When Charles Phillips become CEO of Infor, he stayed out of the limelight for quite a long time. He started there in October 2010, just after he left his position as President of Oracle. The reason why he stayed out of the limelight was not because he didn’t want any attention. Rather, he was very busy deciding in what direction Infor would start to move under his direction. They had so many different enterprise resource planning (ERP) software applications that he wanted to create a greater sense of unity. Now, Infor is the third largest vendor of ERP applications in the world, following Oracle and SAP.

Phillips was famous, or infamous, for making 70 successful acquisitions during his time at Oracle. Almost straight after joining Infor, it became clear that he would follow the same path, instantly acquiring Lawson Software through Golden Gate Capital, which is Infor’s primary shareholder. This happened in April 2011 and cost the company $2 billion. Charles Phillips also instantly started to redistribute the company’s resources, putting far more in development, increase its staff with some 600 new developers, and moving the company’s headquarters to New York City, known as ‘Silicone Alley’.

His next big thing was the launch of Infor 10, which is a next gen suite of technologies, and that is when he also stepped back into the limelight. He started explaining, at that point, that his vision for Infor is one of something completely new, never done before.

Early Days at Infor

When Phillips joined Infor, he made it his priority to ensure resources were directed towards products, rather than other areas. In so doing, he greatly reduced the cost of the back office, using the saved money to create new products. The company already had a very good customer database, but they were lagging behind in terms of innovation. While there are plenty of customers who fear innovation, Phillips believes that it is necessary to remain competitive and wholeheartedly embraces change.

His goal was to make smarter, wiser investments. Research and development was always a priority for Infor, but Phillips felt further investments were needed. Furthermore, the way money was spent needed to be changed. He felt that customers were not receiving the best possible service, as they were only focusing on very small details, such as changing the color of a display from blue to red.

Phillips stepped back and tried to find ways in which he could ensure Infor become something different. He wanted to add value to its customers, which would automatically lead to greater commercial success. He embraced change, challenged the status quo, and effectively forced people to open their eyes and mouths about the new direction. In so doing, he massively increased the engagement of his staff, as well as improving overall development. What he did was stop his company from doing things that only a very select few people care about, focusing instead on the greater good of Infor.