Infor to buy and build tech

Infor will mix new products developed in-house with those from its acquisitions as it looks to show it can build its own tech as well as buy it in.

The company is infamous for its highly acquisitive approach but it hasn't bought up a new company for almost 18 months, during which time it has been concentrating on its SOA strategy.

Tech Hotspots: The list

1. Silicon Valley
2. Bangalore
3. London
4. Tokyo
5. Boston
6. Cambridge
7. Shanghai
8. Tel Aviv
9. Seoul
10.Beijing
11.Chennai
12.Pune
13.Singapore
14.Helsinki
15.Moscow
16.Hong Kong
17.Hyderabad
18.New York
19.Sydney
20.Shenzhen

Speaking to silicon.com at the company's user conference in Las Vegas, Infor chairman and CEO Jim Schaper, said the greater emphasis on developing technology - especially the Infor Open SOA platform - has laid the foundations for easier and quicker integration of technologies acquired from elsewhere.

"SOA to me is the ability to integrate all these products," he said.

Schaper added that developing the SOA platform as well as other back office functions during the past 18 months has been "probably the best investment of time".

However, in an earlier press briefing, Schaper also made it clear acquisitions remain a major part of Infor's approach. "We are going to be an acquirer because it is part of our strategy," he said.

He told silicon.com that although the company is doing much more work to develop technology, if it needs to buy innovation, it will.

Schaper said such a strategy will be relevant if there is demand for a technology in an area in which Infor has no expertise but could acquire, giving it a quicker way of getting to market.

As for Infor's plan to go public, Schaper said it has been put on hold until the economic conditions are more favourable.

He added: "We are going to continue to prepare the company to be a public filer."

The majority of the company is currently owned by private equity firm, Golden Gate Capital.