Technova
Introduction to Enterprise Solutions
by Akash Seth
What are enterprise solutions?
Enterprise
solutions are software applications that connect and manage
information flows across complex organizations, allowing
managers to make decisions based on information that truly
reflects the current state of their business. These systems also
automate complex transaction processes and thus save costs.
Enterprise solutions started out as enterprise resource planning
(or "ERP") packages, or "back-office" systems capable of
integrating and automating transaction-intensive processes
across functions like human resources and finance. Today, the
notion of enterprise solutions has greatly expanded to include a
wide variety of additional functionality such as performance
management, planning and analysis, supply chain management,
customer relationship management, product development and
advanced analytic applications. By integrating additional
functionality with already integrated core back office systems,
organizations stand to reap even greater benefits from seamless
information flows within and across organizations.
Enterprise Solutions - Benefits
targeted:
What does achieving value from enterprise
solutions really mean?
1. Improved management decision-making:
Managers supported by efficient decision-making
capabilities are able to make better, faster decisions that are
aligned with the organization's strategies.
2. Improved financial management:
Financial and general managers can exert tighter
financial control, make better predictions about financial
performance and assess the implications of operational changes
on key performance metrics.
3. Improved customer service and retention:
Integrated customer information allows
organizations to serve their customers faster and more
effectively, thereby increasing customer satisfaction, loyalty
and retention.
4. Ease of expansion/growth and increased
flexibility:
Robust enterprise solutions enable a more agile,
flexible organization. They position an organization for growth,
and can enable easier integration of newly acquired entities.
5. Faster, more accurate transactions:
Highly integrated, accurate databases result in
reduced IT costs, improved data quality and better customer
service. Accurate transactions are an intermediate benefit that
enables other business objectives.
6. Headcount reduction
Through greater systems and
operational efficiencies enabled by enterprise solutions,
organizations can minimize their support staff and thereby
reduce costs.
7. Cycle time reduction
Shortening cycle time enables an organization to
be more nimble, cut costs and improve responsiveness to
employees and customers.
8. Improved inventory/asset management
Consistent, tightly integrated systems allow
organizations to provide better service and reduce costs through
supply chain efficiencies such as better asset management or
inventory reductions.
9. Fewer physical resources/better logistics:
By streamlining logistics and minimizing the
associated physical resources, organizations can attain
increased operational efficiency and cost reduction.
10. Increased revenue:
Highly integrated business processes can enable
an organization to offer new products or exploit new channels,
thus creating new opportunities to generate revenue.
To achieve
benefits from Enterprise Solutions organizations should bring
together and oversee the necessary resources like time, money,
technology, skilled people etc. to build new capability.
However,
these investments, while a prerequisite, are a long way from the
finished product. Simply assembling the raw components of a
vision can only yield a limited amount of value. Substantial
benefits are realized only when an organization creatively takes
the raw components, claims them as its own and directs them to
meet its unique business vision.
To maximize the benefits of
enterprise solutions investments, three actions organizations
should consider are:
Integrate:
unify and harmonize enterprise solutions, data and processes
with an organization's unique existing environment, and use
the systems to better connect organizational units and
processes, as well as customers and suppliers.
Optimize:
standardize most processes using best practices embodied in
enterprise solutions software, mold and shape processes to
fit the unique or strategic needs of the business, and
ensure that processes flow and fit with the systems
themselves.
Informate:
In the context of enterprise solutions, organizations
informate by transforming enterprise solutions data into
context-rich information and knowledge that supports the
unique business analysis and decision-making needs of
multiple work forces.
These three
actions, especially when taken together, can enable
organizations to achieve value in many forms, including improved
decision making, improved customer service and retention, and
increased organizational flexibility. A profound payoff awaits
organizations that integrate, optimize and informate (see Figure
1).
The customer, supplier and other external
organizations:
Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions
and supply chain software help organizations manage their
suppliers and customers. Although more organizations have
implemented supply chain software—almost half of the
organizations have already implemented supply chain
functionality—it is the customer relationship management
software market that is growing the most rapidly.
Information access and analytics:
Improvement in areas like -
portals, information access device, advanced
analytics, implement analytic-related functionality such as
management reporting and metrics, planning and analysis, and
performance management.
Knowledge work processes:
Other popular extensions of enterprise solutions
include applications that focus less on transactions and more on
knowledge. Examples include enterprise solutions modules
relating to sales and marketing, new product development, and
strategic planning and analysis. These solutions can improve
knowledge workers' productivity by automating routine tasks and
by providing knowledge workers with useful management
information to improve their decision making.
Conclusion
To some
extent, organizations
with extraordinary levels of resources and management focus on
enterprise solutions-enabled change may choose to implement
enterprise solutions while they simultaneously integrate,
optimize and informate. Those organizations that started
implementing enterprise solutions years ago have realized that
there is no “finish” date if an organization wants to continue
to reap value from their systems.
Disclaimer : The views
expressed in the articles are author’s own views B’Cognizance or
IIITA is not liable for any objections arising out of the same.
The matter here is solely for academic use only.
SAP-ABAP Developer
Infosys Technologies, Hyderabad
Achieving value from Enterprise Solutions
Future directions of enterprise solutions technologies
