Enterprise Systems: Innovation, Development, and Advantages

Abstract

Well-managed information is the basis of any successful enterprise. The current increase in information management capacity generates opportunities for a new stage of development, making it critical for companies to significantly increase information, intelligence and technology management competences to successfully exploit these new opportunities. However, information technology (IT) development has, in many cases, not been balanced by an enhancement of information management competences within organizations. One way of successfully exploiting opportunities is through the business philosophy of Enterprise Systems (ES), defined as organizational arrangements that combine management science and IT to enhance a company’s decision-making capabilities. ES have helped streamline business processes and improve the overall performance of organizations. This chapter presents an overview of the development of ES from the 1970s to the present day, and presents an S-curve analysis of the diffusion of ES innovations. The sources of ES innovation are then discussed in terms of enablers (technological, entrepreneurial and venture capital) and drivers (developers and innovators). The differences between vendors in terms of their ES solutions are then briefly presented, and the role of ES in creating a competitive advantage is discussed.