The Evolving E-Business Enterprise Systems Suite

Abstract

Enterprise systems have emerged recently as a popular approach to outsourcing major application development. In the 1990s, enterprise systems encompassed and integrated core business functions such as manufacturing, logistics, financials, and human resources. During this time, the basic objective of these systems was on streamlining and standardizing information flows and processes. These systems were designed based on the need to optimize the processing of huge numbers of business transactions regularly in an enterprise. As the Internet evolved there has been a greater emphasis on supporting inter-organizational processes. As technologies continue to advance and users become more sophisticated, a greater opportunity to incorporate higher-level decision making tools and capabilities into enterprise systems packages arises. This chapter provides a review of several core areas currently being developed. The view of the authors is that enterprise systems as they are evolving today will serve as the foundation for the intelligent enterprise of the 21st century. The last section provides a perspective on how firms should view these systems and their many challenges.