>> Announcer: Live from Atlanta, Georgia, it's theCUBE, covering IFS World Conference 2018 brought to you by IFS. >> Welcome back to theCUBE's live coverage of IFS World Conference 2018, here in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We have a three panel guest with us today. We have Eric Schaeffer, the Senior Managing Director of Accenture, Paul Maher, GM Industry Experiences at Microsoft, and Yasushi Yagyu, Assistant Manager at NEC Corporation. Thank you so much for joining me. >> Guests: Thank you. >> So you're on this panel because you are all platinum sponsors and close partners of IFS. We've heard a lot today about IFS's passion for customers. It's a customer-centric, customer-focused company. I'd love to hear from you, your experiences as being partners with IFS. If you could describe a little bit about what you've experienced. I'm going to start with you. >> Thanks, Rebecca. I think, we've been, Accenture and IFS have been partners for many many years, and what I've appreciated in the relationship is the customer focus, but really the focus on delivering value to both IFS and Accenture customers. It's a value-driven approach, very industry specific. So understanding the industry issues, leveraging IFS products and solution to best meet these, having Accenture come in and help tailor the solution to the industry imperatives, and also leveraging digital technologies and combining these with the IFS foundation, which I think was a key term used this morning. >> Yeah, I mean so... Microsoft and IFS have had a very long and prosperous partnership over the last 20 years or so. What's great here, from the keynote this morning is obviously the announcement of IFS Applications 10. And so Microsoft obviously, being a Cloud provider, we've most recently been working very closely with IFS on their move to the Cloud and moving their solutions to the Cloud. So you know, this thing called digital transformation is really, sort of the boss and it's great to see, you know, as you had probably this morning in the keynote, you know, really disruption is really driving new innovation and so we're really glad to partner with IFS in response to that disruption, thinking about Cloud and bringing the IFS Solutions to the Cloud, and really delivering innovation to really address the digital transformation needs of industry. >> And I'd love to talk about you, Yasushi, about innovation. I mean, I ask all of you, but this is a company that really is known for having a history of innovation. How do you come together and collaborate and come up with new creative solutions? >> Uh huh. For example, we have independently, we have AI engine. Namely HML is our engine. And our customer has already implemented that kind of AI solution to predict the demand forecast. And then... Our solution is connect to the IFS Production Control Module, or master schedule module. And then, now our AI can generate forecast data and send it to the master schedule module. >> I know that Accenture has innovation centers around the world. Can you talk a little bit about how you innovate with IFS? >> Well, so we have four innovation centers across the world. We have one in Detroit, one in Munich, Shanghai, and Tokyo. And what we do with IFS is look at industry use cases. And then by combining IFS solutions, plus some of the digital assets, which are proprietary to Accenture, combining the two to deliver new levels of efficiency. And so helping out clients, walking through these innovation centers, they get the "Wow" moment where they see how IFS plus Accenture combined can deliver more value and unlock the value which is trapped in their enterprise. >> Can you talk a little bit about that "Wow" factor? I mean, what are sort of... What are a lot of the challenges that your clients are facing, that you're partnership with IFS has helped them solve? >> Well, many of our clients and I think the term digital transformation of industry was mentioned, it is how is digital transforming the industry. I think the question is not the why. Everybody's convinced and has understood that it is happening. The question is more of the how to. And this is where the combination of IFS plus Accenture really focusing on the how to, how to leverage these technologies on very pragmatic use cases, demand forecasting we heard. It's all about artificial intelligence and visual and computer vision for visual quality inspections, analytics on the shop floor. So it's working with IFS and our clients, the team of three, to identify these use cases and see how to leverage digital to respond and provide a solution. >> At Microsoft, what kind of benefits have you seen with some of the IFS products? >> Yeah, I mean so, from a Microsoft perspective, of course, you know, we are the vendor, the technology vendor. Most recently we've been working very closely with IFS around the move to the Cloud. So I mean, certainly as I think about the partnership that we've had, it really is multi-faceted in terms of, of course we work very closely around how do we think about driving new opportunities and sales motions. And IFS is one of our highest ranked managed partners so we partner very closely there. But suddenly if I was to focus on the technology innovation perspective, what we're really excited about is really that digital disruption and using the new IFS applications, in particular, IFS Applications 10 that's been announced at the conference, working in partnership there to really look to see how do we start to move the needle and move new customers to really achieve to their digital transformation needs and demands, in partnership with the IFS solution running on the Microsoft digital Cloud. >> What are some of the most exciting new features in IFS 10 that you're most excited about? >> Yeah, I mean you mentioned before about the buzz words and the on-trend technologies and I'll kind of quote the keynote this morning, but what really excites me and excites our joint customers, IFS and Microsoft, is things like artificial intelligence, so what that can do around things like machine learning, cognitive services, things like IoT and making that a reality, so thinking about things like predictive maintenance and really being able to integrate the IFS solutions on the Microsoft digital platform, leveraging IoT to really help in those sort of scenarios is great. And