Configure One to serve as Gold sponsor for IFS World Conference in Atlanta

Configure One is gearing up to reprise an important role as a sponsoring Gold partner at the upcoming Industrial and Financial Systems (IFS) World Conference, slated for the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on May 1-3.

Having cultivated an affiliation with IFS for the better part of a decade, Configure One plans to dispatch Director of Enterprise Solutions, David Ray to anchor its presence at the large industry gathering this spring.

Ray recently explained Configure One’s historic alliance with IFS and its current status as a regular event sponsor for the Sweden-based global software enterprise. Primarily, he said, the foremost reason for participation is mutual benefit to both entities. The connection positively impacts Configure One end-users since IFS clients might also utilize Configure One services.

“It’s typical for this conference to consist of partners who participate as sponsors to help broadcast and market their particular software as it pertains to IFS,” Ray said. “Historically, we’ve partnered with IFS for many years. They have their show every couple of years and we’ve had a key role as a partner … to educate our customers, exposing clients to the IFS base to show what our application does.”

He went on to explain that many IFS clients have an inherent need for Configure One products, but that typically those customers are not seeking out ERP specifically. When those who already own IFS products discover Configure One at the conference, company team members explain that Configure One’s CPQ platform supplements IFS without replacing it.

Gold sponsorship of the World Conference brings an optimum level of exposure during the show and usually involves a location conducive to visibility for presentation.

“For this particular show you get certain benefits [including] the ability to do a presentation,” Ray said. “We have a display there; we have a standardized demo during this conference … specific to the needs that we’ve experienced over the years for IFS-type customers — particularly the way they use the software.”

Configure One’s association with IFS dates back before 2014, the first year of their official partnership for mutual advanced configuration needs. Ray confirmed that the companies’ alliance “definitely predates that time,” estimating that the two entities shared a fairly consistent level of collaboration from as far back as 2008.

“We’re hoping to continue and build upon it,” Ray said. “Where we have mutual customers is where we [can] augment their software. We have a positive impact on other IFS users; we enhance their configuration experience as well as their IFS experience.”

That potential is often manifested in the ability to do complex configuration and visualization, what Ray calls “real time 2D and 3D.”

“The other [advantage] would be our ability to integrate Configure One to their existing CAD tools such as Autodesk Inventor, SOLIDWORKS, and PTC Creo,” he said.

Noting that Configure One last participated in an IFS conference in Gothenberg, Sweden two years ago, Ray cited a “large” attendance expectation.

Ray’s role with Configure One goes back almost 10 years.

“My role as Director of Enterprise Solutions is to help to sales prospects as well as customers to realize full value of our application,” he said. “Years ago, our software was standalone and would run on its own.”

“I work with prospects and customers finding ways to use our application to further their business needs [and] make their business more efficient,” Ray said.

When they engage in a dialogue about how to use it, Ray said, he helps to navigate that conversation with plenty of technical experience.

This event “attracts more customers” for Configure One, he added, estimating that his expertise on the floor is about evenly divided between technical resources and functional implementation — whether sponsoring new business or addressing existing business needs among conference attendees.

IFS AB is a multinational enterprise software company headquartered in Linköping, Sweden, with 2,700 employees at offices all over the world.