Infor Taps Quadrant for Document Management Deal

December 8, 2009 Alex Woodie

Infor, the i OS ERP software giant, last week launched Document Management for System i, a new offering that’s based on several products from OEM partner Quadrant Software. Infor’s new product is aimed at replacing paper-based business process with electronic equivalents, and is pre-integrated with a range of Infor’s i OS-based ERP systems. Expect to see this product pushed hard in 2010 by Infor, which says most companies will see an 18-month return on investments in document management technology.

Infor Document Management for System i is based on three existing Quadrant products, including Intellichief, its Windows-based content management system (which was also upgraded last week); Formtastic, an electronic form and label overlay offering for i OS; and FastFax, which enable users to distribute i OS spool files via fax or e-mail.

The new offering is pre-integrated with several of Infor’s i OS-based ERP offerings, including ERP LX, ERP XA, System 21, ERP BPCS, and ERP PRMS. Users can access document management functions–including importing new documents into IntelliChief, or retrieving documents that are already in storage–directly from their ERP screens, without having to fire up a separate session or application. (This functionality was the target of new “ERP integration modules” that Quadrant just introduced with IntelliChief version 2.6, but some of this capability was already available.)

Infor is jumping firmly onto the document management bandwagon, and it arrives armed with statistics and studies that show the benefits of going paperless. For example, the company quotes an Aberdeen study that shows it costs $5 more to shuffle paper-based invoices compared to doing it electronically.

Similarly, a return on investment (ROI) study by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) found that 43 percent of organizations recovered their investments in document management systems within 12 months, and about 67 percent achieved ROI within 18 months.

One Infor customer that’s enjoying the benefits of an integrated Quadrant document management system is Smith & Wesson, the storied gun maker from Massachusetts. “By integrating with our Infor ERP, IntelliChief lets users retrieve documents from their computer screens, saving us large amounts of paper, postage, storage space, and a great deal of time,” Smith & Wesson IT director Marc St. George said in a press release.

Infor says the launch of Document Management for System i is another example of its firm commitment to the System i (Power Systems) platform and its 15,000 System i customers. “Since the announcement of our dedicated System i organization in February, we have delivered numerous innovations such as Infor CRM i Edition, which helps companies increase revenue and customer service, and now Infor Document Management for System i,” says Kevin Piotrowski, director of System i solution marketing for the Atlanta, Georgia, software company.

Quadrant says the OEM deal with Infor shows that its document management software is well-regarded in the industry. “Infor is entrusting us with an exclusive deal that basically enables all their ERP XA, ERP System21, ERP PRMS, and ERP BPCS/LX customers to go paperless with IntelliChief,” says Gary Langton, CEO and co-founder of Quadrant Software, which is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. “Not only have we invested significant resources in IntelliChief prior to this agreement, but we have plans to do even more to make this partnership a success.”