At a time when many enterprise application platforms are seeking to support all use cases, IFS AB is going vertical.

The company made it clear during its IFS Unleashed event in Miami Beach last week that it will focus on aerospace, energy, defense, construction and engineering, manufacturing, energy, and telecommunications as its primary vertical markets.

IFS’ strategic approach is designed to capitalize on its strengths in applications for enterprise resource planning, field service and customer relationship management, and human resource enablement. The message is that vertical industries can find critical business solutions on the IFS Cloud as a one-stop-shop for integrated functionality.

TheCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, covered IFS Unleashed through exclusive interviews with company executives and customers during the event. (* Disclosure below.)

Here are three insights you might have missed:

1. IFS is now driving aircraft safety for Southwest Airlines.

To underscore the critical nature of IFS’ role in enterprise applications, the company announced in April that its maintenance management solution was now in effect across Southwest Airlines’ entire fleet of nearly 730 aircraft.

The IFS solution targets maintenance, repair and operations, or MRO, to provide operational staff with information to streamline configuration and compliance management processes. Southwest was interested in moving away from paper, and the IFS platform enabled a more digitized approach.

The addition of Southwest as a customer bolstered IFS’ footprint in the aerospace industry. The firm’s current customers include China Airlines, LATAM Airlines, Quantas and the Air France-KLM Group.

“With Southwest and the MRO solution we delivered for them, we’re immensely proud of that,” said Darren Roos (pictured), chief executive officer of IFS, in an exclusive interview with theCUBE. “For us to be able to really create value for them in the specific vertical they are in, it can’t be that we stick a marketing label on it. We’re able to understand the problems that they’re facing all the way through to the way that we build the technology to address those.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Darren Roos:

2. Customerville acquisition gave IFS a key tool for measuring moments of service.

Every business gets judged, positively or negatively, in what IFS refers to as a moment of service. How can these moments, which are critical to understanding customer satisfaction, be accurately captured and measured?

IFS uses Customerville, a feedback platform that gathers the voice of the customer in a moment of service. The platform was acquired by IFS last year, following a lengthy partnership in which the tool was integrated into IFS’ own Voice of the Customer program.

Customerville’s appeal can be seen in its ability to generate significant increases in customer response rates through a blend of technology, design and behavioral science. Earlier this year, Travelzoo reported a 350% increase in external survey response rates from use of the Customerville platform.

“The numbers are great, and they tell a story,” said Cathie Hall, senior vice president of experience at IFS, during an interview with theCUBE. “A story conveys much more than a simple number, and it’s also something that goes global as well. A story and understanding the sentiment behind the customer, that’s gold.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Cathie Hall:

3. Consumer preferences are pushing the tech industry to adopt a mantra of simplicity.

Increased reliance by consumers on technology to purchase dinner, airline tickets, and even a car with a few clicks on a smartphone is leading to expectations that enterprise systems will deliver the same friction-free experience. Enterprise tech announcements now often include signs of this through the use of descriptors such as “streamlined,” “standardized” and “quicker.”

One example of this can be found in Jotun, a Norwegian manufacturer of decorative paints and protective coatings. The company decided to upgrade its relationship with IFS last year and adopt an “evergreen” model in the IFS Cloud.

Evergreen involves a process in which IFS gives customers a software version that is always current. Jotun’s adoption of an evergreen solution through the IFS Cloud was applied to over 9,000 users across 46 countries in a drive to speed operational improvement through a standardized solution. Consumer-influenced enterprises want more simplicity, and IFS is moving to deliver this.

“With all of the things we use in our consumer lives, we want simplicity,” said Sarah Nicastro, VP of consumer advocacy at IFS, during an appearance on theCUBE. “It’s the idea of eliminating some of the manual effort that exists in maintaining a system, making it a lot easier and faster for organizations to adopt innovation.”

Munters, an energy-efficient air treatment and climate solutions company, turned to IFS when it needed to accelerate its digital transformation process.

“Customers want remote management, they want connected devices, but that alone will not bring you servitization,” said Roel Rentmeesters, VP of digital transformation at Munters. “You need to have your strong foundation in the back with a good process, a good system that can support that process, and that’s where IFS came in for us.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete video interview with Sarah Nicastro and Roel Rentmeesters:

To watch more of theCUBE’s coverage of  the IFS Unleashed event, here’s our complete event video playlist:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the IFS Unleashed event. Neither IFS, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE