Contribution of Enterprise Systems Essay

What are enterprise systems? Provide examples of organizational functions supported by enterprise systems. One person wanted something that another person had, so they found a way to trade one thing for another. Right there, we can see the benefits of such a system. Each person involved had gotten involved out of free choice rather than being forced into it. And because each person was not forced into it, each was able to make the best choice that he could, and learn from any mistakes that he may have made. Enterprise systems (ES) are large-scale application software packages that support business processes, information flows, reporting, and data analytics in complex organizations. These systems are designed to manage large volumes of critical data. These systems are typically designed to provide high levels of transaction performance and data security. Vendors in this space include IBM, Oracle, HP and more. How does effectively implementing and using enterprise systems contribute to achieving operational excellence? Enterprise systems provide value both by increasing operational efficiency and by providing firm wide information to help managers make better decisions. Enterprise systems also help firms respond rapidly to customer requests for information or products. Because the system integrates order, manufacturing, and delivery data, manufacturing is better informed about producing only what customers have ordered, procuring exactly the right amount of components or raw materials to fill actual orders, staging production, and minimizing the time that components or finished products are in inventory. Organizations need to use enterprising systems effectively to achieve operational excellence. The enterprise systems need to be designed and setup correctly from the beginning. If the enterprise software does not support the organizations’ way of doing business it can be customize. However, enterprise software is complex and customization may degrade system performance and therefore may not maximize the benefits from the system. It is recommended to maximize benefits from the software, the business need to conform to the business processes in the software. What challenges are posed by enterprise applications? Enterprise applications is software that various businesses use in order to help solve certain enterprise problems or to streamline business operations. Things like email lists, payroll, client information, and so on are stored in enterprise applications. Because the software is used and shared across a large organization, one of the drawbacks of an enterprise application may have to do with the safety of the information that is stored. Some benefits of enterprise systems are increased business efficiency, information company-wide helps management make better decisions, and it forces uniformed practices throughout the businesses. However, there are some challenges to an enterprise system. The expenses of purchasing, installing and maintaining the hardware and software of an enterprise system are considered challenging. Systems are more complex today than before. Before most systems consist of hardware, operating system, database and storage application easily connected together in one system. Today a system configuration can consist of several separate mini systems with many separate storage area network, networking equipment.