for their customers when it really matters – at the moment of service. However, the time to do this is now, before it’s too late.

IFS helps companies around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations to plan and manage their supply chains and coordinate people, product, and processes to ensure businesses run optimally.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Parts, Pricing and Logistics @ www.fieldservicenews.com/parts-pricing-and-logistics
• Read more about Service Supply Chain on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com//service-supply-chain
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

 

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, today announced its financial results for the first half of 2021. After a strong Q1, H1 is evidence that the company is successfully executing its growth strategy and pursuing its transformation into a leading vertical asset and service centric Cloud software vendor.

With more companies recognising the benefits of deploying in the Cloud and turning to IFS to digitally transform and deliver their moments of service, all software revenue line items grew double digit driven by a steep acceleration in cloud revenue (+79% YoY) and recurring revenue (+27% YoY).

Continued improvement in the quality of the revenue mix with software at 74% of revenue AND H1 Cloud revenue up 79% YoY

H1 also saw some key milestones for IFS, including:

• The acquisition of Axios Systems extends IFS’s service management proposition into ITSM and ITOM to create the most compelling Enterprise Service Management proposition on the market. Combined with IFS’s leadership in Field Service Management, this secures IFS’s ambition to cement itself as the market leader in broader the Service Cloud space.
• The launch of IFS Cloud, IFS Cloud is built using the latest technology including the industry’s most modern UX, digital-twins for enhanced performance, low code/no code development, containerization and a composable architecture which are all critical to creating business agility and realizing value.
• The global launch of IFS’s new branding together with the Moment of Service sets out IFS’s clear strategy to align its value proposition to Servitization to enable organisations to deliver their Moment of Service.

IFS CEO, Darren Roos, commented: “IFS is a technology led company with the single goal to make the latest technology advancements available to our customers in a way that creates value fast, has a low total cost of ownership, and is easy to consume and use. H1 is evidence that our strategy to focus on this and to build agility into our product operations so customers can respond to the market fast is working.” Roos continued: “Customers can see the difference in what IFS is doing, and that ensuring their success is why we do what we do. They also see that very few other vendors offer flexibility in deployment, depth in product and powerful technology while shaping their business around customers experience.” Roos concluded: “Delivering our Moment of Service to our customers is a very real mission for IFS, and the sharp rise in cloud adoption is testimony to that.”

IFS Chief Financial Officer, Constance Minc, commented: “I believe our H1 performance is evidence of a strong and successful strategy. We are delivering double digit software revenue growth at 20% and our share of software revenue and recurring revenue continue to increase improving future performance predictability.” Minc added: “The upward trend in our performance is not only present in the last 6 months but over the long term as demonstrated by the double-digit growth in LTM software revenue for the past 3.5 years.”

Other financial highlights include:

• H1 software revenue was SEK 2.6bn, an increase of 20% Year on Year
• H1 recurring revenue was SEK 2bn, an increase of 27% Year on Year and representing more than 80% of software revenue
• H1 cloud revenue increased 79% Year on Year representing more than 39% of software revenue
• Proportion of license revenues from net new customers is 54% of total

* Note: all figures based in Swedish Krona and reported in constant currency.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

 

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, announces that it has acquired Customerville.

Design-Driven Feedback™ technology provider, Customerville, is an award-winning feedback platform that elevates feedback and listening across the entire customer journey, blending technology, design, and behavioral science to emulate how people naturally share and respond to feedback.

The acquisition creates a uniquely strong proposition for IFS. IFS enables customers to orchestrate their customers, people and assets to deliver outstanding moments of service. In order to ensure these moments of service are indeed outstanding and critically, meeting customer expectations feedback is essential. By embedding the ability to gather the voice of the customer at the moment of service, IFS will enable companies to perfect these moments of service.

Customerville to be integrated into the IFS Cloud proposition helping IFS customers increase engagement, improve revenue and profitability, and drive product, service, and outcome innovation. 

IFS has a long-established relationship with Customerville with the tool deeply entrenched in its own VoC program. The customer sentiment analysis and the really unique view of the intelligence Customerville brings to IFS has played a significant part in how IFS has developed its services, how it developed IFS Cloud, and is continuing to shape its customer Life Cycle Experience program and culture.