then, really super excited about some of the new innovation opportunities. So thinking about things like block chain and what that can do, as you think about the broader opportunity around supply chain and payments and so on. So I think that closer together of the platform but also we've had such a close partnership with IFS, so thinking about really sort of a business problem-led approach, followed by how can the technology and innovation help our joint customers, I think is really helping us as we're looking to innovate in the world of digital transformation. >> And I know that NEC has recently come out with an announcement about AI and heterogeneous, mixed learning technology. Can you tell our viewers a little bit more about that, Yasushi? >> Yes, we have an engine, engine model. And our customer has implemented that kind of AI solution to demand forecast or machine failure prediction operations. And some of our AI solutions do collaborate with IFS predictions. For example, at NEC booth we can demonstrate our demand forecast solution. And information from each product comes from IFS master schedule or inventory transaction as input data into AI engine. And then AI generates forecast data automatically and sends it back to that module, yeah. >> So here, IFS, we've heard a lot today too, about the metrics, how it measures its success, and we've heard that it has very high NPS score, its Gartner Insights score is far above competitors, and yet it is kind of this best kept secret in the industry. What would your advice be to IFS in terms of getting the word out about its products? >> Yeah, I mean I think everyone's looking for opportunities to further their market share and drive that new innovation and sales pipeline. I think the best guidance I would give is that IFS really is a first-class company and has first-class products. I think it's continued to innovate and be true to the core and you know, just work with partners like good friends here to really get the word out. But it's really not about doing unnatural acts. I think it's really about building an empathy and understanding of what's needed in the industry and I think the story telling and brand awareness will grow. And I think, from what I was hearing this morning, I mean the conference even this year has already grown by 20 percent, so I think you'll see those sort of leading integrators of the word getting out and the brand profile out there. So I think it's a cautious approach, a strategic approach by using partners and not doing unnatural things. Let the innovation that's happening at IFS and with those partnerships, almost do the story telling and the brand awareness, and just be true to the competency and listen to the customers. >> Well when you think ahead at what we're going to be thinking about and talking about at WoCo 2019, 2020, what are sort of the big trends that you see? I mean we've hit a lot of the buzz words with AI and machine learning. What else do you see on the horizon? What's keeping you up at night or are you thinking about? >> Well what I do see is that, so we mentioned all these digital technologies, they will force manufacturers, I believe, to completely reinvent their products and services. And so the products of tomorrow will be with a lot of AI, a lot of digital technologies inside of products, also outside of the products. So products will be very different from today. And so you can easily imagine that the way you engineer, the way you manufacture, the way you support these products, will also be completely different. So I think next year, 2019, will be a lot about how digital is reinventing the products and services of the manufacturers. >> Right, we keep thinking about how it's reinventing our workforce and changing the way we're doing things, but it's actually going to be reinventing what's coming out, too, of these processes. >> Yeah I mean, you've touched upon some of the buzz words. I think it's also the maturity of the technologies. So I mean, I think that's certainly what excites me, is that the maturity and the capabilities has grown. So things like machine learning isn't necessarily new but with breakthroughs around the algorithms, that's kind of bringing the pragmatic reality of it being able to drive the innovation needed, you know? Capabilities such as the Cloud is providing that ability to scale up, scale down, the ability to provide processing power that wasn't there, previously possible in their price-performance way. So I think it's great to focus on some of the shiny things that are coming up, but I think it's also important to look at saying the things that are of yesterday isn't that far off, it's the maturity that they're reaching and so it's really making sure that they are taken advantage of and really taking that pragmatic approach of, it's got to be business-led versus technology-led, bringing that innovation into industry. >> Yasushi, do you see any big trends on the horizon that you're thinking about at NEC? >> I'm sorry? >> Big technology trends? Things that you're thinking about, maybe you're worried about, concerned about? >> Ah yes, I think IoT technology is helping reach to early maturity stage already. And at this rate, many users successfully gather, collect biased kind of data and revitalize the data to improve actual business operations. As a next step, I believe AI technologies will be widely applied for demand forecasting or that kind of failure prediction and that case of success in each industry will become solution models or templates, which will accelerate the progress of AI introduction. >> Great, well thank you so much. I really appreciate Yasushi, Eric, Paul, I really appreciate your time. It's been a great conversation. >> Thank you. >> We will have more from IFS WoCo 2018 just after this. (upbeat electronic music)

