Scott Electric Selects Infor CloudSuite Distribution to Help Boost Operational Efficiency and Customer Service

Infor recently announced that Scott Electric Co., one of the largest independent electrical distributors in the U.S., has selected Infor CloudSuite Distribution to help boost operational efficiency and customer service. This move will hopefully improve the company’s ability to attract and retain new employees. Per the press release, Scott Electric has been conducting business primarily through manual, paper-based processes, which slows its ability to deliver products and services to customers. With Infor CloudSuite Distribution, Scott Electric will move to a next-generation, cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) system that will automate everything from pricing and inventory visibility to product/service delivery and invoicing. This new system will be easier for employees to manage and get their jobs done so they can focus on value-added work. Additionally, moving away from a legacy ERP system will help the company capture more market share and continue to grow its business. Further plans include looking at how Infor Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology could help augment its business. Such technology could be used to help more quickly and efficiently train new employees, who don’t have years of experience in the electrical distribution industry to draw from.

 

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LBI Report prompting for credentials even though Lawson access is granted

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When clicking on an LBI report, LBI prompts for credentials even though the user has LBI access already granted:

 

This is not an uncommon occurrence, and can easily be fixed.

First, on the LBI server, check the ODBC connection (partially hidden)

In LBI >> Manage Datasource, select data source and verify the Server field matches the ODBC connection.

Run the Test Saved Connection link after saving to validate (partially hidden in screenshots)

Once you are validated, make sure the report itself is defaulting to this LBI Datasource. If so, then you should no longer be prompted for credentials. Hope this helps!

5 top ERP trends for 2022

Staying on top of the latest enterprise resource planning (ERP) strategies and trends are business-critical, especially for your IT team. While implementing an ERP system is a project itself, once sucessfully done, the possibilities to improve your business are endless. While customer behavior and digital advancements are everchanging, so is your ERP system’s capabilities. Yashvendra Singh, regional executive editor for India and Southeast Asia, shares an article on CIO.com about how the ERP category is evolving as an enterprise-wide solution and how the the following trends will impact IT leaders.

Customization gives way to standardization.  “The traditional practice of enterprise technology leaders customizing an ERP solution to meet their specific enterprise or business needs is giving way to implementing an off-the-shelf solution. A key driver for this is the steep resource cost in keeping customized implementations apace with the latest features. — a cost many CIOs forgo in favor of stagnancy, at the risk of falling behind.”

Best-of-breed solutions overtake the enterprise-wide approach. “Earlier CIOs used to deploy an ERP solution and gradually extend it to the various strategic business units across the enterprise. However, rapid digitization and the SaaS revolution are pushing IT decision-makers to adopt a different approach.”

Integration takes center stage. “With the emergence of next-generation technologies such as IoT, analytics, and AI, enterprises are looking to gain business advantages from them. Taking a cue, leading ERP vendors are aligning with this trend by integrating their solutions with such emerging technologies, and IT leaders are following suit.”

The rise of industry-specific solutions. “Given the diverse needs of each vertical, a one-size-fits-all approach is failing to meet the expectations of business and technology leaders. This is giving rise to ERP platforms that offer functionalities catering to specific business verticals.”

The move to cloud. “Enterprise technology leaders are replacing their legacy, on-premises ERP solutions by switching to the cloud. While the advantages of leveraging cloud were already acknowledged, the pandemic further highlighted its value as it enabled employees to work from anywhere. Gartner defines the market for cloud ERP as a market for application technology. According to the technological research and consulting firm, within addressable market segments, enterprise IT spending on public cloud will overtake spending on traditional IT in 2025. It predicts that almost two-thirds (65.9%) of spending on application software will be directed toward cloud technologies in 2025, up from 57.7% in 2022.”

Singh concludes that it is imperative for your CIO to stay on top of the latest trends in order to relay it to your IT team and make for smarter business decisions.