The acquisition further cements IFS’s commitment to deliver the capabilities organizations need as they shift their business models away from selling products alone. As companies increasingly focus on design and innovation for service, they are asking for capabilities that helps them understand their customers and their needs better and maintain a dialogue over time. With the acquisition of Customerville, IFS is responding directly to this need.

Darren Roos, IFS CEO, commented: “Customerville is highly differentiated in its field because it is Design-Driven, unlike competitors that offer surveys in static and flat formats, Customerville transforms customer surveys into rich, interactive experiences elevating customer response rates by between 400% and 600%. Successful VoC programs are proven to increase revenue, reduce costs and create a customer centric culture”. Roos continued “Providing this capability to every IFS customer as part of IFS Cloud means empowering them to not only deliver products or services based on customer insights but to do so at the early design stage which creates significant business value.”

Max Israel, CEO of Customerville, commented: “Our goal at Customerville is to show companies they can own the narrative and go beyond emailing dry reports; this is a fundamental shift for companies looking to deepen their understanding of the customer journey and make smarter decisions. With IFS we saw a meeting of minds in the desire to create a mechanism that would enable businesses to embed surveys into their own customers’ journeys.” Israel added “IFS is committed to enabling customers to deliver amazing Moments of Service and we love the team’s passion for creating great experiences. Customerville fits right into that mindset and is a natural extension of IFS’s proposition and we look really forward to our joint successes”. 

Customerville surveys are beautifully designed, thoughtfully structured and aligned to the customer journey to create an engaging experience and provide insights decision makers can act upon. The value is not limited to customer engagement and can extend to create better engagement internally with stakeholders, people, managers, employees as well as throughout the ecosystem with partners, suppliers, and others that impact success.

With its main operations based out of Seattle, WA and in Valencia Spain, Customerville offers an advanced survey tool which transforms data into an interactive Design-Driven Feedback™ platform. The offering is designed to generate significantly higher engagement and response rates from customers and address the declining feedback rates resulting from the quarter of a trillion surveys sent out globally every year. Customerville has a comprehensive solution that integrates feedback collection, analysis, distribution, and action into a single, interconnected platform, to help understand and improve CX.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Learn more about Customerville @ www.customerville.com
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

 

Businesses are missing out on a significant opportunity to use technology to fix internal processes and address the root causes of customer experience issues in the wake of the pandemic, research from enterprise software specialist IFS has today revealed.

The global study, which surveyed 1,700+ executives and 12,000+ consumers, shows that businesses understand software has a key role to play in consistently delivering positive outcomes, but that current approaches to customer experience do little more than wallpaper over the cracks, instead of identifying and addressing systemic problems in their operations.

Although businesses claim to pay close attention to customer service, the inflection points that occur throughout the lifecycle of their operations and encompass processes, technology solutions, and human coordination are even more important to a positive customer experience – but these are far too frequently overlooked. It is only with careful orchestration of these components that companies can deliver a quality ‘Moment of Service’, in which everything comes together to create a positive result for a customer.

29% of managers don’t take action on known operational issues, while 18% are too busy to report issues not considered urgent

This orchestration is only possible when the technological foundations are in place to provide visibility of these inflection points. Only then can businesses take the appropriate action to ensure they delight, and don’t disappoint, their customers. Indeed, some 85 percent of businesses said that their enterprise software helped them measure performance and act on issues at these inflection points to affect the end customer outcome.

However, IFS’s research also uncovered that while 79 percent of businesses have invested time and resources in identifying where these inflection points are, when problems are identified nearly a third of managers (29 percent) admitted to reporting them but not taking any action. Furthermore, some 18 percent revealed they were too busy to report issues unless urgent, while just 15 percent said they proactively look to preempt problems.

Despite the majority of companies (66 percent) investing upwards of $250,000 each year evaluating the customer experience through Net Promoter Scores, reviews, and customer satisfaction surveys, it is clear that unless they resolve these issues when they find them, customers are unlikely to see a meaningful change in their experience. Indeed, 82 percent of respondents were unable to recall a single positive example of a recent frictionless customer experience. This gap between understanding and acting is a business risk that few can afford.

For enterprises that fail at the moment of service, the ramifications are significant. A quarter of consumer respondents stated they would never engage with a brand again after just one bad experience, while over half (52 percent) would abandon a company after two to three. IFS also sought to examine the impact of negative experiences on wider brand perception and uncovered that 58 percent of consumers are very likely or somewhat likely to share their negative perceptions with their network, highlighting how easily a bad interaction can be amplified.