>> Host: Live from Atlanta, Georgia, it's theCUBE. Covering IFS World Conference 2018, brought to you by IFS. >> Welcome back to theCUBE's live coverage of IFS World Conference here in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We have a three-guest panel with us today. We have Amy Eager. She is the technical solution architect APS10 evangelist. Mark Large, the head of business systems at Volac, and Jay Gnuse, who is the information technology director at Chief industries. Jay, Mark, Amy, thanks so much for joining us. >> Absolutely. >> Thanks. >> So, tell me Amy, you are an evangelist. I love that you have that in your title, very cool. Tell me a little bit about what you do as a technical solution architect. >> So, I really have sort of a dual role. And technical solution architect is something very important to me, because I have the luxury of working with our prospective customers. So folks that haven't joined the IFS family yet, as well as our existing customers. So, for example I've known Jay for over 10 plus years, and we've worked on various technology aspects together. When customers upgrade and they need new hardware, and all those types of things I provide advice on that. But being a product evangelist, which is my second time. I'm very honored I was the APS9 evangelist, and the applications 10 evangelist, and that means that I get to go out and spread the word about all the benefits that IFS Applications 10 is going to bring to our customer base. So it's very exciting. >> So, you were on the main stage this morning, you're going to be back this afternoon. What are some of your favorite features that you sing from the rooftops? >> Well, I think really we got to see a great look at some of that this morning. The fact that you can interact with a business application simply by typing a few words in, and talking to the arena bot. I think that is really next generation, and going to take us to the next level. Obviously we see more and more of our users wanting to interact with their business applications the way they do with their phones and their consumer apps. So I think that's really very exciting, that certainly would be one feature, and just continuing to extend our user experience through what you saw this morning and the IFS arena client. Really putting the information right in the hands of the users. >> And then in an intuitive way, an easy way. >> Yes, absolutely, if it's not easy they're not using it so. >> That's a very good point, good point. So you both have these buttons on that says, "I'm an early adopter of IFS Applications 10". >> Yes. >> I want to hear from both of you, why were you an early adopter? We'll start with you Mark. >> Well, we were on Apps8 before we joined Apps10, and we did a lot of development work with IFS on Apps8, and it sort of came to fruition within nine, so within nine, a lot of the work we did was available. We didn't upgrade to nine, so when the opportunity with ten came along, we said let's go for it. We have a very good relationship with IFS, so we trust each other, which is key to any upgrade program. And there's so many new features that we can really benefit from as a business. >> And do you feel almost a little bit of an ownership in the sense that you, because you were with Apps9, and you may have even helped IFS sort of think about what could be next. >> Yes, yeah, so we definitely own the system. And in working with R&D they listened to what we're saying, so that, you know, for a software provider, that's a real key thing that they listen to their customers. IFS has definitely done that on Apps10, especially with the arena client, which launched today, and the arena bot, which I was one of the first people to use, so it's a very good tool. >> Very cool. Jay, how about you, why did your company choose to be an early adopter? >> Yeah, we've really got a great team at Chief, so we knew that we could find the problems and create the cases accordingly that are needed, so that IFS could fix them. And then we also have some very creative people on our team that can come up with enhancements, or small tweaks to the program to help and shape it for the future. So that was one of the reasons. We also are really excited about the training that we received, and that was something we were looking forward to, and sure enough we did get a lot of training, lot of questions asked, so we feel like we know IFS better now than we did before thanks to all the training with it, especially with R&D. >> So what are some of the benefits that you're already seeing? So, IFS Apps10 is going to be out to the general market later this year, or early next? >> Amy: Just shortly following the conference. >> Oh, excellent, okay. But you've been playing around with it for a while now, what are some of the benefits that you're seeing? >> One of the features that we like is the ability to edit customer order lines. Multiple lines at the same time, that's a nice new features that makes it a little quicker for our end users. Another one is the part cost history details. We should be able to save some data space by using that one. We also like the ability to move functional objects in the equipment object navigator. That's easier now, before we had left over objects sitting out there, and now we can move them. So that's nice. I really like the ability to pin records on the detail screen. It's kind of hard to describe how it works, but once you see it, it's easy and it's a very nice feature. And then, of course, the manufacturing visualizer is huge for us. With it, our customers have to make changes, and may be late in the game, and with that, we can see what's going on on the shop floor, and we can adjust accordingly. >> Yeah. >> How about you, Jay? I mean, sorry, Mark. (laughing) >> Yeah, so we, that's been a gamechanger for the business, we've gone from the webportal for booking holidays to the arena client, you can do it in the pub, or anywhere on the go, basically. Which is really good. >> I like being in the pub. >> Yeah, the pub's good. >> That works for me. >> And then um, Wadaco, which is the warehouse data collection system, which is all about scanning and handling units, and we manufacture lots of different products for the human and animal markets, and we have a sashay and then a box and an outer box and then onto a pallet, that's lots of transactions, but in Wadaco now, handing an issue you can do it as one transaction, so instead of ten transactions, you've got one transaction. That's a massive gamechanger for the way in which we use the system. >> One of the things we've heard a lot in the keynote, and also just in these interviews that I'm doing here, is just how customer-centric IFS is. And you're customers, so can you tell us a little bit about how, how has this company, earned your trust? What is it, what is it doing that's so special than other companies, that its