NEW YORK -  Nov 13, 2012

Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced that Vasanta Group, the UK's largest office supplies company, has deployed Infor Demand Planning - a best-of-breed forecasting system that will help enable growth and best practices to increase efficiencies for Vasanta Group's business areas.

News Points

• After a period of organic and acquisition-led growth, Vasanta Group has gone live with Demand Planning as part of a project to implement standardized systems and best practices across the group.
• With over 25,000 products offered in a variety of categories and brands, Vasanta manages a complex flow of information between its suppliers and customers. It currently uses 17 different sales channels and Demand Planning has been deployed across all of these.
• Vasanta Group anticipates enhanced "order fill" - the ability to satisfy an order in full, first-time, without additional procurement - as well as lower costs from an overall reduction in inventory and improved profitability as stock levels are better aligned with customer demand.
• Delivered on time and under budget, Demand Planning is the first phase in a long-term integrated business planning strategy at Vasanta Group that is set to run over the coming 18 months.

Vasanta Group Quote

"Our business is built on a simple mantra; the right stock in the right place at the right time," said Stephen Goodwin, director of Inventory and MRP, Vasanta Group.  "In order to deliver the very best service we have to have the products available that our customers want by accurately predicting and influencing our customer demand. Demand Planning will give us the best possible insight into those requirements so we can continue to drive growth."

"Demand Planning will also help us future proof the group as we introduce best practices for procurement across the three companies and evolve our integrated business planning strategy with the development of sales and operations planning (S&OP) and material requirements planning (MRP).  This will ultimately manage our stock proactively in line with seasonal fluctuations, promotions and other activity, leading to improved service and profitability."

Infor Quote

"Predicting customer demand is one of the hottest areas of supply chain management," explained Pieter Leijten, vice president, supply chain management EMEA, Infor.  "The first return is usually lower costs from less inventory and reduced obsolete stock.  This is followed by improved profitability from more accurate alignment of stock with customer demand to even increased sales volumes due to better service levels offered.  Looking forward, the return can be further extended by initiatives to shape demand as part of integrated business planning, leading to a faster and more accurate response to customer requirements."

"Infor has developed robust solutions to help realize the benefits of a comprehensive demand planning solution. As our solutions are specialized by industry and deal with specific issues demanded by different businesses, they will continue to help Vasanta realize the benefits it is aiming to achieve."

Additional Resources
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• Infor Demand Planning
• Infor SCM Webinars
• Join the conversation - www.infor.com/company/socialmedia/

About Vasanta Group

Vasanta is multi channel distributor of Business Supplies and Services in the UK and Ireland, operating through both the reseller and direct business to business channels via clearly defined sales channels.

The group operates a well invested centralized distribution network with "hubs" in Leicestershire, Yorkshire and Dublin, allowing it to be the lowest cost provider in the sector with high levels of service.

The group has turnover of £380 million and employs c.1,200 people.

About Infor

Infor is the third-largest provider of enterprise applications and services, helping 70,000 customers in 194 countries improve operations, drive growth, and quickly adapt to changes in business demands. Infor offers deep industry-specific applications and suites, engineered for speed, using ground-breaking technology that delivers a rich user experience, and flexible deployment options that give customers a choice to run their businesses in the cloud, on-premises, or both.  To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com.