90% of businesses now reengineering operations to ensure better customer experiences

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Over half (52 percent) of consumers are inclined to leave a positive review, underscoring just how much can be gained by focusing on delivering an exceptional customer experience.

To ensure they’re delivering the optimal customer experiences that breed this kind of advocacy, businesses need to rearchitect themselves to remove pain points and streamline operations, rather than trying to talk their way out of issues they walked themselves into. Investing in the right enterprise technology, that enables them to not only address current problems, but adapt to emerging conditions will be key to consistently delivering positive outcomes for customers and a powerful competitive differentiator for organizations.

“When it comes to delivering a positive customer experience, businesses have a limited opportunity to get it right. And if they neglect to assure every single inflection point, they are gambling with their outcomes,” IFS Chief Customer Officer Michael Ouissi said. “There are many points where you can either delight or disappoint a customer across the value chain and it is clear from these findings that consumers are willing to voice their opinions either way. As more and more businesses look to service provision as a key competitive differentiator, running the right enterprise software—engineered for the moment of service and which is able to orchestrate the multitude of people, assets and customers—will separate the winners from the losers.”

With 90 percent of businesses stating they have reengineered or are reengineering their business to ensure customer touchpoints and stages come together for better moments of service, it is vital that companies ensure processes are optimized across each of these inflection points to mitigate issues and fuel growth.

IFS believes a composable enterprise approach, which harnesses a combination of packaged functions and technologies to derive data-driven insight and deliver positive outcomes, will be key to delighting customers and creating competitive advantage, but businesses need to move quickly to seize this opportunity.

Download a copy of the report Fixing the fundamentals: Understanding new business models and opportunities in the wake of Covid-19.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Download a copy of the IFS Study @ www.ifs.com/sitecore/media-library/assets/fixing-the-fundamentals/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

 

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, announces that the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team will use its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to track costs, guide investment decisions and development choices, and evidence spend during competition accounting periods.

The IFS solution will play an important role in ensuring spend compliance with the stringent new Formula One cost cap audit requirements introduced this season by the Federation Internationale d’Automobilie’s (FIA).

The 2021 season sees a radical change in the way Formula One racing teams can spend funds to compete. New cost cap rules by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, limit how much a Formula One team can spend on enhancing the race car’s performance during a calendar year.

This year sees F1 teams starting with a cap of $145 million, gradually reducing to $135 million by 2023. The implications are far-reaching, especially for the finance operation of each team.

IFS SOFTWARE ENABLES ASTON MARTIN COGNIZANT FORMULA ONE TEAM TO OPTIMIZE OPERATIONS AND REPORT FINANCIAL COSTS TO FIA

Robert Yeowart, Aston Martin F1 Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for ensuring the business operates as efficiently and effectively as possible, and, with the cost cap, getting even more value from every pound spent. “The FIA can come and audit us at any time. They can scrutinize our accounts—examining everything we’ve spent, when and where. The new reporting requirements are demanding. Alongside the technical and competition compliance we’re used to, the body is looking for anomalies and trends to expose any team operating beyond the defined cost cap parameters. We have to be ready to supply the evidence and audit trails to support any inspection.”

Aston Martin F1 has implemented IFS to support its operations, financial reporting and production areas.

“IFS has given us the perfect platform to build on,” says Yeowart. “It enables us to really understand where we're spending our money by detailed cost analysis, which we couldn't do before. We can track our inventory and answer questions like ‘what parts do we have available to us?’ What state are they in? How many parts are in the building and how much does each cost?”

The IFS solution enables Aston Martin F1 to run “pound-for-lap-time” ratio analysis in its development projects. This means the organization can get, for the first time, an objective view of how much one upgrade might cost versus another, and the resulting performance improvement in lap time for each.

The FIA also requires teams to track inventory to ensure the cost of parts is not allocated to the wrong accounting year, including evidencing when parts are first used with a bar code tracking system. All the data needed will be fed through IFS. “We know exactly where our inventory is, when we first used a part, how many kilometers it's done, how much life it has left and when we need to be considering a spare or replacement,” says Yeowart. “Towards the end of the season all this is absolutely critical as we may have had accident damage and be up against the cap.”

