Go-live is just the start: Closing the ERP adoption gap

Co-authors:

1. Brett Mewett, CPIM-F (Lifetime) | Director of Services at Essential Software Solutions
2. Mark Humphlett | Sr. Director, Industry Strategy SMB Industrial Manufacturing
3. Kaan Aytacoglu | Marketing Coordinator at Essential Software Solutions

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Imagine this: You spent months rolling out a modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) system across your plants, with an operations team already stretched thin and no dedicated change-management office to lean on. The demos were sharp, leadership signed off and the go-live email went out on schedule. Then something familiar happened: Production planners drifted back to their spreadsheets, buyers kept a side list of “the way we’ve always done it,” and the new dashboards remained untouched while shadow processes crept back onto the shop floor, plant by plant.

You can hit every technical milestone in an ERP rollout and still miss the moment that matters most: when people decide whether the system actually makes their day easier.

For manufacturers, this gap is more than a training problem. It is an adoption gap: the space between a successful go-live and the everyday behaviours needed to realise business value. It is where promising ERP investments stall—not because the technology fails, but because people keep working around it.

For manufacturers running Infor CloudSuite™ Industrial, closing this gap does not require more mandatory training days. It requires an ERP experience that makes adoption the path of least resistance—giving each role the information, context and actions they need to do their job inside the system, not around it.

Three practical levers can help close that gap:

• Role-based workspaces
• Embedded artificial intelligence (AI) and automation
• Faster, continuous onboarding

Together, they make the system easier to use in the flow of daily work.

Why adoption stalls on the shop floor

Most adoption failures trace back to the same three culprits:

• One-size-fits-all training: A generic “here’s the whole system” training session walks a machinist through the same screens a buyer needs for supplier delays and purchase approvals, or a quality manager needs for inspection holds. Each person leaves overwhelmed, and no one remembers what matters most to their day.
• Manual friction: When releasing a credit hold still requires checking the sales order, the customer master, and a finance report across four separate screens, people find a workaround. Every workaround is a small vote against the system. Over time, those workarounds pull data out of the ERP, so reports, dashboards and decisions slowly stop reflecting reality.
• One-and-done learning: Infor™ CloudSuite Industrial continues to evolve, with capabilities like Infor GenAI Assistant rolling out between major releases. Teams need a way to keep up. Knowledge can fade even as the software improves. An employee who was never trained on a new capability often does the same thing as an overwhelmed one: reverts to old ways of working.

Fixing these three issues stops adoption from becoming a constant battle. It also shifts the focus from “How do we get people to use the system?” to “How do we make the system easier to use in the flow of daily work?”

That is where Infor CloudSuite Industrial can help manufacturers turn adoption from a one-time rollout goal into a daily operating advantage.

Lever 1: Role-based workspaces turn data into decisions

Generic dashboards ask users to search for what matters to them. Role-based workspaces put the most relevant information upfront.

In Infor CloudSuite Industrial, role-based workspaces provide a centralised place to access the information, actions and insights most relevant to each role. Users can see key performance indicators, alerts, quick actions and navigation shortcuts in one view, helping them monitor performance, act on priorities and complete daily tasks more efficiently.

The goal is a simple insight-to-action loop:

1. Spot an issue
2. Understand its impact
3. Take action
4. Move work forward

All without hunting through multiple disjointed systems or relying on spreadsheets.

Infor CloudSuite Industrial also gives manufacturers a practical starting point because it is designed around industry-specific workflows, data models and best practices. With Industry Process Catalog, teams can visualise end-to-end processes, identify gaps and align operations to proven practices. From there, they can configure role-based workspaces, automate repetitive activities and support compliance needs unique to their business. The result is an ERP experience that feels relevant from the start because it reflects how manufacturing teams actually work.

Customer perspective: Visibility drives better decisions

For many manufacturers, adoption improves when employees can clearly see how their actions connect to the broader business.

Catalyst Acoustics Group adopted Infor CloudSuite Industrial to streamline complex quoting and ordering, unify data and give teams deeper insight into support growth. Through Infor CloudSuite Industrial—integrated with Infor Factory Track and Infor Configure Price Quote (CPQ)—Catalyst Acoustics Group automated its sales cycle, reduced duplicate data entry, accelerated data flow and helped the company operate faster and more efficiently.

Better visibility did more than improve reporting. By connecting quoting, ordering and operational data, Catalyst Acoustics Group gave employees access to the information they needed without relying on spreadsheets or manual workarounds. Teams could move faster, make more informed decisions and support growth with greater confidence. When the system becomes the easiest way to get work done, adoption naturally follows.

