Charles Phillips is a former Oracle president, and best known for instigating several important acquisitions for them. Now he is CEO for Infor, the third largest software applications corporation based in Georgia.
Charles Phillips is somewhat of a whirlwind. He starts out fast and gets things done. He attributes these characteristics on his training in the Marines. When at Oracle Charles Phillips was a major instigator of the acquisition of several large companies like PeopleSoft, NetForce and Indicast, all major players in the software market. Everyone in the industry agrees that Phillips is a “Product” man, meaning he is always on the lookout for new products to add to the company’s existing product line. It was his help in giving Oracle a 300 percent revenue increase that caught the attention of Infor.
Infor actively recruited Phillips in 2010 after he stepped down from Oracle. The objective is to get him to do for Infor what he did for Oracle and in retrospect it looks like that is exactly what he is doing
Phillips says that his persistence and organizational skills that help him get the job done were learned during his early years as a captain in the marines.
Although Infor is not as large as Oracle, it is still the third largest software applications. Since its inception in 2002, Infor has always targeted the small to mid-sized businesses. Although the objective is not to go after the large companies as Oracle did, Phillips believes there are many different products that can complement Infor’s own product. So far Phillips seems to be meeting his objectives. He started out running and within a few short months of his new position at Infor helped them acquire Lawson software. But the acquisition was not his only feat, within three days of closing the deal he immediately turned around and hired almost 100 new employees to develop the Lawson product further. So what is his first year review like? He has actively acquired several smaller companies that either compliments the Infor product or which develop it further. He has played an active role in the rolling out of Infor10 and ION suite, both of which address issues clients had with previous versions. These new products also offer better usability as customers no longer have to fill in the same information over twenty different processes.
What’s the outlook? Well, it seems that more of the same is expected. Although, Phillips has already helped Infor grow its revenue by 10 percent. He is a true products man, so the integration of new products that complement the already stable Infor products is expected in the future.