Understanding Enterprise Resource Planning Reliability for Operational Excellence: Towards Understanding the Components of a Reliable Enterprise Resource Planning System

Abstract

The quest for sustainable competitive advantage and the urge to adapt to a challenging business environment has made firms around the globe to adopt enterprise resource planning systems so as optimally leverage on the enterprise-wide resources and be more responsive to customer demands. Globally organizations seeking to enhance their competitiveness have utilized Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to enhance their operational efficiency. The ERP philosophy advocates for the incorporation of personnel, finance, manufacturing, distribution, sales, and marketing modules into a single integrated system and a central database, allowing an organization to efficiently and effectively utilize its resources. The planning and better management of organizational resources, improved business performance, and better integration of business operations can be facilitated by an ERP system to offer an avenue of excellence for a business. Despite the potential benefits an ERP system offers an organization, few studies have explored the ERP reliability in the context of competition driven business imperatives.