Lever 2: Eliminating busywork with embedded AI and automation

Infor's AI and automation capabilities are most powerful when they reduce the repetitive steps users avoid: searching for information, re-keying data, checking documents, chasing approvals and interpreting complex records. In practice, this includes:

• Simplifying tasks with conversational, in-context assistance: Infor CloudSuite Industrial's embedded Infor GenAI Assistant allows users to query data and move workflows forward using natural language, instead of navigating through menus.
• Saving hours with summarisation: Infor GenAI Assistant can help distill customer records, purchase orders, projects and work orders into concise summaries that highlight what needs attention.
• Finding bottlenecks with process mining: Through Infor Velocity Suite, process mining provides an objective view of how processes such as procure-to-pay and order-to-cash operate, helping teams target adoption issues where they exist.

Infor brings AI, automation, machine learning (ML), generative AI and AI agents into its industry cloud platform so manufacturers can reduce manual effort and keep improving how work gets done.

Customer spotlight: Turning automation into adoption

The impact of embedded AI and automation extends beyond efficiency gains. It can change how users feel about the system.

Kattsafe, a global provider of height safety and access solutions, was experiencing rapid growth and needed a way to scale operations without adding unnecessary complexity. By leveraging Infor Velocity Suite, the company automated key processes and reduced manual effort across the business.

The value wasn't simply automation for automation's sake. By eliminating repetitive tasks and streamlining workflows, Kattsafe created a better experience for employees while supporting continued growth.

That is the adoption lesson. Employees are more likely to embrace new technology when it removes friction from their day. When routine tasks become easier and faster, adoption becomes part of the work itself instead of another change-management push.

Lever 3: Faster onboarding through learning in the flow of work

Even the best-designed system needs people to quickly reach and maintain proficiency as it changes. The shift is from “training events” to learning embedded directly in the application, delivered through in-app guidance when it is needed:

• Role-based starting points: Users begin with the workspace that matches their role, so they see the information and actions most relevant to their day.
• Process-based guidance: Teams can use industry process contexts to understand where their work fits in the broader operation.
• Continuous release enablement: As Infor CloudSuite Industrial evolves, teams need practical training and reinforcement that help them keep pace with new capabilities.

A simple adoption roadmap can help:

1. Build baseline proficiency before the go-live with role-specific learning and practical scenarios
2. Provide an in-system safety net during the critical first weeks when users are forming new habits
3. Reinforce learning afterward with follow-up coaching, release training, and guidance for new workflows as Infor CloudSuite Industrial updates roll out

Together, these examples highlight a common theme: Adoption improves when employees can find information quickly, complete work with fewer steps and see clear value in the tools they use every day.

What manufacturers actually gain with faster user adoption

Adoption is not a soft metric. It is the difference between an ERP that is simply live and one that creates value.

When people work inside the system instead of around it, the returns show up in the metrics manufacturers already track:

• Operational agility: Teams can identify issues sooner and act on exceptions faster
• Financial integrity: Cleaner, more consistent data supports better reporting and decision-making
• Support efficiency: Fewer workarounds reduce the burden on IT and internal support teams
• Workforce productivity: New employees can ramp faster when the system is organised around their role
• Process consistency: Teams can follow more standardised workflows across the organisation

These gains all come from the same source: people using the system as intended, rather than working around it. When adoption improves, the value of the ERP investment shows up in daily execution, cleaner data and more consistent decisions across the business.

Adoption is a competitive advantage

Manufacturers face growing pressure from labour shortages, workforce turnover and operational complexity. Go-live is only the starting line. The real measure of success is how quickly employees become productive, how consistently teams follow the right processes and how confidently the business adapts to change.

Infor CloudSuite Industrial helps close the adoption gap with role-based workspaces, embedded AI and automation, and continuous enablement designed around how people work.

Work within the system, not around it.

The real work after go-live is not asking people to abandon what has been working for them. It is giving them a better way to work—inside the system.

If your last rollout left users quietly reverting to old habits, the next one does not have to. Start with one role, one workspace and one manual process worth improving. Then, use visible wins to pull the rest of the organisation forward.

Explore more about Infor

• Infor CloudSuite overview page for built-in automation, AI, ML, generative AI, AI agents, industry-specific workflows and role-based workspaces.
• Infor CloudSuite Industrial product page for discrete, mixed-mode and project-based manufacturing ERP.
• Infor GenAI Assistant overview, the conversational assistant embedded directly in CloudSuite Industrial.

Ready to see these results for yourself? Connect with an Infor CloudSuite Industrial specialist to explore how role-based workspaces, embedded AI and automation can help close your ERP adoption gap.