competitors aren't? >> It's the relationship, it's all down to relationships. We have four values in our company, performance, ambition, collaboration, and trust. And actually, if you take all those four key values, IFS follows them, we work together well with best of breed system, we collaborate well. We're both ambitious businesses, and we trust each other. So if you've got all those four things, you've got a win. >> Right, right, right. So what do you want to see out of the next Woco. So we're at Woco 2018, I know it's only day one, but when you think about, you are valued and dear customers to IFS, so what do you want to see with this relationship going forward? >> Well I think the title this year, the what's coming next, is really important, and it's so great to be able to see all the new features that they're rolling out, and what they're doing, so looking forward to that again next time. >> And it's also the expansion of the arena client, you know, it's quite small at the moment, and there's all the updates coming, we're getting to see them firsthand, but this time next year or in 18 months, the arena client will be massive. And it will be the future. >> It's true, it's true. And how much are you talking with each other? I mean, that's one of the things that we've heard, too, is that customers, you know, it's almost like companies don't want their clients talking to each other but that's not so at Woco, that we want the feedback, want the interaction. What's the experience, can you describe what it's like? >> Well, to me, I mean, it really is sort of the foundation of IFS. I really believe that, I see that, I think we all do. The relationships that we have with our customers, that is something unique. This is not a vendor supplier customer type relationship. We are partners in this, and I think another unique aspect that I would love to point out is the fact that, not only do we want our customers talking to each other, we have perspective customers here. This is not a situation where it's all just long-term customers, we've all known each other. We have perspective customers here that are really gaining insight into what it means to be part of the IFS family. And that's certainly, I'm very proud to say, I've been with IFS for over 20 years, and that's something that has always been the case with our organization, and it means a lot to us for our customers to feel that way as well. >> So, now that the software has been deployed, how are you keeping, how can customers keep it up to date? >> Well, this is another aspect that we, we really introduced this in IFS Applications 9, but it continues on with IFS Applications 10, of course, which are quarterly updates. So, through the lifecycle of a release, an update will come out every quarter, they are cumulative updates, excuse me, so if you see update four comes out, and there isn't anything that you need, then you skip that, maybe you skip the next one, but six comes by and you say, there's something there that I want to apply, it's like applying a patch. So they can really stay current, and that's our driver. And another unique thing about this is not only are we introducing fixes and corrections, we know those exist in software, but we also try and introduce little feature, functional enhancements in these updates as well. So there could be a new feature available to you, or a new lobby, or something new with the bot perhaps coming in an update, so, it's very important to us to not only, of course, deliver fixes and patches when needed, but also functional enhancements throughout the lifecycle of the product. >> And have you experienced this yet? >> Yeah, even on the beta version, we've been taking updates, so we're on update four at the moment, so, uh, and update five's ready. We're going to make the decision if we want to take it now or we wait til RTM which is July for us. Which is quite soon. >> Right, right, no, it's just around the corner. Exactly. And so, I assume you'll be early adopters of Apps 11, too. >> Mark: Maybe. (laughing) There's no reason why not. >> Right, exactly. Well, Jay, Mark, Amy, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a really great conversation here. >> Amy: Thank you so much, thank you guys. >> Jay: Thank you. >> Mark: Thank you. >> I'm Rebecca Knight, we'll have more from IFS WOCO 2018 just after this.

>> Announcer: Live from Atlanta, Georgia, it's the Cube. Covering IFS World Conference 2018. Brought to you by IFS. >> Welcome back to the Cube's live coverage of IFS World Conference 2018 here in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We have a three-guest panel with us today. We have Mark Boulton who is the CMO, Antony Bourne, vice-president Global Industries Solutions, and Brian Sommer who is an analyst at TechVentive. Thank you so much for joining us, gentlemen. I really appreciate it. >> Happy to be here, thank you. >> Happy to be here, yeah. >> So this is a big, big event for IFS, WOCO, as it's known. So talk a little bit about what you're hearing already from customers and feedback that you're getting. >> Sure, well the first thing is that everyone's told us Atlanta was a great choice of venue. >> Rebecca: This time of year in particular. >> Well, just flown in actually, from London where the weather is not this good. But, we've had really good feedback so far and still only at the end of the first morning. But the opening keynotes and the reveal of IFS Apps 10 went really well. I think most people have been really pleased with the content that they're seeing on the whole. So feedback is good. We know it's a big investment in time and time out of the office for our customers to come here. So we need to make sure that it's time well spent, that they get value. And so far, the feedback is really good. They're learning stuff, they're seeing things for the first time. They're meeting their peers and connecting. So it's good. >> And before the cameras were rolling, we were talking about the customers interacting with each other. Not only just you and telling you how they're using your product, but also interacting with each other and talking about things that they have learned and sites that they have gleaned. So can you describe a little bit about what's happening? >> And that's a key thing because we love our customers, we love getting them together, we love them talking