Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is

computer software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

used to satisfy the needs of an

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, clubs, charities, and governments. Enterprise software is an integral part of a (computer-based)

information system An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems are composed by four components: task, people ...

; a collection of such software is called an enterprise system. These systems handle a number of operations in an organization to enhance the business and management reporting tasks. The systems must process the information at a relatively high speed and can be deployed across a variety of networks. Services provided by enterprise software are typically business-oriented tools. As enterprises have similar departments and systems in common, enterprise software is often available as a suite of customizable programs. Generally, the complexity of these tools requires specialist capabilities and specific knowledge. Enterprise computing is the information technology (IT) tool that businesses use for efficient production operations and back-office support. These IT tools cover database management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, business process management and so on.

Definitions

Enterprise software is a collection of computer programs that have common business applications, tools for modeling how the entire organization works, and development tools for building applications unique to the organization. The software is intended to solve an enterprise-wide problem, rather than a departmental problem. Enterprise-level software aims to improve the enterprise's productivity and efficiency by providing

business logic In computer software, business logic or domain logic is the part of the program that encodes the real-world business rules that determine how data can be created, stored, and changed. It is contrasted with the remainder of the software that might ...

support functionality. According to Martin Fowler, "Enterprise applications are about the display, manipulation, and storage of large amounts of often complex data and the support or automation of

business processes A business process, business method or business function is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks by people or equipment in which a specific sequence produces a service or product (serves a particular business goal) for a parti ...

with that data." Although there is no single, widely accepted list of enterprise software characteristics, they generally include performance,

scalability Scalability is the property of a system to handle a growing amount of work by adding resources to the system. In an economic context, a scalable business model implies that a company can increase sales given increased resources. For example, a ...

, and robustness. Furthermore, enterprise software typically has interfaces to othe
enterprise software
(for example

LDAP The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP ) is an open, vendor-neutral, industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Directory servi ...

to directory services) and is centrally managed (a single admin page, for example). Enterprise

application software Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

performs business functions such as order processing, procurement, production scheduling, customer information management, energy management, and accounting. It is typically hosted on servers and provides simultaneous services to many users, typically over a computer network. This is in contrast to a single-user application that is executed on a user's personal computer and serves only one user at a time.

Enterprise system

Enterprise systems (ES) are large-scale enterprise software packages that support business processes, information flows, reporting, and data analytics in complex organizations. While ES are generally packaged enterprise application software (PEAS) systems they can also be bespoke, custom-developed systems created to support a specific organization's needs. Types of enterprise systems include: * enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems, * enterprise planning systems, and *

customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study big data, large amounts of information. CRM systems data collectio ...

software. Although data warehousing or business intelligence systems are enterprise-wide packaged application software often sold by ES vendors, since they do not directly support execution of business processes, they are often excluded from the term. Enterprise systems are built on software platforms, such as SAP's NetWeaver and Oracle's

Fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...

, and databases. From a hardware perspective, enterprise systems are the servers, storage and associated software that large businesses use as the foundation for their

IT infrastructure Information technology infrastructure is defined broadly as a set of information technology (IT) components that are the foundation of an IT service; typically physical components (computer and networking hardware and facilities), but also vario ...

. These systems are designed to manage large volumes of critical data and thus are typically designed to provide high levels of transaction performance and data security.

Types

Enterprise software can be categorized by business function. Each type of enterprise application can be considered a "system" due to the integration with a firm's business processes. Categories of enterprise software may overlap due to this systemic interpretation. For example, IBM's Business Intelligence platform ( Cognos), integrates with a predictive analytics platform (SPSS) and can obtain records from its database packages (Infosphere, DB2). Blurred lines between package functions make delimitation difficult, and larger software companies define these somewhat arbitrary categories in many ways. Nevertheless, certain industry-standard product categories have emerged, and these are shown below: * Business Intelligence (BI) *

Business Process Management Business process management (BPM) is the discipline in which people use various methods to discover, model, analyze, measure, improve, optimize, and automate business processes. Any combination of methods used to manage a company's business p ...

(BPM) * Content Management System (CMS) *

Customer Relationship Management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study big data, large amounts of information. CRM systems data collectio ...

(CRM) * DataBase Management System (DBMS) - such as Master Data Management (MDM) and Data Warehousing (DW, DWH or EDW) *

Enterprise Resource Planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a sui ...

(ERP) - which is a broad category covering Accounting, Human Resource, Corporate performance and governance, Customer Services, Sales, Procurement, Production, and Distribution * Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) * Human Resource Management (HRM) * Knowledge Management (KM) * Low-code Development Platforms (LCDP) * Product Data Management (PDM) * Product Information Management (PIM) *

Product Lifecycle Management In industry, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PL ...

(PLM) * Supply Chain Management (SCM) * Software Configuration Management (SCM) - such as Version Control System (VCS) * Networking and Information Security ** Intrusion Detection Prevention (IDS) - and by extension

Intrusion Prevention System An intrusion detection system (IDS; also intrusion prevention system or IPS) is a device or software application that monitors a network or systems for malicious activity or policy violations. Any intrusion activity or violation is typically rep ...

(IPS) ** Software Defined Networking (SDN) - including SD-WAN ** Security Information Event Management (SIEM) - which can combine Security Information Management (SIM) and Security Event Management (SEM) * Others types of software which do not fit into well-known standard categories, including backup software, Billing Management, Accounting software

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enterprise software Business software Enterprise architecture

Definitions

Enterprise system

Types

See also

References