Analyst Perspectives

I recently attended Infor’s Velocity Summit, designed to showcase the latest versions of its CloudSuite ERP software. Also center stage were Infor’s advances in artificial intelligence and process mining as well as its environmental, social and governance application and supply chain optimization enhancements.

Software providers have identified “openness” as a key consideration for contact center buyers. Since there is no generally accepted rule about what makes a system open, it makes sense for us to examine what components contribute to that quality, and why it should be thought of as a good thing.

Agents are all the rage—and for a good reason. They are a way to automate work almost effortlessly so that repetitive and boring tasks get done with the least amount of effort on the part of the operator. In business, agents can be a boon for customer satisfaction and a way to improve worker productivity. They are alluring, with an almost unlimited number of potential use cases.

Generative AI (GenAI) software can transform various aspects of enterprise operations, which makes it a critical component of modern business strategies. GenAI tools can automate repetitive tasks such as data entry, report generation and customer interactions. GenAI can improve overall operational efficiency, resulting in time and cost savings for the organization. Another benefit from GenAI software is the ability to analyze vast amounts of data and extract actionable insights, enhancing...

Oracle announced significant updates to its Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) software at the recently held Oracle Cloud World. The application suite includes procurement, inventory management, warehouse management, order management and transportation management. SCM tasks are mostly small-scale and repetitive, yet the processes they support are far from simple. They involve the intricate choreography of often complex activities that require the accurate communication and...

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) governance has emerged as a critical ingredient for successful AI deployments. It helps build trust in the results of AI models, it helps ensure compliance with regulations and it is necessary to meet internal governance requirements. Effective AI governance must encompass various dimensions, including data privacy, model drift, hallucinations, toxicity and perhaps most importantly, bias. Unfortunately, we expect...

As I’ve written recently, artificial intelligence governance is a concern for many enterprises. In our recent ISG Market Lens study on generative AI, 39% of participants cited data privacy and security among the biggest inhibitors to adopting AI. Nearly a third (32%) identified performance and quality (e.g., erroneous results), and an equal amount (32%) mentioned legal risk.

As I explained in our recent Buyers Guide for Data Platforms, the popularization of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has had a significant impact on the requirements for data platforms in the last 18 months. While there is an ongoing need for data platforms to support data warehousing workloads involving analytic reports and dashboards, there is increasing demand for analytic data platform providers to add dedicated functionality for data engineering, including the development,...

ERP systems have been the central nervous system of enterprises for more than three decades, handling business-critical process management and recordkeeping. While their basic outlines are unchanged, today’s systems are far more capable in their functional depth, adaptability, usability and manageability. Especially for cloud-based systems, they are far easier to maintain. Decades of refinement and focused development to support specific industries, and even specialized categories within these...

OneStream offers a platform designed to serve the needs of accounting and financial planning and analysis (FP&A) organizations. The software handles financial close and consolidation, planning and budgeting, analysis and reporting. OneStream recently held its annual user conference, Splash, in Las Vegas. In attending this meeting, my focus was on progress the company has made in the areas of predictive artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) over the past year, since the...