Wallsend, NE28 6UZ,
United Kingdom
SMD Technographics
SMD Technographics, Software Purchases, AI and Digital Transformation Initiatives
Discover the latest software purchases and digital transformation initiatives being undertaken by SMD and its business and technology executives. Each quarter our research team identifies on-prem and cloud applications that are being used by the 236 SMD employees from the public (Press Releases, Customer References, Testimonials, Case Studies and Success Stories) and proprietary sources.
During our research, we have identified that SMD has purchased the following applications: IFS Cloud ERP for ERP Financial in 2023, IFS Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for Manufacturing Execution System in 2023, Microsoft 365 for Collaboration in 2021 and the related IT decision-makers and key stakeholders.
Our database provides customer insight and contextual information on which enterprise applications and software systems SMD is running and its propensity to invest more and deepen its relationship with IFS , Microsoft , Contentsquare or identify new suppliers as part of their overall Digital and IT transformation projects to stay competitive, fend off threats from disruptive forces, or comply with internal mandates to improve overall enterprise efficiency.
We have been analyzing SMD revenues, which have grown to $78.0 million in 2024, plus its IT budget and roadmap, cloud software purchases, aggregating massive amounts of data points that form the basis of our forecast assumptions for SMD intention to invest in emerging technologies such as AI, Machine Learning, IoT, Blockchain, Autonomous Database or in cloud-based ERP, HCM, CRM, EPM, Procurement or Treasury applications.
SMD Tech Stack and Enterprise Applications
SMD ERP
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IFS | Legacy | IFS Cloud ERP | ERP Financial | ERP | Platned | 2023 | 2024 |
In 2023 SMD selected Platned to execute a major upgrade from IFS Apps 7.5 to IFS Cloud ERP, classified under the ERP Financial category. The program delivered an on premise IFS Cloud ERP instance over a 12 month project, completed on schedule, within budget, and with a seamless go live cutover for more than 250 users across two UK sites and an offshore engineering division.
The implementation replicated core functional modules from IFS Apps 7.5 including Purchasing, Finance, Supply Chain, Parts, Engineering, Projects, Manufacturing, Servicing and time recording, while introducing new AI enabled capabilities available in the evergreen IFS Cloud platform. Configuration work was emphasized so the core code base remained unmodified, with permissions and security tightened to mirror a small set of legacy behaviors that were required by business workflows.
Architecturally the deployment remained on premise to protect intellectual property and leverage existing infrastructure investments, while maintaining critical integrations with advanced CAD engineering tools used by design and engineering teams. The single shared instance supports SMDs offshore division for global engineering and maintenance operations, and the project used a predominantly remote delivery model with the implementation team on site for key milestones and for a week after go live to ensure continuity.
Governance and rollout emphasized operational readiness through structured training and test cycles, three pre go live training sessions for end users and an early trained cohort of 20 super users who led testing and cascaded knowledge. Platned provided project management and established a managed services arrangement to monitor and maintain IFS infrastructure, providing a 24/7 support desk and escalation path to complement SMDs five person IT and business systems team.
Outcomes explicitly stated by SMD include a smooth adoption experience, an on time and on budget upgrade, and the signing of a managed service contract with Platned for ongoing infrastructure management and support. SMD is now planning a second phase to digitize stores and integrate new automated picking machines while evaluating the IFS 24R2 AI enabled planning and scheduling capabilities.
|
SMD ERP Services and Operations
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IFS | Legacy | IFS Manufacturing Execution System (MES) | Manufacturing Execution System | ERP Services and Operations | Platned | 2023 | 2024 |
In 2023 SMD selected IFS partner Platned to execute a major upgrade from IFS Apps 7.5 to the evergreen IFS Cloud platform, and the program included deployment of IFS Manufacturing Execution System (MES) as a core manufacturing layer. The project maintained an on premise instance for IP security, ran on a 12 month schedule and was delivered on time and within budget with a seamless go live switchover for more than 250 users. SMD had used IFS Apps 7.5 across the business for over ten years, which informed configuration decisions during the uplift to IFS Cloud.
