Enterprise Technologies And The Value Chain

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is now being hailed as a foundation for the integration of

The role of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in companies today is rapidly changing from just providing after-the-fact reporting of results to delivering analytics and intelligence on how to succeed with new products and services. ERP has in the past been relegated to just managing the interactions and interconnections between supplier, manufacturing operations and to a lesser extent, fulfillment. ERP is rapidly emerging as a viable framework for guiding the strategic decisions and directions of any manufacturing or service-related business globally with greater accuracy and profitability (Ash, Burn, 2003). With ERP being such a significant strategic platform for growth of companies, it is not surprising to see so many being upgraded and enhanced to help companies stay in step with their customers using SaaS-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM), predictive analytics and greater visibility through the entire value chain of a business as a result (Ash, Burn, 2003). With so much riding on the implementation of an ERP system from a customer relationship and analytics standpoint, effective project and change management is the most critical success factor there is in attaining strategic plans using these systems(Chen, Yang, 2009). The intent of this analysis is to define which information should and should not be shared with technical and

Enterprise resource planning enables firms to replace different departmental information systems and database silos with systems that collectively work as a single cross functional database. ERP systems are available for every key business function such as order processing, production control, HR, warehouse, marketing, finance and much more. By having a common technology and database platform throughout the firm, systems and processes from various departments can be integrated that achieve superiority in terms of enhanced cost, operational and productivity benefits. Implementing an ERP system requires careful planning to achieve the targeted benefits and minimize the risk of project failure.

In order to survive in this competitive business world, every business must produce or offer not only a better product or service, they must also offer better customer service, reduce their production costs and overhead costs, have a more well-planned management system, a highly reliable infrastructure, and the list is endless. Many of these can be achieved through a customized enterprise resource planning system (ERP). ERPs serve as “one comprehensive database to house all of the company’s corporate information”. However if these systems are not used correctly with the necessary change in management of people and technology it can result in failure.

ERP packages are heavily used by larger retail chains. Designed to facilitate the administration and optimization of internal business processes across an enterprise, ERP packages have become the competitive tool for most large retail organizations. ERP software uses a single database that allows the different departments to communicate with each other through information sharing. ERP systems comprise function-specific components that are designed to interact with the other modules such as the Order Entry, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Purchasing, Distribution etc.

Conduct a search to find a case in business re-engineering, similar to some of the cases mentioned in this chapter (e.g. Ford, Mutual Benefit Life, Hewlett Packard).

Michael Porter established a theoretical framework for enterprise application in industries which analyzed the processes and activities that create value in the organization and dynamics with your competition and market. However, the formulation of the Porter value chain was limited to vertical view of organizations, making rigid implementation in non-industrial or horizontal integration features flexible

While many of these systems have been designed to be used by internal employees to increase efficiencies and contribute to the bottom line through expense controls, controls. The reality is most of these solutions were not designed to help businesses build externally focused, profitable, revenue generating relationships with customers and business partners. Today’s executives must identify systems and solutions to exploit new external channels, medias, and avenues to gain and retain new customers. Outside of cloud and mobile, below are several predictions and trends I see coming to the ERP & business applications marketplace:

Porter & Millar (1985) explain the concept of the value chain where this model divides the company’s activities into technological and economically distinct activities that it performs to do business. In order to gain competitive advantage over its rivals the company must perform these activities at a lower cost or perform them in a way that leads to differentiation and a premium price. Technology is likely to affect every activity within the value chain. As information technology has become more widespread the opportunities to take advantage of a new competitive scope has increased.

Corporate and operational managers strive to create more value by optimizing the supply-chain activities. Optimization of supply chain activities means competition from other firms, primarily on cost-efficiency. However, optimization of supply chain activities alone cannot always yield a source of competitive advantage. This is for the simple reason that value chain not only seeks to do away with the activities that do not add value, but establishes the importance of other support activities, including infrastructure, technology, and so on, that play a vital role in providing the foundation for competitive advantage. Value chain's primary activities are similar to the primary functions of the supply chain. Where supply chain focuses on

Before we consider the value chain model it would be useful to know that a value chain is none other than a supply chain. On the most basic level, value chains are a series of focused activities that advance a product or service toward an objective. It can be the actions of a single contributor in a workflow, but more typically, it refers to the orchestration of activities where many interrelated contributors provide inputs on a work in process (WIP) at specific times and locations. Likewise, activities can be quite precise and relatively limited, such as a sub-process, or the value chain can be an all-encompassing collective of every activity that a complex system may perform. Author and Harvard Business School Professor, utilized the

Organizations these days are striving to outbid each other in the marketplace. The art of survival comes from continuous evaluation and performance analysis, in this very jolting market trends. To sustain the business in day today environment, companies focuses on business process and value chain to establish their evaluations about the performance. This paper creates a better understanding of Hewlett-Packard’s value chain and its value proposition. A successful organization like Hewlett-Packard maximizes it public value through value creation, reduced total cost, improvised business performances, customer satisfaction and increased interoperability.

If you are searching for a way to gain an edge on your competition, consider one of the business world 's most valuable tools: the value chain analysis.

From value chain of Rayport and Sviokla, the each functions of an organization can be clearly classified under four major functions are marketing management, financial management, human resource management, and operations management. (Marketing UC Journal.) Every the functions have a crucial role to lead organizations to successful. In this paper focus on 3 in 4 of businesses function from the value chain. In a world that change quickly, organizations should use information technology to support business because it can support marketing management, financial management, and human resource management.

An ERP system as “a packaged software product that can be bought `off-the-shelf ' by an organisation in order to integrate and share its information and related business processes within and across functional areas"[2][3]. This definition emphasizes the integration, laid by ERP, between various organisational networks, in particular functional divisions within organisations like finance, marketing, procurement, inventory, sales and distribution, human resources planning and payroll while downplaying the implicit side of the ERP systems, for example business processes embedded in the ERP.