New Beginnings

It’s new beginnings for Infor as Oracle’s Charles Phillips takes helm as CEO and forges ahead. Infor is recognized as a leader in the industry of enterprise applications and services. In fact, only two business software companies provide services to more customers; Oracle and SAP. 

Infor provides services to over 70,000 customers spread across 194 countries. The company employs over 13,000 individuals that live in various places. For Phillips, a primary goal is that of growth. During his short two year period of service Phillips has managed to make some big changes. Not only has a new executive management team been assembled but over 2,500 new customers have been added since Phillips became CEO. 

About The Man

Charles Phillips was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1959. He holds a BS in Computer Science, an MBA, and a JD. Phillips was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. His career highlights include such things as serving as director at Viacom Corporation and the American Museum of Natural History.

Before joining Infor Phillips held the position of President of Oracle Corporation and he was also on the company’s Board of Directors. Charles Phillips is well-respected as a man of integrity. His philanthropic work has helped many charities.

The Business Software Industry

Other leaders in the business software industry cater to large corporations, the big dogs in the field. On the other hand, Infor is said to be developed with smaller businesses in mind. This is a market that has been largely overlooked by other leaders in the field, such as I.B.M., SAP, and Oracle. This is not to say that these companies have no desire to reach this market, it is simply that their focus is elsewhere.

Making Changes

As mentioned, Phillips has forged ahead with changes to Infor. Besides hiring new people he has acquired new customers. He has also enforced some new rules. The first one is to only hire people that are brilliant at what they do. The second rule is to only hire people that the team would like to have dinner with.

The idea is that if you don’t enjoy dining with a person you probably won’t like spending long hours with them at the multi-person desk that is shared by the executive team. Another concept initiated by Phillips is interruptions. According to this innovative man, interruptions have a tendency to lead to inspiration.

Extreme innovations are the constant goal for Infor. An open floor plan and an unstructured structure make it possible for collaboration of all staff members. Everyone is encouraged to be progressive and come up with new ideas that can be shared with Phillips and others. This communication flow results in lots of ideas and a team spirit. Bottom line is, Infor is destined for continued greatness.