As F1 racing evolves, Yeowart is clear about the importance of the system. “IFS can help my team meet the cost cap regulations through improving our planning, our data and our analytics. It helps us understand where we've spent our money so far, what we've left to spend against the cap and how we plan to spend it. It lets us analyze where we're adding performance on the car, and if that’s the best use of our capped resources. And it ensures that, when we report to the FIA, we are 100 percent sure that the information we provide is accurate and exactly what is required.”

At the end of 2022, Aston Martin F1 will also become the first team in 20 years to occupy a new, purpose-built factory. “Against a cost-cap environment, we have the perfect opportunity alongside our IFS system to really focus on efficiency, optimization and, ultimately our purpose: helping over 1,000 people to create, within regulated constraints and spends, the highest possible performance for our F1 competition cars,” concludes Yeowart.

As a strategic technology partner, IFS will empower Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team with its state-of-the-art tools to ensure operational excellence. The platform gives the team flexibility in this exciting new era with fresh investment from the shareholders and the construction of a new factory.

Oliver Pilgerstorfer, Chief Marketing Officer, IFS, added, “Effectively capturing and handling data is crucial for high-performing businesses like Aston Martin F1. The sport of Formula One is all about precision, which is relevant across the whole value chain, where hundreds if not thousands of separate processes need to be perfectly orchestrated to ensure success on race day—that’s the moment of service, when everything comes together. IFS is proud to empower many of the world’s most respected brands to operate at peak performance, often in highly regulated industries where compliance, traceability and quality assurance truly matter.”

Learn more about how IFS supports the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team at www.ifs.com/f1.

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Learn more about Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One @ www.astonmartin.com/en/our-world/amf1
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

 

IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, announces that it has concluded the acquisition of Axios Systems.

The transaction, which was initially announced in March 2021, combines two pioneers of the service management space: IFS, with its leadership in Field Service Management and Axios Systems, with its strength in IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Operations  Management (ITOM). The combined IFS Enterprise Service Management proposition is unique in how it enables companies to orchestrate their value chain and optimize their workflows so they can not only deliver amazing moments of service to their customers, but also so they can maximize revenue creation opportunities and increase profitability.

IFS STRENGHTENS LEADERSHIP in service management with THE ADDITION OF AXIOS SYSTEMS' POWERFUL ITMS AND ITOM CAPABILITIES

Since the acquisition was announced, IFS is proud to have attracted many of the best leaders from the sector to bolster the already growing team at Axios Systems. Now under the framework of a dedicated Business Unit within IFS, the team are focused on delivering new product innovation, increased investment in customer experience, and a more focused, industry-led, go-to-market.

Martin Schirmer, President of the Enterprise Service Management Business Unit, commented, “Over the past two months I have met with many employees, customers and partners who I would like to thank for their openness and enthusiasm for what lies ahead. It’s clear to me that we have acquired a company with many assets and strengths, in a market that is evolving and in need for further disruption. With the investment we are committing as well as our customer-centric approach, I am confident that our current customer base will benefit, which will in turn help attract new customers, and we will further extend IFS’s dominance in the overall service management space.”

To learn more about IFS’s service management solutions, please visit: ifs.com/service. For more information on the Axios Systems best-of-breed proposition Assyst, please visit: ifs.com/assyst.

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Further Reading:

 

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Learn more about Axios Systems @ www.axiossystems.com/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

 

Geo-data specialist, Fugro, is fueling a transformation journey to unify its people, processes, and business data with a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution from IFS.

With a 9,000-strong workforce in 61 countries, Fugro collects and analyzes information about the earth and the structures built upon it. The company helps its customers determine the optimal site for the safe, cost-effective, and sustainable design and construction of buildings and infrastructure by acquiring, analyzing and advising on geodata for clients in industries such as offshore and land-based energy, renewables, infrastructure, and nautical engineering.

 

IFS Software to empower Furgro employees worldwide with cloud-based capabilities across global finance and accounting, project management and procurement

The investment in IFS is part of a company-wide initiative that is aimed at bringing staff together in one collaborative way of working, on a centralized technological framework. Without a central system and access to one version of its business information, the company was challenged in leveraging efficient and collaborative ways of working, with common processes and effective business and financial reporting. To provide a single, digital home to its business units, the company opted for a flexible solution that could support its project-based business and ensure timely and accurate reporting in one fully integrated solution. The cloud-based IFS solution will support mission-critical processes including financial management, project and business management, project accounting, and purchasing. When fully deployed, the system will be used in some 40 countries worldwide.