to each other. It's not just taking it from our words and taking it for granted, we want them to share the experience, we want them to say, okay, what to do in this scenario? How did you overcome this? So these events are fantastic. I've just been talking to a customer, now, before lunch, about how they want to upgrade based on what they've already seen. And we're only halfway through day one. And it's just like, I want to talk to my account manager, I want a meeting about what we're going to do and when we're going to be doing it. So it's a fantastic event, fantastic. >> So, how about you? What are you seeing in terms of this new release with IFS 10. I mean, what interests you most as an analyst? >> Well, I've got some clients who specifically ask me to be on the lookout for some things over here at today's show. And one of them was around the new user experience on release 10 product. They're looking for something that's a richer web-based kind of mobile type of experience, or consumer-user interface experience for them. And I think they'll be happy with what's been announced over here today. It will come out in phases, obviously, but it works on everything now. Every kind of device and that's what the client wanted to see. And I'll report that back. >> Just to echo what Brian said, we've had customers already contacting us about because there is a certain functionality which we've introduced to IFS Applications 10, which they really, really want so they've actually said okay even before we announced it, which we let them have some indication of what was happening and they said, we need that, we want that. So its future is looking really good for upgrades, as well as new customers. >> One of the things that we keep hearing a lot of how customer-focused, how customer-centric IFS is as a company. The metrics speak for themselves in terms of your NPS scores and the Gartner insights. So how, as CMO, how are you going to get the word out, really? Because IFS is kind of known one of the best kept secrets in the industry. >> And it's true that we don't have quite the brand recognition that maybe some of the huge, massive competitors have. But, within our industries, we are very well known and we're known for all the right things. Great products, well-implemented and well-supported. We are leaders in a lot of the markets in which we play. Events like this is actually one of the key objectives for us. Is to have a good presence from analysts and journalists, the influencers, we call them. We like to think we look after them very well. They get the inside track on things that we're working on. So we use a lot of tools to actually spread the word. But, our biggest advocates are our customers. The people that have our software and have worked with us, they genuinely do love the products. And for those that were in the main room this morning when we launched-- Dan Matthews, our CTO, he said one of our core objectives is to design a product that people love. And so literally our customers will go out, as our NPS scores indicate as you mentioned, they will do the job for us. They tell people; they tell them very positive things about their experience. We did some studies. The majority of our customers actually are more profitable than people than use our competitor products. They're must faster time to solution and things like that. So these are the things that our customers are saying about us and these are good things to be talked about for. >> Right. Brian, what would you say should be keeping companies up at night. I mean, IFS is doing a lot of the right things. As you said, you're going to report back, the customer will probably be happy with what they hear. But what are some of the things that maybe customers are saying or customers are needing that you're hearing? That kind of feedback that maybe IFS-- what would be sort of your best advice for the future? >> Well, I think IFS plays in a bunch of different parts of the world. There is no single answer that will solve every customer in every part of the planet. And there are some very realistic problems that some companies have in areas where there's spotty electric power, or spotty internet access, and the like. They're going to probably continue to want a non-premise kind of solution. There are others in developing countries where they've clearly bypassed an entire generation, or two, of technology and they want to straight into cloud. And I know these guys, they've got a number of different cloud modules, or applications, in field services, one of those areas. And field service is a great one for the cloud, simply because that's what business is all about. It's about a bunch of people carrying tablets, and cell phones, smart phones, whatever, in and out of customer locations. That's fine. But by-and-large, what do the clients want? Well, I think what they want more than anything nowadays, they want to get out of the data-center business and more and more clients are looking at utility computing. And they're expecting vendors, eventually, to get them out of maintaining and running data centers because they have more confidence that vendors, and or partner technology provider can do a better job at web-security, maybe, than they could in-house by themselves. >> Just to echo that. >> I think one of the key differentiators from the IFS offering is the fact that we give our customers choice. We say, what do you want? We have the solution for you. Do you want it on prem? Do you want is SAS? Do you want it in the cloud? What is best for you? So that's where we can offer the customers something different than what some of competition may offer. >> Right. >> And just one more thing on that topic. And Darren mentioned it in his keynote this morning. But in North America, 50% of their customers are deploying on cloud, now. And that's core ELP. But in FSN, it's not quite 100%, but it's almost. And that's not dependent on the geography. Wherever we sell that product in the world, most people are choosing to deploy on cloud. So that is really real now, that trend. People see the benefits. I think, obviously, the majority of the industry and markets, and cloud solutions, now. But there really are tangible benefits and I think the customers have got it, now. And the move is real. >> If I can add on, I think one of the big things that is changing, is