By now you have probably already taken an exclusive look at IFS Cloud which launched at a digital event this week. IFS Cloud is a quantum leap forward in IFS’s application offering.
The flexibility of running your business in the cloud has seen so many of our customers choose to run IFS software in the cloud over the last several years. And our new product is designed, developed and built for the cloud – it’s right there in the name, after all.
On the other hand, we know that there will be a certain level of customer demand and need to deploy in other locations, whether that’s their own data center, in a private cloud, or in a more traditional hosting set-up. Consequently, IFS has strengthened its commitment to software application ‘portability’.
You will see and feel the substantial investments made into ensuring our customers can move their instance of software between provisioning models—on-premise or in public or private clouds. There is choice and the ability to move back and forth between the various models, as you wish.
So, you can start in your own location and move into our cloud because we’ve built IFS Cloud for portability – i.e. it is the same solution in the cloud and on-prem, using ‘containerization’ and Kubernetes technology to make portability a reality.
Kubernetes. You've heard about it, but what is it exactly?
Here's what you need to know about Kubernetes-enabled software. ?https://t.co/p8ht18ZdO4
— IFS (@ifs) February 23, 2021
One product across all models
No matter how you buy or provision IFS Cloud, you will always get the same product. Unlike many competitor offerings, IFS customers will enjoy the same solution, functionally, regardless of their deployment choice.
This may seem like common sense, but many of our competitors will sell different products for various licensing models or depending on where you want to run your software. Some products are available only as a multi-tenant software-as-a-service (SaaS) app. And often, even if you have a license to software functionality, they will still try to sell you that competing subscription-based SaaS product to replace it.
Offering this choice is key because IFS is used in all parts of the world—not just in office towers and industrial parks, but also in remote mining facilities and rail installations and in the open ocean. Sometimes you need to replicate a version of the software and data on-premise or on a mobile device. Or maybe you acquire or spin up a division that brings new regulatory requirements for which countries data may be stored in. Or you want to house your IFS software in the same environment as other integrated solutions.
You can make choices, change your mind and take your software wherever you want to go.
One product across all industries
Some software vendors have multiple competing products, and they may lead with one or the other for various industries and scenarios. You are likely to get offered a disparate set of solutions depending on the variety of business requirements you may have across all parts of your business. So, what if your business has needs in multiple areas? Do you need a plethora of different products?
IFS’s goal is to deliver a single set of software functionality that meets the needs of companies across all industries and scenarios. If you are in a heavy, complex, asset- or project-intensive sector, we probably have the software you need. If you deliver service in mission- or time-critical settings, from field service to reverse logistics and repair, we can probably meet your needs as well. If you need all that in combination to provide a superior Moment of Service to your customers – we are certainly your choice!
IFS software will deliver in all parts of your business – unlike many of our competitors in one solution. It also means that as we develop new features and functionality for our customers to use, we invest most in processes that cut across many of these industries and scenarios. This approach means we can, for instance, create ready-to-deploy artificial intelligence features that help automate business processes common to these industries.
Confused about explainable AI?
Riccardo Bocci breaks down the concept and shares how it is making its way into your business software. ?https://t.co/tuxWmBRPAb
— IFS (@ifs) January 6, 2021
Committed to Customer Choice
We are staying true to our promise to provide choice and to help customers to provide this amazing Moment of Service to their customers.
And while other vendors are focused on tweaking their capabilities around operational efficiencies, IFS will be using its position of leadership, reputation, and expertise to help customers stay focused on their customers’ success and to orchestrate their organization behind their Moment of Service to their customers – because that is what matters most.
Choice also extends to things like update cadence, and when you want to adopt new functionality – we don’t force you to plan for and accept rigid timescales dictated to you. We will encourage you to adopt updates and new capabilities quickly to stay evergreen and benefit from the ever-evolving capabilities we offer, but we will not force it onto you.
In short, your deployment choice does not dictate your pace of updates, or ability to make the solution yours.
Want to learn more?
Visit ifs.com/possibilities to learn more.
Do you have questions or comments?
We’d love to hear them so please leave us a message below.
Farhat Jabeen
Thanks, Micheal, this is really a very informative blog.