The Contribution of Enterprise System

The Contribution of Enterprise System

IT/205

January 6, 2012

Charbel Elkhoury

The Contribution of Enterprise System

In this paper I explain what an enterprise system is and provide examples of organizational functions supported by enterprise systems. I will talk about how effectively implementing and using enterprise systems contribute to achieving operational excellence and what challenges are posed by enterprise applications.

An enterprise system is a database that collects data from many different divisions and departments in a firm and from a large number of key business processes in manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, and human resources, making the data available for applications that support nearly all of an organization’s internal business activities (Laudon & Laudon, pp. 269-270, 2009).

There are many functions supported by an enterprise system. If customer is looking for their order they can tap into the system and find where it is at. If management wants to see what product in a category sold the best in the last year, cash levels are automatically updated, and sales and production forecasts are immediately updated.

If a business effectively implements and uses and enterprise system it will help with increasing operational efficiency and provides firm wide information to help managers make better decisions (Laudon & Laudon, p. 271, 2009). This will give the company into operational excellence.

Enterprise applications pose some challenges. They require not only deep-seated technological changes but also fundamental changes in the way the business operates (Laudon & Laudon, p. 285). Employs will have new job functions and responsibilities; they must perform a new set of work activities. It also requires new organizational learning. Some firms will also face enormous operating problems and losses when they first install the system because they do not understand how much organizational...