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IFS Cloud Platform vs Infor M3 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IFS Cloud Platform
Ranking in ERP
14th
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
CRM (22nd), Customer Experience Management (7th), Field Service Management (2nd), Help Desk Software (12th), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) (3rd), Local Government CRM (6th), IT Asset Management (10th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (11th), License Management (3rd)
Infor M3
Ranking in ERP
11th
Ranking in Activity Based Costing Software
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the ERP category, the mindshare of IFS Cloud Platform is 2.4%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Infor M3 is 4.9%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
ERP
 

Featured Reviews

Brendan Fisher - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust, customizable, and modern
IFS is a very large and complex software, and implementation of IFS can be challenging and may lead to a difficult lengthy project. It can take between 12 and 24 months in some cases to deploy. I have found that not all clients are fully aware of how big the task is that they're undertaking when they make a decision to move to software like this. Companies need to be more aware of the complexity of an ERP implementation project and while I fully recommend moving to IFS, it is not easy and does require business change when adopting an ERP solution. New features are a difficult ask - I work across multiple industries and everyone would probably choose a different feature. Maybe BIM in Construction or Customs link-ups for importers/exporters.
Pravinkumar Bhandare - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution is a reliable, stable, and cost-saving ERP
Different countries have different finance practices, but I believe they need to fine-tune their practices to match industry standards. Practices vary from country to country, for example, in India, it is different than in the US. Sometimes, clients require alternate processes that are not standard, but they claim that these are the standard practices in their industry. At those times, we feel that the option required is not available with the solution. This is not the case only for Infor M3. Other ERPs also have the same problem. We can't mold the ERP to fit the customer's requirements. There are some standards in place because many screens and programs are integrated into the finance process. We can't make modifications to fit the client's requirements. The customer needs specific screens for different users, so if that program is in place, we have one planning tool in Infor M3. Planners need to know all things related to manufacturing, purchase, and sales in order to make decisions about planning. In one of my clients, I came across the requirement that they were asking for user authority in the planning tool. This is not the case though, because all planners need to know all things. However, on the manufacturing side, we can say that the person who is working with machine operations only needs to know machine-related information and doesn't need knowledge of products or sales. That standard industry is available, so we can give access to the user as per their needs. If the maintenance people are there, we can give them limited access, but if the planner is there, we need to give them all access according to industry standards. However, this requirement from the client side is not possible with the standard Infor software, but Infor can consider implementing it if the need is larger for many customers.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The platform is reliable and stable."
"There are fewer fields on the user screen compared to other products. This makes the UI a little bit easier to understand."
"Feature-wise, I like the way it provides inventory details...It is a stable solution."
"There are fewer fields on the user screen compared to other products."
"IFS Applications' best feature is the user-friendly interface that has a .NET Framework application in the front end and an Oracle database and WebLogic middleware."
"When it comes to financing, the solution has helped us to concentrate finance functions like accounting processes in one system. This includes about 70 internal entities around the world."
"The main reason for the ERP project was to bring together our fourteen sites, which had until then worked in separate silos."
"We could quickly understand what was going on and what the customer wanted to do."
"M3 has several useful features for managing supply chains, production, and customer orders. It's an excellent system that helps me meet all my requirements for fixed costs."
"Infor comes up with different tools every year, and they are all compatible with Infor M3, which makes it a more reliable and trustworthy tool. The integration is very smooth."
"provides all modules, supply chain, HR - it's good for management."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is highly customizable."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the Infor GL tool that allows us to do our application support and development."
"The most valuable feature of Infor M3 is the level of detail it has about the different manufacturing processes compared to other ERP solutions. Other ERP solutions provide the same level of integration as Infor M3, but Infor M3 specializes in several functions, such as planning and manufacturing."
"Infor M3 has tailor-made packages for each and every industry."
"The user interface and user experience were good."
 