“Companies like us, supporting our clients in managing their complex project lifecycles, are often forced to use separate software products to manage different stages of the project, creating multiple disconnects between data, people and time,” Fugro Chief Executive Officer Mark Heine said. “The IFS solution will standardize and harmonize our project-oriented processes in one highly intuitive ERP platform. Having all of our people accessing the same data and working in the same way will be faster and more enjoyable for our teams. We look forward to working with IFS to usher in the next phase of our company’s business transformation journey.”

Frank Beerlage, Managing Director, IFS Benelux, added, “Project-based service providers such as Fugro need business technology that can scale and flex as business and circumstances dictate. We have a very successful track record in developing tools for companies in some of the world’s most demanding environments, both offshore and onshore. Fugro is a well-respected brand in the project-based service space and we are excited to be working alongside them to establish new standards of efficiency and value.”

The solution will be implemented in collaboration with management and technology consultancy, and Platinum-level IFS partner, BearingPoint.

Learn more about how IFS supports project-based businesses at www.ifs.com/corp/solutions/enterprise-resource-planning/project-erp-software/.

 

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com
• Learn more about Fugro @ www.fugro.com 
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Learn more about the IFS Enterprise Resource Planning @ www.ifs.com/enterprise-resource-planning/project-erp-software/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs

 

In this final article of a series of excerpts from a recent e-book published by IFS, we discuss how to achieve the full benefits of digital transformation with less risk, lower cost and in a fraction of the time.

IFS, the global enterprise applications company, announces that Jacqueline de Rojas has joined its Board as a non-executive director. Following three years of successive double-digit growth, the appointment of de Rojas adds strength and depth to the IFS Board, providing direction, governance, and support to management during this phase of expansion. The appointment is effective immediately and brings the current number of non-executive directors at IFS to five.

De Rojas is an experienced technology executive and industry thought leader. Through her various roles and appointments, she has helped the industry at large address the digital skills gap, deliver on diversity and inclusion, and ensure technology is accessible throughout all levels of society. Her work and commitment have been recognized by industry bodies and governments. She has also been awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services benefiting the technology sector related to international trade.

TENURED TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE AND PRESIDENT OF TECHUK TO SUPPORT IFS THROUGH THE NEXT PHASE OF GROWTH

Commenting on her appointment, de Rojas said, “As the global economy reboots following the Covid-19 pandemic, technology will play a crucial role in helping businesses to build back better and make up for lost ground. Throughout this crisis, we’ve seen the power of IT in action to deliver life-saving public services, swift vaccination rollouts and keep businesses operational.”

“IFS stands apart from its competitors by marrying the Company’s deep industry expertise with its ability to rapidly create business impact,” she continued. “The leadership team has a clear vision of how to empower its customers to deliver meaningful moments of service and value. I’m thrilled to be joining the diverse and ambitious team at IFS which is set to play a major role in the reshaping of industry business models as we enter a post-Covid economy.”

Darren Roos, CEO of IFS, said, “Jacqueline’s track record speaks for itself and she is a real ambassador for the things we care about as a business. Her experience and passion will be meaningful as IFS continues its transformation and growth trajectory. The expertise she brings will further enhance the board’s ability to support and oversee the delivery of our strategy.”

Jacqueline de Rojas CBE

De Rojas holds Board-level assignments for several leading global businesses: as Chair of Metapraxis; and as a Board director at Rightmove plc, FDM Group plc, Costain Group plc. She is also President of techUK, an advocate for diversity and inclusion, and a mentor at Merryck Group.

Prior to her current assignments, de Rojas had a 30-year career in enterprise software having held senior leadership positions in global tech businesses such as Citrix, CA Technologies, McAfee, Novell, and Business Objects.

For more information about the members of the IFS Board, please visit: https://www.ifs.com/corp/company/governance/

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Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Find out more about IFS @ www.ifs.com/
• Read more about IFS on Field Service News @ https://www.fieldservicenews.com/ifs
• Learn more about the IFS Board @ www.ifs.com/corp/company/governance/
• Follow IFS on Twitter @ twitter.com/ifs