Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is software used in organizations, such as in a business or government,[1] contrary to software chosen by individuals (for example, retail software). Enterprise software is an integral part of a (Computer Based) Information System.
Services provided by enterprise software are typically business-oriented tools such as online shopping and online payment processing, interactive product catalogue, automated billing systems, security, content management, IT service management, customer relationship management, resource planning, business intelligence, HR management, manufacturing, application integration, and forms automation.
Contents |
While there is no single, widely accepted list of enterprise software characteristics,[2] this section is intended to summarize definitions from multiple sources.
Enterprise software describes a collection of computer programs with common business applications, tools for modeling how the entire organization works, and development tools for building applications unique to the organization.[3] The software is intended to solve an enterprise-wide problem (rather than a departmental problem) and often written using an Enterprise Software Architecture.[4] Enterprise level software aims to improve the enterprise's productivity and efficiency by providing business logic support functionality.
Capterra broadly defines enterprise software in the following manner:[5]
Due to the cost of building or buying what is often non-free proprietary software, only large enterprises attempt to implement such enterprise software that models the entire business enterprise and is the core IT system of governing the enterprise and the core of communication within the enterprise.
As business enterprises have similar departments and systems in common, enterprise software is often available as a suite of programs that have attached enterprise development tools to customize the programs to the specific enterprise. Generally, these tools are complex enterprise programming tools that require specialist capabilities. Thus, one often sees job listings for a programmer who is required to have specific knowledge of a particular set of enterprise tools, such as "must be an SAP developer".
Characteristics of enterprise software are performance, scalability, and robustness. Enterprise software typically has interfaces to other enterprise software (for example LDAP to directory services) and is centrally managed (a single admin page for example).[7]
Enterprise application software is application software that performs business functions such as order processing, procurement, production scheduling, customer information management, and accounting. It is typically hosted on servers and provides simultaneous services to a large number of 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 software is often categorized by the business function that it automates - such as accounting software or sales force automation software. Similarly for industries - for example, there are enterprise systems devised for the health care industry, or for manufacturing enterprises.
Major organizations in the enterprise software field include SAP, QAD Inc, IBM, BMC Software, HP Software Division, Redwood Software, UC4 Software, JBoss (Red Hat), Microsoft, Adobe Systems, Oracle Corporation, Inquest Technologies, CA Technologies, and ASG Software Solutions but there are thousands of competing vendors.
The word enterprise can have various connotations. Sometimes the term is used merely as a synonym for organization, whether it be very large (e.g., a corporation with thousands of employees), very small (a sole proprietorship), or an intermediate size. Often the term is used only to refer to very large organizations, although it has become a corporate-speak buzzword and may be heard in other uses.
Some enterprise software vendors using the latter definition develop highly complex products that are often overkill for smaller organizations, and the application of these can be a very frustrating task. Thus, sometimes "enterprise" might be used sarcastically to mean overly complex software.
The adjective "enterprisey" is sometimes used to make this sarcasm explicit. In this usage, the term "enterprisey" is intended to go beyond the concern of "overkill for smaller organizations" to imply the software is overly complex or absurdly convoluted even for large organizations and simpler solutions are available.[8]