that customer after customer, client, client, I go to, they got a name for a project they want to take on. It can be the factory, the future, it could be a modernization, ERP modernization, or IT modernization. It could be a process transformation, digital transformation, business process redesign, whatever. They've all got a name for something. They don't know quite what it is, they really have a hard time defining it. But, they're on this journey and what they're looking for is more than just a basic transaction processing ERP product. They want something that will handle, like, IOT technology. They want connectors that connect up things beyond the four walls of the enterprise. They want to connect up to their assets as well as to assets that are out in the field, either with customers, what have you. And that's really where the future of this base is going right now. >> One of the things that we've also heard about in the keynote was the real emphasis on time-to-value. The customer really wants to be able to see a return on investment almost immediately. Is it difficult to keep up? It's almost an unrealistic expectation to see that value right away. >> I think it's down to what solution they're trying to solve and the ease of use; the implementation. And as we've said, from an IFS point of view, we want users to love the application. That means it needs to be easier to use. With what we've introduced today, with IFS Applications 10, does make it easier for customers and users to actually get the benefits out of their solution as quickly as possible. >> And are you able to keep up with the pace of change? How do you keep up, I mean to say? >> There are a number of different ways. Because we focus on our core industries, we belong to industry organizations, we often have customer advisory meetings at customer premises. Because we invite all the customers to it, or as many as we can so that we can talk to them, they can give us feedback about what they want to see in a product going forward, and we can channel that, in addition to the trends that we see in the industry. Because we have a lot of people that have come from the industry, they have that experience embedded in them. So they know what the industry wants. But we need to keep up with the trends to ensure we give them that benefit once they implement the solution. >> And one of the things I would add is that time-to-value is improved if the product is a good fit in the first place. If you've got to do a lot of modifications-- first you're adding in cost, you're also adding time, and complexity and risk to the project. And the industry expertise that Andy talks about, which comes in from a number of directions into our RND and it's reflected in our product. At least we've done a number of charts over the last few versions of our software. And if you go back like 10 or 15 years, you'd see that maybe, 25%, 30% of the project was going into modifying the software to make it do what the customer needed before they could even turn it on live. Today, we have a lot of clients who've upgraded from eight to nine, or now nine to ten, and they've literally-- they're running standard software. And so there, your time-to-solution is really rapid. It's as quick as you can move data and so on. But if you're not modifying it, that's key. >> That's the key, exactly. Well, Mark, Antony, Brian, thank you so much for joining us, it's been a great conversation. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> No problem. >> I'm Rebecca Knight. We will have much more from IFS World Conference just after this. (upbeat techno music)

>> Narrator: Live from Atlanta, Georgia, it's theCUBE. Covering IFS World Conference 2018. Brought to you by IFS. >> Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of IFS World here at Georgia here at World Congress Center I'm your host Rebecca Knight and along with my cohost Jeff Frick. We are joined by Cindy Jowden, she is the CEO North America a position she has held since 2004. Thanks so much for joining us Cindy. >> Good morning, how are you? >> Good, I'm good. >> Great. >> Good. >> It's our first IFS World, it's quite a show you guys have. >> Yeah, we're very excited, you know it's such a great opportunity for us to, you know, connect with so many of our great customers. >> So, tell us a little bit about the theme of this year's conference which is Connect to What's Next. What, what is that all about? >> Well, it's about connecting to what's going on next in technology, and in business, and in the economy. You know, we've got many, you know great customers who are, you know, medium to large size industries and they're having you know, all different kinds of things come toward them around business transformations, you know, their customers are becoming more demanding, consumers are becoming more demanding, and so this conference really helps them see not only what they're facing today but what they're facing for the future. You know, we've got many levels of people that come to this conference you know, we've got CFO's, CIO's to power users and so there's something here really for everyone. So, you know if you want to talk about trends in the industry, you want to talk about what's going on with our new versions of products, that's available. If you are a power user and you're in finance and you just want to go connect with a industry expert to find out how you can do your job easier, it's all here. >> So, it's not only what is next in the technology, it's also connecting human to human. >> Oh. >> I mean that's really what the congress is about. >> Oh, most definitely, you know it's really fun because you'll see you know, customers that maybe haven't seen each other in person since the last world conference. But, they connect and they talk all the time you know via the phone or Skype or whatever, but they see each other and they run and they hug each other and they say, "oh it's so good "to be able to see what's going on" and you know our customers share so much and so that's really just a great opportunity and also for our customers to connect with our experts and you know, the people that they work with, you know from day to day as well. >> Man: So you're CEO of North America. >> I'm the president of the Americas. >> President of the Americas. >> Yes. >> Which includes the southern hemisphere, right? >> Yes, you