Cons

"It would be ideal if, in the future, the product could incorporate IoT and blockchain elements. We'd like to explore more of these types of features going forward."
"Aspects of HR and payroll could be better."
"IFS Applications is not robust enough to handle high-volume transactions, so it's not suitable for larger enterprises."
"I have seen that one of the areas that my company has identified for improvement might be the rental management capabilities within the solution."
"The solution needs to improve its documentation and user-friendliness."
"Some kind of bot assistance, some kind of artificial intelligence to help people solve the problems, would be interesting."
"Sometimes from the sales perspective, clients don't always fully understand how large a task or a project they're getting involved in when they decide, "We're going to switch across to IFS." They could probably do a little bit more, maybe around preparing people for these projects."
"We would like to see AI-driven CSI functions built into the tool that would allow us to quickly tie our improvement goals to metrics and activities, so Assyst will suggest the next steps to help us get closer to our goals."
"Improvements could be made in security and scalability."
"Infor should create one product to handle the whole business. At present, they make ERP systems for each type of business, and then sell additional features. I would like to have one system handing all organizations or all the business in deep ways and not have to buy additional features."
"The solution must provide more learning documents."
"The implementation could be simplified, it's complex."
"I would like to have some kind of dashboard to show an overview of different data on the same dashboard or on the same screen instead of moving to BI."
"The product's technical support has certain shortcomings. Sometimes, my company doesn't get a proper response from their end."
"It should be improved in terms of procurement of the supply chain and business intelligence analysis. We have the Infor BI tool, but it's more complex to use than, for example, Power Pivot or QlikView in the market."
"An area for improvement in Infor M3 is training. There should be more training resources available for clients. Clients also find it challenging to get consultants or integrators for Infor M3. The product doesn't have enough resources in the market to help clients."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are varying license levels that you can purchase."
"There's an additional yearly cost for support."
"IFS Applications is expensive software, but it's on par with SAP and Oracle. It's for large enterprises and government entities and not for small and medium-sized enterprises. They have one licensing model, but if you want to have a module-specific license, they provide component-based licenses. Unlike SAP and Oracle, it doesn't have different levels of licensing. It's one level of licensing."
"Pricing is an area that could be improved. They could be more competitive."
"I consider it to be a well-priced solution compared to other mid-range or high-end ERP solutions."
"We pay for a license to use the solution, which is not very expensive."
"The additional cost that comes with the solution includes the overhead of the people who are trying to fix the tool issues. These people are trying to reproduce the issue and report it to the technical support and testing with them which is huge. It is the cost of quality in the end."
"The pricing of the solution may appear to be expensive for smaller companies with only tens of users; however, for larger and mid-size industrial companies, IFS is able to win deals and the pricing is competitive in the market."
"The cost is between $50 and $100 per user annually."
"The tool’s licensing is yearly."
"Infor M3 is a tier-two product and is cheaper than tier-one products such as SAP and Oracle. However, it is more expensive than some other tier-two products. The licensing cost is dependent on the number of users. Also, if you purchase other tools from Infor as a package, then there may be other discounts offered."
"I'm not part of the team that manages Infor M3 pricing, but it depends on the client, integration, ship-out, and training levels. You get the price from the solution provider, but it would be best to discuss it because nothing is set in stone regarding pricing."
"If you compare Infor M3 to SAP, Infor M3 is less expensive than SAP, but if you compare Infor M3 to Dynamics 365, Infor M3 is more expensive. It also depends on the model that you buy. It depends on whether you have the complete package or whether you have separate models."
"There is a yearly licensing cost. The price is based on the modules you need. There are several modules, such as HR module, accounting module, sales module, scheduling module, etc., and the price will vary depending on the number of modules you choose. The customers always say that it's very expensive. It can cost a lot of money if your organization is huge. It's not implemented in a lot of organizations in my country because it's too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Wholesaler/Distributor
7%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IFS Applications?
Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten since it is an extremely scalable solution that can be used for various use cases with thousands of users.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IFS Applications?
The product is reasonably priced. The costs are justified by the value provided, considering the comprehensive features and minimal need for customization. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with IFS Applications?
I am not able to recall much about batch. Documentation-wise, they need more. There is not much available online, and the documentation availability is on the lower side compared to other products,...
What do you like most about Infor M3?
The product's initial setup phase is easy.
What needs improvement with Infor M3?
Improvements could be made in security and scalability. Enhanced changes could be beneficial in security, and while the application is already cloud-based, adding features like daily MRP updates wo...
What is your primary use case for Infor M3?
I use Infor M3 as a robust system primarily in chemical process engineering, such as chemical industries and textile manufacturing. It is designed for discrete and non-discrete manufacturing, parti...
 

Also Known As

IFS Applications, Assyst, IFS Cloud
Infor Lawson M3, Lawson M3
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

China Airlines, Electrolux Group, Babcock, Cimcorp, Sky, Multiplex, Veolia. 
Grosfillex, High Five Sportswear, L_derach, OTK Group, PHS Group, Propper International, Red Wing Shoe Company, Reynolds Catering Supplies, Saudi Diesel, Sheetz, Zeppelin, Zodiac Aerospace
Find out what your peers are saying about IFS Cloud Platform vs. Infor M3 and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.