Infor, provider of business applications specialised by industry and built for the cloud, has announced an agreement with The University of Manchester, Alliance Manchester Business School (Manchester Business School). The agreement involves commissioning a consultancy project for an MBA course that will investigate optimal uses of the Internet of Things (IoT) across multiple industry sectors.
As part of the project, which will be managed by Infor's Education Alliance Program (EAP), students will research certain industry sectors which Infor believes are most likely to realize value from IoT. Using Infor applications such as Infor ION, Infor EAM and Infor M3, as well Infor Campus and eLearning modules, students will be able to create business models including IoT customer use cases, as well as sales, implementation and service strategies. Business propositions and reports are expected to be presented to an Infor panel of experts in June 2017.
The Infor EAP was launched partly in response to a digital skills gap, and is designed to help create a talent pipeline through offering a range of certifications on Infor software suites, opportunities for internships and other training options for a career in the digital enterprise.
Infor's project with Manchester Business School follows a report which highlights that the UK's skills shortage has worsened for the fifth consecutive year. The findings demonstrate that many UK university degrees offer neither the technical or vocational knowledge that businesses want.
Against this landscape, Infor believes that urgent action is needed in order to help graduates enter the digitalized economy with the right skills. "The current skills gap may be one of the greatest threats to the UK economy, as without the right skills, businesses could risk falling behind on digital transformation," comments Mark Stewart, EAP Director, EMEA, Infor. "Infor's EAP is set to help students acquire a range of digital skills designed to modernize, enhance and innovate across numerous vertical industry sectors, thus helping to bridge this gap and support economic growth.
"Our project with Manchester Business School focusses specifically on IoT, as with spending set to reach $267 billion globally by 2020, we believe the opportunity for this technology is huge, yet relatively untapped. With such levels of demand, the industry needs highly skilled, technologically savvy business leaders, and we believe it is through initiatives such as this one with Manchester Business School that we can help accomplish this feat," continued Stewart.
"The Alliance MBS MBA program is designed to provide our students with an unrivalled, hands-on experience working on consultancy projects for leading companies," comments Dr Mike Arundale, Lecturer in Strategy at Alliance Manchester Business School. "We are delighted to be working with Infor on this project which will rigorously test our students' ability to apply MBA knowledge and creative thinking in an evolving commercial arena."
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