don't want to forget our friends in Latin America. >> That's right. So it's a Swedish, founded in Sweden, so how are things going in North America or South America, excuse me the Americas, and what kind of values and things that you take from a Swedish based company that you're applying here in the Americas that's maybe a little bit different than a company that was founded in Silicone Valley or someplace like that. >> That's a great question, you know at IFS we've got you know strong you know, Swedish roots and Swedish heritage which says, you know, do what's right, work hard, stay close to your customer and you know, say what you can do and if you can't do something, make sure you say that as well. So, it's setting that right expectations, and we've taken that and that's really pervasive through all that we do. And, you know, we want to make sure that we, you know, can do, you know, say what we do, deliver on what we do, and then, you know, our employees love working with our customers and I think our customers feel you know, feel that we're partners and it's not something that you know, we're not just saying something to get the next deal. It's not unusual for us to say well, I'm sorry, you know, we shouldn't work together because what you want to do Mr. Prospect, is something different and it's not really in our focus and you know and sometimes it's hard to do especially if you're in sales is to walk away from somebody who's ready to buy business, right? >> Right, right. >> But, we want to make sure that you know, the customers that we work with are really good fits for where we're going because these are really long term relationships. >> Right, and how about that, it probably increases your probability of customer success pretty dramatically if you can actually deliver you know, what they want. >> Oh, most definitely, most definitely and you know certainly we also, I don't have the largest marketing budget depending on you know, my competitors that I deal with and so I really depend on great customer satisfaction and great customer references to help, you know, bring the next prospect on as part of the IFS family. And, you know, and our customers I think are some of our best sales people out there. It's really, it's really great. >> One of the things that the CEO talked about in the key note was really about building trust and you were just talking about your marketing budget. He also said, we're not going to market nonsense. Can you talk a little bit about how you build that trust, being honest with customers, obviously, sorry we can't do that, we can't deliver that, but we can deliver this. How, what else, what other kinds of ways do you make sure that you are building the kind of trusting, collaborative relationship with customers that you want? >> Well, it starts with listening. I mean, when you meet with a customer you got to step back, you have to listen, you have to be willing to listen to what you're doing well, and what you're, you know, what you need to improve on. And then you need to be able to take that in and then you know, synthesize it and then, you know, figure out how you're going to improve, you know and at IFS we're always striving to improve, not just with our products and you can see you know, we just released Applications 10 and that's exciting and many many things that are in Apps 10 came from feedback from our customers and from the user group. But, it's also listening with how we do service or how we work with our partners or do we need more partners? You know, we, you know, we have to just, you know be very open and communicative with our customers and I think everybody says that, you know, but you know, you don't say and say oh, I'm not going to listen to my customer. But, you really have to listen and then put it into action. >> Right, right. And, it's not easy to be maniacally focused on your customers, a lot of people say they are but when you peel back just a little bit they're more focused on their products, they're more focused on the competition, they're more focused on a lot of stuff so it is hard to be really singularly focused but you guys are kind of in services management management business so you work with those types of businesses that they themselves are really active in managing that client relationship. >> Oh, most definitely and when they're involved in that business they have very high expectations of what they expect, you know, on the other side when they're the customer as well. And I think we've learned some things from them, too and you know and how they, their service levels and things that they expect from that particular area. I also think it has something to do with the fact that, when we, you know IFS has been in the U.S. for, 20 some years now. But, we didn't come as the biggest player and so we really had to listen. We really had to work directly with those customers and you know we really needed to make sure that every one of those implementations was successful because we needed to you know have that customer ground swell of you know this is the greatest you know greatest software out there to help us continue to grow. >> Right. >> Really prove yourself. >> Exactly, exactly because I can. >> We're number two, we try harder right? >> Exactly, yeah. >> I mean it's a great its a great person to get together with versus we're number one and we're cocky and arrogant and don't care what you say. >> Exactly, exactly, exactly, yeah. >> So, so what is next, I mean we've seen the introduction of IFS 10 and I know we have some early adopters that it's already live with. You've got great scores, your NPS score, your Gartner insight scores are very high. What are some of your ambitions for growth? >> Well, certainly we want, you know, I would look to have the Americas be the largest region for IFS. I mean, that's, I think that you know we've got a great opportunity here. We've got a large market, we've got a great product and you know certainly we just want to continue to grow and so you know right now we are a large percentage of the IFS revenue but we want that to be even larger here in North America and in the Americas, so I think that's certainly very important to us. And we want to grow not only with what we're doing with IFS applications in its core, but also as we're adding new pieces with IFS, new add on products, new