 

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3 Best Practices for Turning Customer Data Into Marketing Insights

This digital age has given businesses the power of analyzing customer data to better drive their business practices. The explosion of data growth and market statistics and trends have produced a new kind of consumer and new avenues to market. As a result, customer relationship management (CRM) systems have become a must have to stay competitive in your field. Software innovator Diane Keng, CEO and cofounder of Breinify, an AI and predictive personalization engine, shares an interesting read on Destination CRM explaining the importance of consumer data and how to utilize it to build on your customer relationships. Keng notes that there is so much consumer data you can gather, so it’s tough to decide what to do with all the information, let alone picking and choosing only what is relevant to your business. If you need a place to start, here are 3 of Keng’s best practices for turning customer data into useful marketing insights to improve customer relations.

  1. Collect and organize your data effectively. “Done correctly, a foundation of data science—where you collect, tag, and analyze data using digital tools such as AI—can not only help you create better, more relevant consumer experiences, but also solve many other business problems throughout your organization.”
  2. Use data-driven insights to optimize the consumer journey. “To build personalization tactics that make consumer experiences more relevant, you first have to understand how to use your data to move consumers through their specific journeys. You might even find gaps in your funnel where personalization is missing. Those gaps allow you to create personalized experiences that help your brand build deeper connections with consumers and it shows them that you understand and care about their needs and preferences.”
  3. Use technology to deliver dynamic, personalized experiences. “Once you’re working from a solid foundation of data science and optimizing the consumer journey, you can begin to create a consumer experience that’s relevant and useful in a scalable way using your data and leveraging technology. These kinds of personalized, data-driven actions make consumers feel seen and heard and are way more likely to hit home than generic, one-size-fits-all messages.”

Data is a crucial resource to have and by using it right, you will see a difference in your consumer behavior and customer loyalty. With a solid foundation of data-driven practices in your team, Keng believes you’ll be able to keep growing your digital experience in a way that actually benefits and engages your target consumers.

 

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AS400 recdef jobs are submitted but not completing

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If your Lawson System Foundation software is installed on an AS/400 and your recdef jobs are submitted, but just sit in an active status. View the examine log.

If the Examine Log/joblog for the batch job that was kicked off due to the schedule in RECDEF says this:

BEGIN: Recurring Job Submitted:  Day Month XX   TimeStamp

      Step1:   xx999 Started. . . . . . :  Day Month XX   TimeStamp

**Creating .prt and .dtl files

 

To understand the solution you need to be an IBM i admin that understands how to check and change both ownership and permission on files within the IFS directory.

Check your LAWDIR/Productline/IBM files for the application productline (ex. “lawapp10”, “logan” and for the “gen” productline.) They should be owned by LAWSON and both LAWSON and *PUBLIC should have *RW and all data and object authorities, except for “Execute” on the object authorities.

If they are not set that way, change the authority of the two IBM files to match what was just described above. Next take these steps:

  1. call lawenv
  2. qsh
  3. dbadmin idleAll (this will stop your idle cdriver jobs in the subsystem for this environment)

Top Three Cyber Threats To Protect Your Business From In 2023

As 2022 is coming to an end and we begin to wind down, this may be the best time for cyber threats to occur. The stark reality is that there are several thousands of cyber threats out there and data breaches happen all the time. It could be a bit overwhelming for the nontechnical person, especially a manager who relies heavily on their IT department to sort out any technical issues. But, there should still be some basic understanding in the managerial level of common threats and what a manager should look out for to protect their business. Fene Osakwe, one of Africa’s most sought-after cybersecurity advisors, shares an informative article on Forbes of the top cyber threats to your business that you can protect yourself from in the coming year.

  1. Phishing. “Phishing happens when an attacker tricks a victim into opening an email or other electronic message by pretending to be a reliable source with the sole purpose of stealing personal or organizational data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. According to a study by Proofpoint, ‘In 2021 more organizations experienced at least one successful email-based phishing attack than the year before.’ This trend is expected to continue in 2023.”
  2. Malware. “Malware is the collective name for any software written with malicious intent. Some software variants include viruses, ransomware and spyware. Successful malware threats can cause disruption to a computer system, server or corporate network. It could also lead to leaked private information, attackers gaining unauthorized access to information or systems, or completely depriving users of access to information until the company, or the user in some cases, pays some amount of money to the hackers, at which point access to the data is restored or decrypted. This is generally called a ransomware attack and is presently one of the most popular types of malware attack in the world.”
  3. Supply Chain Or Third-Party Threat. “Many companies have traditionally spent time and money securing their perimeter and on-premises systems but have given little focus to the security practices of their third parties, who typically have access to private corporate or customer data, systems, procedures or other privileged information. These third parties include vendors, partners, contractors and service providers. Software supply chain attacks grew by more than 300% in 2021 compared to 2020, according to a study by Argon Security, and we have seen this trend continue to increase.”