The implementation replicated functional modules previously used across Purchasing, Finance, Supply Chain, Parts, Engineering, Projects, Manufacturing, Servicing and time recording, while embedding Manufacturing Execution System capabilities to support shop floor execution and digitisation of stores such as parts picking. The IFS Manufacturing Execution System (MES) workstream leveraged configuration rather than core code changes to preserve custom behaviour, and additional AI enabled capabilities from IFS Cloud were introduced to support future planning and scheduling use cases.
Critical integrations were preserved, including maintained interfaces to advanced CAD engineering tools to support engineering and offshore maintenance workflows, and the single IFS instance continued to serve SMD’s offshore division alongside two UK sites. Delivery was predominantly remote, with 95 percent of project work performed off site and targeted on site presence for key milestones and a week post go live to ensure business continuity. The on premise infrastructure was retained because the business continued to invest in its own infrastructure rather than moving to third party hosting.
Governance and adoption focused on a trained super user community and partner managed delivery, with 20 super users trained early, three pre go live training sessions for broader teams and hands on testing cycles to drive acceptance. Platned now provides managed services and support for IFS infrastructure and a 24/7 support desk, allowing SMD’s five person IT and Business Systems team to escalate complex issues while handling the majority of tickets internally. The upgrade outcome reported was smooth adoption and a quiet go live, and SMD is planning follow on work to digitise stores and evaluate forthcoming AI enabled scheduling in the IFS 24R2 release.
|
SMD Collaboration
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Legacy | Microsoft 365 | Collaboration | Collaboration | n/a | 2021 | 2021 |
In 2021, SMD implemented Microsoft 365 to centralize Collaboration across its 236-employee manufacturing organization. The deployment established a cloud-hosted Microsoft 365 tenant to support enterprise productivity and collaboration and the implementation is detectable on SMD's public website, indicating active Microsoft 365-hosted assets or service endpoints. The platform was positioned to cover corporate communications, document management, and meeting workflows that are core to Collaboration use cases for manufacturing operations and administrative staff.
The implementation leveraged standard Microsoft 365 functional modules including Exchange Online for email, Microsoft Teams for chat and meetings, SharePoint Online for intranet and document libraries, OneDrive for file synchronization, and Office desktop and web applications. Identity and access were administered at the tenant level with centralized user provisioning and administrative controls, reflecting governance aligned to corporate IT operations and collaboration policy. The visible presence of Microsoft 365 on the company website confirms production-level adoption of Microsoft 365 services as the primary Collaboration platform for SMD.
|
SMD SCM
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Supply Chain Management | SCM |
|
2023 | 2024 |
|
SMD CRM
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Customer Experience | CRM |
|
2020 | 2020 |
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing Analytics | CRM |
|
2022 | 2022 |
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing Automation | CRM |
|
2015 | 2015 |
|
SMD ITSM
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
IT Service Management | ITSM |
|
2021 | 2021 |
|
SMD PPM
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Project Portfolio Management | PPM |
|
2023 | 2024 |
|
SMD Procurement
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Supplier Relationship Management | Procurement |
|
2023 | 2024 |
|
SMD IaaS
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Application Hosting and Computing Services | IaaS |
|
2017 | 2017 |
|
|
|
|
|
Application Hosting and Computing Services | IaaS |
|
2017 | 2017 |
|
SMD CyberSecurity
Vendor |
Previous System |
Application |
Category |
Market |
VAR/SI |
When |
Live |
Insight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) | CyberSecurity |
|
2013 | 2013 |
|
IT Decision Makers and Key Stakeholders at SMD
| First Name | Last Name | Title | Function | Department | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No data found | ||||||
Apps Being Evaluated by SMD Executives
| Date | Company | Status | Vendor | Product | Category | Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No data found | ||||||