QAD | Redzone Reinvents ERP Modernization with New Lynx Champion

Lynx Champion analyzes years of legacy ERP customizations and their underlying business logic, compressing a process that once took years into months; and giving manufacturers a clear, de-risked path to QAD Adaptive ERP.

CHICAGO & MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Champions of Manufacturing — QAD | Redzone, the company behind the world’s number one platform for manufacturers, introduced Lynx Champion, an agentic AI workflow solution designed to remove one of the most persistent barriers to ERP modernization: understanding decades of legacy customizations and the business logic behind them well enough to decide what to modernize, what to retire, and what to rebuild.

Manufacturers spend years building and layering custom code directly into their ERP systems to try and match how their business actually runs. That customization encodes workflows, and captures exceptions and edge cases that make a company competitive. The challenge is when a manufacturer needs to modernize their ERP to match their current business to remain competitive.

Years of old code and customizations become the biggest barrier to a successful modernization project. Without an automated way to see what has been customized, why it exists, or what depends on it, there is no reliable estimate of how long a modernization project will take or what it will cost to move. This leaves the business open to unknown costs and years-long projects that end up stalling, forcing the company to continue running on aging infrastructure and losing its competitive edge.

“Lynx Champion is a game changer in ERP modernizations,” said Amit Sharma, President – Manufacturing ERP at QAD | Redzone. “It scans a legacy ERP environment, catalogs every customization in plain English, and classifies each one with a defined next step. Lynx actively re-architects a large share of that custom code itself, closing much of the gap between legacy logic and a modern cloud core without a manual rebuild. For manufacturers sitting on a stalled modernization decision, that’s the difference between starting now and falling further behind.”

Built in Partnership with AWS

QAD | Redzone worked with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to design the technology underpinning Lynx Champion:

“ERP modernization is difficult because manufacturers are not simply moving technology — they’re carrying forward years of business logic, operating knowledge, and custom processes embedded in their systems,” said Mike Choe, General Manager – US Automotive & Manufacturing at AWS. “AWS worked closely with QAD to help design the cloud and generative AI architecture behind Lynx Champion, using AWS Transform, Amazon Bedrock, and other AWS services to analyze legacy environments and create a clearer path to modernization.”

“What makes Lynx Champion compelling is the customer outcome. Instead of spending months manually untangling customizations, dependencies, cost, and risk, manufacturers can understand their environment much faster and focus experts on the decisions that truly require human judgment,” added Choe. “Together, AWS and QAD are showing how generative AI can help manufacturers modernize faster, reduce risk, and preserve the unique business knowledge that differentiates their operations.”

From Manual Discovery to Automated Discovery

In an engagement with a global contract manufacturer and packager running QAD ERP, Lynx Champion catalogued over 1,000 customizations that had no clear migration path and no cost certainty. Discovery moved from an open-ended unknown to a categorized inventory, with nearly two-thirds of customizations arriving with a defined migration path on first pass.

Sharper classification of the customizations alone cut the remaining review queue by roughly three-quarters, even before further model refinement, freeing the team to focus only on the customizations that actually required a decision. The customer emerged with a scoped, phased modernization plan and projected savings of nearly $500,000 identified during the engagement, replacing an unknown variable with a defined budget.

A legacy environment has traditionally required years of manual discovery workshops. Lynx Champion compresses that down to just months of automated discovery, scanning the environment, building a centralized map of every customization, and flagging usage so manufacturers know what is actually safe to retire.

Built to Preserve What Makes a Manufacturer Competitive

Lynx Champion is built on the premise that customization is not simply technical debt to be erased. Much of it encodes how a manufacturer actually competes. QAD | Redzone’s approach keeps that business logic while making it upgrade-safe, rather than forcing a choice between the two. To date, more than 60 percent of flagged customizations have received a clear upgrade path, and early results point to upgrade schedules compressing by 25 to 60 percent compared with traditional consulting-led discovery and re-implementation.

Lynx Champion runs independently of a customer’s core ERP transaction processing, so a scan can begin without disrupting day-to-day operations. It is available to QAD customers evaluating a path to QAD Adaptive ERP, and manufacturers can begin with a Lynx Champion readiness assessment of their own environment.

One Entry Point in a Flexible Path to Modernization

Lynx Champion is one entry point within Champion Advantage, QAD’s AI-led approach to modernization, which is built around the idea that there is no single correct starting point for every manufacturer. Some customers begin by putting persona-based Champions to work on a specific business problem. Others start by building the financial and operational case for a broader program. Lynx Champion gives manufacturers a credible, de-risked path to a modern core, without asking them to abandon the customizations that make them competitive.

This announcement is part of QAD | Redzone’s broader Manufacturing Intelligence vision unveiled today at Champions of Manufacturing.

About QAD | Redzone

QAD | Redzone is redefining manufacturing and supply chains through its intelligent, adaptive platform that connects people, processes, and technology into a single System of Action. With three core pillars — Redzone (frontline empowerment), Adaptive Applications (the intelligent backbone), and ChampionAI (agentic AI for manufacturing) — QAD | Redzone helps manufacturers operate with Champion Pace, achieving measurable productivity, resilience, and growth in as little as 90 days. To learn more, visit www.qad.com or call [phone]. Find us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and Instagram.