Infor M3’s October 2024 updates: How can release management help?

Businesses acquainted with the Infor eco-system are no strangers to the feature releases the Cloud solutions provider introduces semi-annually. The most recent innovations are being rolled out throughout October – they were revealed at the Infor Velocity Summit 2024 in Las Vegas with live demos on how businesses can set the changes in motion.

The feature releases are extensive and will enable deeper integration of industry and business data while introducing better Gen AI capabilities, enhanced data security, and effective user interfaces. In this blog, we’ll explore some key features and discuss how our managed services team works diligently to understand these changes, the impact they will have on your business, and use automation to fast-track testing so your business can achieve maximum productivity.

1. Boosting efficiency with GenAI Assistant

One of the most anticipated releases is the Infor GenAI Assistant, a conversational AI tool that enhances user interaction within Infor CloudSuite. By streamlining tasks such as managing manufacturing projects, analyzing requisitions, and tracking products, the GenAI Assistant empowers users to achieve greater levels of productivity.

This feature is part of Infor’s broader Industry AI portfolio, which continuously embeds AI across applications to enrich industry-specific processes. With GenAI’s ability to reduce manual effort, businesses can expect enhanced accuracy, consistency, and significant time savings, as demonstrated in real-world applications like item master data cleansing.

2. Transforming business operations with Infor Process Mining

Another important update is Infor Process Mining, a tool designed to give businesses enhanced visibility into their daily operations. By utilizing specialized algorithms to analyze event log data, process mining enables organizations to uncover inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities for automation.

This platform simplifies data analysis and insights retrieval, leading to faster decision-making and operational agility. Process mining can illuminate inefficiencies across workflows like order-to-cash operations, empowering businesses to address process issues without disrupting ongoing activities.

3. Navigating compliance with ESG strategy management

As businesses increasingly prioritize sustainability and compliance, Infor’s ESG Strategy Management offers new capabilities to help organizations set, meet, and report on their ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) goals. These modules are seamlessly integrated into daily workflows, allowing businesses to ensure compliance while maintaining operational efficiency.

With regulatory pressures mounting in multiple sectors, having a tool that embeds ESG data into everyday operations is an advantage. By systematically tracking and improving ESG goals, businesses can stay on top of regulatory changes while contributing to long-term sustainability objectives.

4. Enhancing industry-specific supply chain management

Infor has also introduced industry-specific enhancements to its supply chain management solutions, particularly in sectors like healthcare. New capabilities such as procedure supply planning and distribution management are designed to improve accuracy, reduce manual intervention, and speed up time-to-value.

By embedding AI-driven insights and automating critical supply chain processes, businesses can optimize operations while maintaining flexibility. The result is a faster, more efficient supply chain with reduced errors, enhancing customer satisfaction and business performance.

5. Additional platform enhancements

The October release includes several other features that improve overall platform functionality. Infor GenAI extends its capabilities into document processing, enabling quicker handling of large volumes of business data. Infor RPA (Robotic Process Automation) introduces new automation capabilities, reducing manual tasks and increasing productivity across various departments.

Additionally, workspace enhancements to Infor Mongoose offer improved low-code application development, giving businesses the tools to adapt and scale applications faster. These features, combined with enhanced security protocols and data management capabilities, ensure organizations stay agile and responsive to market changes.

While innovation and automation are key drivers in successful release management, having the right support can make a difference. Fortude offers its release management solution as part of its managed services capability.

From application management and resource augmentation, our services go beyond simple support, enabling businesses to focus on innovation while we handle the technical complexities that come with feature releases. Our team of Infor-certified experts works with businesses to manage their release cycles efficiently, leveraging automation wherever possible to deliver faster, more accurate results.

Here’s how your team will benefit:

– Release management can cause disruptions to the overall system – this can in turn impact the bottom-line and the brand, but with release management the overall impact can be managed by planning solutions to ensure business continuity.

– Gain confidence in future release management.

– Time to focus on innovation.

• Streamlined release management support with automated testing

At Fortude, one of our key differentiators is Fortest – an automated regression testing tool, which allows us to deliver faster and more accurate results when assessing the impact of new Infor releases. By reducing the manual effort typically involved in identifying and troubleshooting potential issues, automated testing ensures a smooth release process. With Fortest, a leading Australian food and beverage manufacturer, has been able to fast track manual regression testing cycles, while cutting down their manual test duration up to 90%.

• Comprehensive managed services for ongoing support

Managing releases involves more than just deploying updates; it requires aligning each change with your business processes. Fortude’s Managed Services take a proactive approach, offering:

– Release impact and new feature support: Level two incident resolution, proactive ERP health checks and leverage new features

– Automated testing: Get faster, more accurate results with less manual effort.

As Infor continues to roll out new feature releases, businesses must adapt to leverage these advancements effectively. Fortude’s Managed Services are designed to provide the necessary expertise and support to ensure a smooth transition. From automated testing to proactive management , we help organizations harness the power of Infor’s latest innovations, enabling them to stay competitive and agile in the ever-evolving Infor ecosystem.

To learn more about Fortude’s Release Management: