IMPRESSIONS from a Cross-section

Purchase confidence for textile makers - as it relates to software is a difficult question. Generally every member of the fashion value chain is more comfortable spending on technology that produces visual results - those technologies that relate directly to product. Business technology becomes one of those "well - can't we just use a spreadsheet for that …" question. While "of course you can …" is an answer - it's not a good and definitely not a smart answer. The fashion industry is littered with fashion companies that were product successful, but business deficient. We must remember that once all the glamour is stripped away, there's still a business to be run. Having constant input and feedback regarding good decisions versus bad, profitable products versus those that are losing money, tying all the yarn and textile demand to the brand and ultimately the consumer is the only way to produce successful results.

For the future trends, the future of software is going in several different directions:
 
Beauty as a competence: Infor's biggest focus in innovation of products as we think is that software needs to be designed to work as people work - enabling works to interact with comfortable software solutions.

Commerce as a necessity: Omni-channel sales and distribution will be the norm for everyone in the fashion value chain. We have worked to find efficiency in the fashion industry in making 100's or even 1000's of a single product. Our new environment will require us to find ways to make as few as one at a time as the unit of measure for profitable performance.

Link supply to demand: What the consumer wants is what has to be what's produced. We're leaving the days of "seduce the consumer - and control the supply chain behind". Today's mantra will be "listen to the consumer - and collaborate through the value chain".

Anytime, anywhere, any device: Software has to support people the way they work - in the manner they want to work - from anywhere and any device on which they want to work.