Travis Perkins to build cloud infrastructure with Infor CloudSuite

Builders' merchant plans shift from on-premise legacy systems to cloud-based apps

Builders' merchant Travis Perkins is planning a radical shift away from on-premise legacy applications towards the cloud. In the process, claims the company, the aim is to adopt more customer-focused systems.

In particular, Travis Perkins is migrating to Infor CloudSuite as part of a major digital transformation at the company as it looks to adapt its business and double revenues from £5bn to £10bn in five years.

CloudSuite is a combination of industry tools delivered as software-as-a-service, and will be used to support the company's merchant business and provide a customer-facing system.

Travis Perkins will be able to adapt its merchant business to changing market conditions through the agility of cloud-based software, roll out the enterprise application tools to new branch locations, and adapt various processes to suit different aspects of the firm's business units.

John Carter, CEO of Travis Perkins, explained that adopting CloudSuite as part of a digital transformation strategy is necessary to respond to demands in the market for easier access to information.

"The environment is changing rapidly and we need to focus on our systems and our customer experience," he said during a keynote at Infor's Inforum 2016 conference in New York.

"I think every traditional business in the UK, and in short globally, is being challenged by disruptors and we are no different.

"The landscape is becoming more and more competitive. Customer expectations are increasing more and more, and we need to provide the right systems for our colleagues so our customers can benefit."

Digital transformation is nothing new for Travis Perkins, which has undergone an incremental overhaul of its IT for several years. This has seen 1.3 million documents moved to the cloud with Google Drive as a way to speed up document sharing and collaborative working across the businesses.

The company is not alone in following the digital doctrine, as other organisations such as NHS hospitals are pursuing a similar path.