IFS expands cloud suite to include digital workers, applied industrial AI

The newest release of the cloud suite from industrial software heavyweight IFS, its Cloud 25R2, incorporates IFS Loops, the company’s Digital Workers agentic AI product that IFS debuted to much fanfare last month at its New York conference.

Loops is an AI-based “workforce” programmed with 50-plus (soon 100-plus) agentic skills, allowing autonomous management of high-volume operational tasks such as field dispatch, supplier coordination, customer order management, and inventory replenishment, according to IFS.

See also: IFS debuts package of ‘digital workers’ in next iteration of agentic AI industrial software

IFS designed these virtual workers to backfill operational workflows in dispatch, field service, inventory, and supplier management. With its Loops product in particular, the company said it is targeting “invisible work”—repetitive, time-consuming tasks that consume 40% to 60% of field and operations staff capacity, but drive minimal strategic value.

“These repetitive workflows (order processing, inventory management, maintenance scheduling, data entry) delay critical operations, result in unplanned downtime, prevent first-time fixes, and consume hours that frontline experts could spend on high-value judgment calls,” IFS said.

As a whole, IFS Cloud 25R2 expands the company’s AI offerings, embedded intelligence and Digital Workers in its enterprise resource planning, enterprise asset management, and field service management solutions, making “AI a true co-worker with contextual knowledge for every role,” IFS said in a release.

“With 25R2, IFS demonstrates that when deployed at scale, Industrial AI multiplies human capacity against the backdrop of acute labor shortages.”

“The strength of our solutions lie in their application—AI deeply embedded into the complex processes and workflows of industry to work autonomously, intelligently, and profitably. Generic, consumer-grade, AI tools simply can’t cut it in these environments,” said Christian Pedersen, chief innovation officer for Sweden-based IFS.

At IFS Industrial X Unleased on Nov. 13 in New York, the company made much of its AI-based products—and of the failings of generic artificial intelligence software products.

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The context, IFS noted, is that millions of industrial jobs sit unfilled and 50% of the industrial workforce is due to retire in the next five years. “IFS Cloud 25R2 addresses this directly with applied Industrial AI and Digital Workers that have the potential to expand industrial workforce capacity infinitely.”

Speaking at Industrial X, Pedro Buhigas, CIO at Kodiak Gas Services, an IFS customer, noted the ROI benefits behind the IFS Loops agent concept. “If half of our workforce engages with the [IFS Loops] agent once per day, that's $3 million a year of ROI,” Buhigas said. “More importantly, that's 90,000 hours we can give back to field service technicians to do their job.”

See also: HighByte releases Intelligence Hub 4.3, expanding agentic AI on factory floors

IFS Cloud 25R2, the company said, embeds applied industrial AI throughout the customer journey:

• Field service management: Technician-focused AI tools boost productivity and first-time fix rates.
• Enterprise asset management: AI-driven capabilities improve maintenance accuracy, reduce downtime, and enhance planning precision.
• Enterprise resource planning: AI enhancements strengthen planning accuracy, inventory control, and financial agility across operations.