Manchester Business School Forms Digital Skills Agreement with Infor

Infor announced an agreement with The University of Manchester, Alliance Manchester Business School (Manchester Business School). The agreement involves commissioning a consultancy project for an MBA course that will investigate optimal uses of the Internet of Things (IoT) across multiple industry sectors.

As part of the project, which will be managed by Infor's Education Alliance Program (EAP), students will research certain industry sectors, which Infor believes are most likely to realize value from IoT. Using Infor applications such as Infor ION, Infor EAM and Infor M3, as well Infor Campus and eLearning modules, students will be able to create business models including IoT customer use cases, as well as sales, implementation and service strategies. Business propositions and reports are expected to be presented to an Infor panel of experts in June 2017.

The Infor EAP was launched partly in response to a digital skills gap, and is designed to help create a talent pipeline through offering a range of certifications on Infor software suites, opportunities for internships and other training options for a career in the digital enterprise.

Infor's project with Manchester Business School follows a report which highlights that the UK's skills shortage has worsened for the fifth consecutive year. The findings demonstrate that many UK university degrees offer neither the technical or vocational knowledge that businesses want.

Against this landscape, Infor believes that urgent action is needed in order to help graduates enter the digitalized economy with the right skills.