Business management systems supplier Infor Global Solutions sees its sales growing on the mainland next year amid the global slowdown, thanks to steady demand for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in the country's manufacturing, distribution and services sectors.
Chairman and chief executive Jim Schaper said: 'China is our fastest-growing market and will continue to grow faster than the rest of the world in the next few years.'
Infor - which claims to be the industry's largest privately held software firm with about US$2.2 billion in annual revenue and more than 70,000 clients - has four offices on the mainland that serve over 700 corporate customers of its various automated business management solutions, including ERP, customer relationship management and supply chain management systems.
'Last year, over 20 per cent of our new customers were from Asia-Pacific, and half of them come from China,' Mr Schaper said.
Infor counts about 70 per cent of its customers as manufacturers, which makes its operations on the mainland increasingly significant. Its solutions support the country's rapidly industrialising economy, with customer growth projected to continue among the country's manufacturers of industrial equipment and machinery, hi-tech and electronics products, vehicles and textiles, and other industries such as services.
Mr Schaper said he saw the company's ERP software helping domestic processed food manufacturers keep track of suppliers and production procedures, as a means of improving quality control and preventing incidents such as the recent scandal involving melamine - an organic chemical found in plastics and fertilisers.