ERP + E-Business = A New Vision of Enterprise Systems

Abstract

Companies have invested billions of dollars collectively in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems with the objective of attaining an important business promise — complete enterprise integration. For companies faced with incompatible information systems and inconsistent operating practices, ERP has been a dream come true. ERP presents companies with the opportunity to standardize and automate business processes throughout the organizations, thus increasing productivity and reducing cycle time. Although ERP systems have delivered value, it is becoming clear that the ERP model, which wraps organizational processes into one end-to-end application, may no longer be sufficient for today’s fast-moving, extended enterprises. With the rapid growth of the Internet, the business environment has changed dramatically. The world has become a global marketplace. According to Gartner Group, the worldwide business-to-business (B2B) market is forecasted to grow from 145 billion in 1999 to 7.29 trillion in 2004 (King, 2000).