ERP Systems

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is business process management software which

integrates the businesses essential departments. Departments such as sales, planning,
purchasing, finance, order management, human resource management, customer
relationship management, supply chain management etc. ERP software enables each
department to share information and processes with others throughout the entire
organization. Each connects us the same data at one central location which simplifies
business processes. ERP software facilitates collaboration across business units. It operates
in real time. The ERP centralizes all the information in an organization. With ERP, the
employees of the business can work efficiently because they have the information they
need when they need it. ERP systems make businesses more efficient and profitable.
The Gartner Group first used the acronym ERP in the 1990s where it was seen to extend the
capabilities of material requirements planning (MRP), and the later manufacturing resource
planning (MRP II), as well as computer-integrated manufacturing. Without replacing these
terms, ERP came to represent a larger whole that reflected the evolution of application
integration beyond manufacturing.

ERP field can be slow to change, but the last couple of years have unleashed new technology
trends which are fundamentally shifting the entire area. The following new and continuing
trends have an impact on the growth of enterprise ERP software.
MOBILE ERP: executives and employees want real-time access to information, regardless of
where they are. It is expected that businesses will embrace mobile ERP for the reports,
dashboards and to conduct key business process.
CLOUD ERP: the cloud has been advancing steadily into the enterprise for some time, but
many ERP users have been reluctant to place data cloud. Those reservations have gradually
been evaporating, however, as the advantages of the cloud become apparent.
SOCIAL ERP there has been much hype around social media and how important it is to add
to ERP systems. Certainly, vendors have been quick to seize the initiative, adding social
media packages to their ERP systems with much fanfare. But some wonder if there is really
much gain to be had by integrating social media with ERP.
TWO-TIER ERP: enterprises once attempted to build an all-encompassing ERP system to
take care of every aspect of organizational system. But some expensive failures have
gradually brought about a change in strategy i.e. adopting two-tier ERP.