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Enterprise software firm IFS, valued at €15bn (£12.64bn), is doubling down on industrial AI as it pushes toward an ambitious $100bn target by 2029.
With a sharp focus on asset-heavy sectors like energy and telecoms, the firm is re-engineering its entire model around automation.
At a recent IFS connect UKI event, chief executive Mark Moffat issued a blunt assessment: “Everything is under review”.
From hiring processes to internal operations, every function is under scrutiny as to how AI can either enhance or eliminate a task or system.
That internal transformation starts with hiring.
AI-first hiring takes hold
In a sweeping internal shift, Moffat claimed that every new role within the company must clear an ‘AI test’ – an internal benchmark used to determine whether a position could be automated, rather than filled.
“We will still grow headcount”, Moffat told City AM, “but AI can help control that growth”.
The approach forms part of a broader push to embed automation across IFS’s operations, from product developement to customer support.
Over 50 per cent of its R&D spend is now funnelled into AI, with new tools and features being rolled out at speed.
Moffat insisted that the move isn’t about cuts, but rather an evolution.
“We’re encouraging all of the organisation to be re-skilled in these AI capabilities”, he told City AM, framing the transformation as a necessary shift for survival.
Referring to firms previously displaced due to their failure to evolve, like Kodak, Blockbuster, or Blackberry, Moffat said: “We need to be AI first in nature”.
But with aiming to scale at a rapid rate, without ballooning headcount, the strategy raises questions about how quickly roles across the business, from support to engineering, could be replaced by automation.
Prioritising speed
The firm’s most recent initiative, Nexus Black, promises co-developed AI applications with customers within a matter of weeks, rather than the months or years typical in traditional enterprise software rollouts.
Moffat explained that demand is already ten times greater than expected, a signal of both market appetite and the pressure on the firm to deliver quickly.
But as generative AI continues to ripple through the industry, speed may come at a cost.
Moffat insisted that the firm can scale without compromising quality, citing its growing AI-trained workforce and tight focus on industrial sectors.
Still, critics warn that rapid-fire delivery and bespoke AI deployments could dilute innovation or burden engineering teams, if demand outpaces capacity.
“AI isn’t just corporate theatre”, Mofatt says. “It’s about delivering real, tangible results”.
Challenging traditional systems
IFS’s broader bet is that legacy ERP systems are too slow and too horizontal to adapt, with Moffat describing them as “bloated, slow, and fat”.
He claimed that IFS’s vertical modules, on the other hand, were designed for capital-intensive environments that demand precision and speed.
According to Moffat, these are not generic copilots, but embedded process-level AI systems capable of transforming operational workflows.
Japanese tech giant Konica Minolta, for example, saw a 25 per cent productivity gain and 83 per cent automated scheduling after deploying one of IFS’s optimisation engines – achieving a four per cent return on investment in less than a year.
The firm has managed to capture over €1bn in annual recurring revenue, and boasts clients like Rolls Royce Power Systems and Comcast.
Around 14 per cent of that revenue is now directly driven by AI-related offerings, a figure which Moffat expects to climb sharply.
“If you’re not using AI 20 times a day, you’re already behind”
To reach its $100bn vision, the firm will rely on both organic growth and M&A.
But central to that growth strategy is a radical rethink of how enterprise software is built, deployed, and staffed.
By automating core functions internally, and delivering rapid AI tools externally, Moffat hopes to set a new standard for the industrial sector.
Still, that shift will come with cultural consequences.
While IFS insists that there will be no mass layoffs, its emphasis on AI-first hiring and automation-driven scaling triggers concerns around long term job security.
“People need to lean in”, said Moffat. “If you’re not using AI 20 times a day, you’re already behind”.
