Infor Treats Post-Go-Live Adoption as an ERP Design Problem
For many manufacturers, an ERP implementation does not end when the system goes live. Employees may continue using spreadsheets, emails and manual workarounds even after the new platform is fully operational.
Infor argues that this adoption gap should not simply be treated as a training issue. Instead, the company believes ERP systems should be designed in a way that makes the correct processes easier and more intuitive for employees to follow.
In a blog published alongside implementation partner Essential Software Solutions, Infor describes the gap between a successful go-live and consistent day-to-day usage as a significant barrier to achieving ERP value.
Its approach focuses on making the ERP system easier to work with through role-based interfaces, embedded AI and automation, and learning resources delivered directly within the application.
Why ERP Workarounds Can Become a Business Problem
Infor identifies several reasons why employees may avoid using an ERP system as intended.
One is generic training. Showing every employee the same screens and processes does not necessarily help them understand how the system applies to their particular role.
Another is friction in routine processes. A seemingly simple task, such as releasing a credit hold, can require employees to move between sales orders, customer records and financial information across multiple screens.
There is also the problem of one-off training. Cloud ERP platforms continue to evolve, meaning employees can quickly become unfamiliar with new capabilities if training stops once the initial implementation is complete.
These workarounds create more than an efficiency problem.
When employees take activities outside the ERP, important operational information can also move outside the system. Over time, this can affect the accuracy of reporting, dashboards and data-driven decision-making.
For cloud ERP users, the challenge is amplified by continuous product updates. Infor CloudSuite Industrial receives new capabilities between major releases, including features such as the Infor GenAI Assistant. Without ongoing enablement, employees may simply continue using familiar processes instead of adopting new functionality.
Three Ways Infor Is Building Adoption into ERP
Infor’s response is to make adoption part of the ERP experience rather than treating it as something that happens separately after implementation.
1. Role-Based Workspaces
The first approach is to give employees interfaces designed around their specific responsibilities.
Role-based workspaces bring together relevant KPIs, alerts, actions and shortcuts in a single environment. The aim is to create a clear path from identifying an issue to understanding it and taking action.
Infor describes this as an insight-to-action cycle.
Its Industry Process Catalog provides a foundation for configuring these experiences around common manufacturing processes, allowing organisations to tailor the system to how different teams actually work.
2. AI and Automation for Repetitive Tasks
The second lever focuses on reducing the manual effort involved in everyday ERP processes.
Infor GenAI Assistant is embedded within CloudSuite Industrial and enables users to interact with ERP information using natural language. It can also summarise information contained in records such as purchase orders and work orders.
Infor’s Velocity Suite adds process mining capabilities, allowing businesses to examine how processes such as procure-to-pay and order-to-cash operate in practice.
This gives ERP teams an opportunity to identify bottlenecks and workarounds based on actual process data rather than assumptions about how employees use the system.
Automation can then be applied to repetitive tasks, reducing the need for users to leave the ERP environment to complete routine work.
3. Learning Inside the Application
Infor’s third approach is to move training closer to where employees perform their work.
Rather than relying entirely on classroom sessions or documentation created during implementation, the company advocates role-based guidance and learning resources that remain available inside the application.
The approach covers three stages:
- Building baseline user proficiency before go-live
- Providing in-system assistance during the early weeks of adoption
- Reinforcing knowledge as new features and updates are introduced
This creates a continuous enablement model rather than treating training as a one-time implementation activity.
What Infor’s Customer Examples Show
Infor points to customer deployments where automation has been used to reduce manual work and increase engagement with the ERP system.
Kattsafe
Kattsafe, a manufacturer of height-safety equipment, uses CloudSuite Industrial alongside capabilities from Infor Velocity Suite.
The company has used process mining, AI-powered optical character recognition and robotic process automation to process incoming order emails and prepare information for entry into the ERP system.
According to Infor, the approach has helped Kattsafe process orders 88% faster, save more than 700 hours each year and almost eliminate manual data-entry errors.
The example illustrates how reducing friction around a specific process can encourage employees to work more consistently within the ERP environment.
Catalyst Acoustics Group
Catalyst Acoustics Group produces engineered-to-order noise-control products and has connected CloudSuite Industrial with Factory Track and Infor CPQ.
The integration helps information move from leads to quotations and then into orders without requiring extensive manual re-entry.
Infor says the company has continued to gain value following go-live as users have increased their engagement with the system, contributing to deeper and higher-quality operational data.
What This Means for ERP Teams
ERP adoption is also a data-quality issue. When employees rely on spreadsheets or other workarounds, important business activity can remain outside the ERP. This can weaken the data used for reporting, analytics and AI. Measuring adoption after go-live should therefore be treated as seriously as tracking implementation milestones.
Training needs to continue after implementation. Cloud ERP platforms are constantly evolving. Organisations should align user enablement with the vendor’s product roadmap so employees understand how new capabilities can improve their daily work.
Focus on the processes causing the most friction. Rather than attempting to redesign the entire ERP experience at once, businesses can start with a single role, workspace or manual process. This creates a manageable way to demonstrate measurable improvements before expanding the approach.
The Bigger Picture
Infor’s position highlights a broader shift in how ERP success is measured.
Go-live is increasingly becoming a starting point rather than the final milestone. The real measure of success is whether employees consistently use the system, whether business processes improve and whether the organisation captures the data needed to make better decisions.
For manufacturers, designing the ERP around the way employees actually work could therefore be just as important as selecting the right technology.
As AI, automation and continuous cloud updates become standard features of modern ERP, organisations that treat adoption as an ongoing design and enablement challenge may be better positioned to turn their ERP investment into measurable operational value.