technologies to be able to make sure that our customers understand what we're doing there and how that can help their business. You know, I think it was interesting Dan's keynote today was talking about cloud which was a few years ago and now it's mainstream for us. Last time it was talking about IOT and now we've got more and more customers doing that, and so certainly we're looking about artificial intelligence and everybody is talking about that but at IFS we don't just want to say these buzz words. We want to really figure out as a customer what you need, how can you use this technology and monetize it, right because no one implements technology just to implement it. You want to have it help your business. And, so you know those are the kinds of things we're working on what's next and then there's going to be the next thing after you know, artificial intelligence and the next thing and that's why we depend on labs so we're always ahead of the curve and we can be bringing what our customers need. >> I thought it was interesting on Darren's keynote the other thing really is function versus experience, which he talked about time and time again and then with the Arena demonstration, kind of getting to a unified UI experience across all the different platforms. Looks like in nine you had kind of a different hodge podge of five and then you showed how Arena slowly replacing all of them so you'll have this unified experience. But, that's an interesting point of view, really to focus on the experience ahead of really the function and that seemed to be a pretty clear message in his keynote. >> Well, we've been focusing on user experience, that's been one of our you know, core things for the product road map for many years and I think Dan talked about that as well. Certainly it's a balance because if you don't have the feature and function it doesn't matter what your user experience is, you're not going to use it. But, IFS is a very feature rich product and then you need to make sure that you can make it easier to use and so certainly it is focusing on that user experience but continuing to add the functionality that we need to support that as well. And you know, millennials today, they expect to be able just to sit down, they don't want to go to days of training, they don't want to have to. It just should be intuitive and that's our, you know, really what we're trying to do is just to make sure that it's as intuitive to use as a consumer product but really has the depth that you need to get your job done because you know, our customers they have complex businesses and complex business problems that they need to solve and so we need to make sure that we can develop, you know use both and have both of them for our customers to use. >> But, historically in the ERP space was always function over experience and a lot of the historical companies had a pretty bad rap for the user experience so you know, to really prioritize that and then to add some of the automation and the AI to hide certain levels of that detail that you just don't need to see under the UI. I thought that was pretty impressive. >> Yeah, I think it is, I think it is and I think it's very special for where we're going and if you don't, people never really get to implement all the features and functions underneath it. And what my hope is, is that with a good user experience people will use more of the product and then they'll be able to use more of the features and functions that are there today and that we're adding for the future, and they can use that to make their businesses even better. >> So are you working with the customers in the labs, too? I mean, how, how, at what point, 'cause you said that's why you have the labs so you can experiment and iterate and then, but then how do you know what the customer, what is intuitive to the customer and then what the customer needs, how closely? >> Well we'll bring customers into the labs. We will do a labs tour, we did last year that we did that and you let some customers see that. Then our customers know that everything that we do in the labs doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to come out, right? Because you know, we want, we don't want them to fail, but they have the right to fail in the labs because you learn a lot about, you know, what didn't work as well. So, it's making sure that when we have events like this, you know, there's the innovation center over there and making sure that, you know, getting feedback on what they're doing there and letting customers see there and get their input. It's all, once again, about we've got ideas, we need to bring those ideas to the customer, listen to them, get their feedback, listen, and then take it back, synthesize it and go to the next step. >> Deliver it. >> You talked about growth, being a big objective. Are there any particular market segments that you're, that you're looking at? >> Well IFS has had an industry focus for quite some time and we don't expect to change that industry focus. You know, we're very focused on customers who make products and who can, you know, maintain and service assets and so you know right now we're very strong in aerospace and defense, we're extremely strong in service. You know we're ranked highest on those. We've got a great customer base in industrial manufacturing and process and in those particular industries and so we're going to continue to focus on those. I don't see that we're going to go outside those industries because there is more than enough market here in the Americas for us to focus on those and to be very good at it and we need to focus and be extremely good at what we do. Therefore, we can keep the good customer satisfaction. >> All right, and then we just had Tobias on too talking about IOT and really starting to integrate multiple data sources you know a lot more stuff into your existing application to expand on your capabilities. >> Cindy: Oh, most definitely, that's certainly the point. >> You don't need to build a bunch of new stuff necessarily. >> Cindy: Yeah, yeah exactly. >> Great, well Cindy thank you so much for coming on theCUBE. We've had a great time talking to you. >> Cindy: Great, it was a pleasure, thank you. >> Thanks. >> I'm Rebecca Knight for Jeff Frick, we will have more from IFS World, theCUBE's live coverage just after this. (techno music)