What should business owners do to protect themselves from – at the very least – these common cyber threats? There’s no sure fire answer to any of these threats, but there are ways to strengthen your security should you ever come across these issues. Cyber training at the very least would be a good place to start for your employees, suggests Osakwe. Your employees could benefit from understanding the common threats and what steps they need to take to protect their work data as well as try to prevent data breaches from happening. While cyber threats aren’t going away any time soon, we can still try to avoid them as best as we can.

 

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Update Infor OS Certificate

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Updating the Infor OS certificate is an important housekeeping task and it is as simple as adding your new certificate to the binding on the InforOS websites.  There are two website where this can be performed. The two websites in question are InforPlatformBackend and InforPlatformUI. Follow these quick steps below to easily update your Infor OS Certificate.

First, you will need to navigate to these two sites in IIS. Once there, next you will need to edit the bindings and select your new certificate. After you select your new certificate simply perform an iisreset, and you are all done!

 

Hope this article was helpful!

Coflex, Leading Plumbing Manufacturing Company in Mexico, Selects Infor WMS to Boost Competitiveness

Infor recently announced that Coflex, a leading plumbing manufacturer in Mexico, has selected Infor WMS warehouse management system to enhance the company’s inventory control, optimize resources, elevate service, process Information in real time, improve decision making and boost productivity. Infor partner Cerca Technology assisted with the implementation, and focused on three key characteristics:

  • Increase inventory accuracy, improve reference and location, and obtain comprehensive product tracking.
  • Improve worker productivity, maximize warehouse space, manage logistical operations, and support company growth.
  • Elevate customer service by shortening delivery time, increasing delivery accuracy, allowing visibility in real time, and filling customer new needs.

Adriana Gutierrez, Infor Latam channel director, says of the project, “Optimizing warehouse efficiency and its capacity as well as setting better practices to enhance performance are crucial for companies such as Coflex. Infor WMS is the tool necessary to redefine operations and obtain needed productivity and efficiency.”

 

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Leading Colombian Automotive Distributor Fanalca Increases Productivity 40% with Infor WMS

Infor recently announced that Fanalca has increased its productivity by 40% since their implementation of Infor WMS warehouse management system. The software solution was sold and implemented by Infor digital sector strategic partner Cerca Technology. Per the press release, Fanalca’s supply chain management, based in national and imported spare parts with three distribution centers in Colombia, is experiencing significant growth with a 100% increase of revenue, making it necessary to invest in processes and technology to reach its goal of 300% growth by 2025 and see what tools were necessary to help achieve this. Together with Cerca Technology, Fanalca was able to implement Infor WMS with the goals to track all operations in the distribution center, access information in real time to increase productivity, and reduce operation lead time. Further, Adriana Gutierrez, channel director for Infor in Latin America, says of the project, “By implementing Infor WMS in the cloud, all specific functionalities for the industry are included, enabling Fanalca to focus on new initiatives that strengthen continuous growth, making operations even more efficient.”

 

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How to find your lawappinstall version on AS400

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Want to know how to check your lawappinstall system version on AS400? This quick guide explains how you can find out what version of the AS400 you are using on your operating system. There may be more than one way of doing this but this, we’ve found, to be a very simple solution.

 

To find your version of lawappinstall, you will need to run the command(s) below that correspond:

 

  • IBM® i®:
    call lawenv [envName]
    qsh
    grep LaVersion $GENDIR/bin/lawappinstall | sed “s/.*8-)@(#)@//”

If ran correctly, the screen will display your system’s version. Here is an example version output from each platform:
10.0.9.0.1807 2020-09-17 18:28:22

 

That’s it! Hope you found this article helpful.