In an industry where 65% of ERP projects fail on their first attempt, one Sage X3 partner stands as a statistical anomaly. Inixion, founded in 2006, claims zero failed ERP implementations across nearly two decades – a track record that would make even the most seasoned technology executives do a double-take.
But dig deeper into their approach, and the secret isn’t just about flawless project execution. It’s about fundamentally reimagining what an ERP partnership should look like in an era where technology relationships increasingly resemble marriages more than transactions.
Ian Bromley, Inixion’s founder and managing director, reveals perhaps the most telling statistic of their operation: “In 19 years of business, other than one person that retired, we have never lost a member of staff from our X3 implementation and support teams.” This isn’t just impressive – it’s practically unheard of in an industry notorious for consultant turnover.
The ripple effect is profound. Customers work with the same technical teams for 10-15 years, creating institutional knowledge that spans entire business transformations. When marketing manager Lindsay Ross mentions their “zero employee attrition in the project management and technical consultancy team,” she’s describing a competitive moat that can’t be easily replicated by competitors focused solely on rapid scaling.
This stability translates directly to customer retention. Bromley notes they could “count on one hand” the customers lost in the past decade—so few that they don’t even track customer attrition as a formal KPI.
When discussing complex integrations, Bromley shares a telling anecdote about a client who thought EDI was a “Big Magic button” that would instantly connect all customers and suppliers. This highlights a critical challenge facing mid-market manufacturers: the gap between executive vision and technical reality.
Inixion’s approach involves “taking customers on journeys to understand some of the complexities and intricacies” rather than simply promising quick fixes. For their EDI project, they combined Sage X3’s built-in technical interfaces with specialized middleware and long-term EDI partnerships—creating a scalable foundation where adding new customers and suppliers became “quite easy” after the initial complex setup.
This methodology proved valuable in their most ambitious project: consolidating over 10 disparate ERP systems into a single global Sage X3 solution for a discrete manufacturing business. The project spanned the UK, US, Europe, China, and eventually Brazil, adapting to acquisitions and divestments while maintaining operational continuity.
Ross identifies a key strategic driver often overlooked in ERP discussions: control. While cloud-native platforms dominate headlines, many mid-sized to enterprise manufacturers still require the flexibility to deploy on-premises, in private cloud, or hybrid environments.
“Our customers are looking for an ERP that can adapt to their business, not the other way around,” Ross explains. This positioning becomes increasingly relevant as companies in regulated industries or with legacy processes face pressure to modernize without sacrificing operational autonomy.
Sage X3’s deployment flexibility – combined with deep customization capabilities for complex manufacturing processes – addresses needs that standardized cloud solutions often can’t accommodate. Features like advanced inventory management, multi-site production, and localization for multi-country operations remain critical differentiators for global manufacturers. Looking ahead, Bromley sees ERP consultants evolving into “hybrid partners—part advisor, part tech enabler”—rather than being displaced by AI. With Sage Copilot on the horizon, he emphasizes that successful AI integration will depend on trust and transparency, particularly in financial systems where accuracy is non-negotiable.
Sage’s approach of building proprietary large language models trained on global accounting standards (IFRS, UK and US GAAP) represents a more conservative but potentially more reliable path than generic AI integration. The models will “self-validate answers against these trained language models before delivering the answer to the user”—addressing the trust gap that could make or break AI adoption in mission-critical ERP environments.
What this means for ERP Insiders
Prioritize partner stability over price. The cost of consultant turnover far exceeds initial savings from competitive bidding. Inixion’s 15-year customer relationships demonstrate that institutional knowledge retention creates compounding value over time. Mid-market leaders should evaluate partners based on staff retention metrics and customer tenure, not just hourly rates. Companies working with high-turnover consultancies often face project delays due to knowledge transfer gaps, while Inixion’s stable teams enable seamless multi-year transformations that adapt to business changes without starting from scratch.
Plan for deployment flexibility before you need it. The cloud-versus-on-premises debate misses the point – successful manufacturers need options. Inixion’s global discrete manufacturing client successfully deployed Sage X3 across multiple continents precisely because they weren’t locked into a single deployment model. Tech leaders should architect ERP strategies that preserve future flexibility, especially as data sovereignty regulations evolve. Companies choosing cloud-only solutions often face migration costs when regulatory changes force infrastructure moves, while hybrid-capable platforms like X3 enable seamless transitions.
Start AI integration with financial data validation. Don’t wait for perfect AI solutions – begin with high-trust, low-risk applications. Sage’s approach of training AI models on accounting standards provides a template for incremental AI adoption. Business leaders should identify processes where AI can augment rather than replace human decision-making, focusing initially on data validation and anomaly detection. Early adopters using AI for financial reconciliation report reductions in month-end closing times, while maintaining audit-grade accuracy through rule-based validation layers that Inixion’s technical teams can implement within existing X3 environments.
