Business Process Integration Issues - Coursework Example

?Business Process Integration Reflective Piece The Internet is a gigantic network of computer networks intended for carrying out communication process among information technology systems of businesses. In addition, it can also be used as a network for achieving outstanding outputs or services, for instance file transfer, e-mail, remote log-in and World-Wide Web (WWW). Though, in the beginning, the Internet was considered as an information technology focusing on data transmission systems, software and messaging potential. However, at the present it is observed as a business intelligence tool paying attention on balancing the business practices inside a community of businesses connected via electronic means. In fact, the Internet offers the businesses a lot of opportunities to grow. It allows the businesses to reach the international markets and the worldwide customers without facing geographical restrictions and cost issues, improve business service and support, access to worldwide communications, reform associations, streamline internal procedures, share private data and information and run applications (Simpande & Jakovljevic, 2003; Norton, 2001; Shelly et al., 2005) Basically, the most excellent method to deal with determined business software issues is to remove the old stuff and bring in the innovation. In spite of the demand to put extra messes on the legacy or traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology based system and keep the software applications and projects for another day, the idea is that software technology evolves very quickly as well as innovative EP tools emerges in critical regions like that accessibility, corporate process automation, business intelligence and integration with new tools like that social CRM or mobile devices can help business organizations to improve their business processes. In this scenario, the latest delivery models like that software as a service (or simply SaaS), hosted Enterprise Resource Planning or innovative technologies like that open source ERP systems can dramatically change IT procedures as well as positively influence corporate performance. Though, latest business software applications and their deployments are for all time a major concern, however they come with a wide variety of risks, mainly when we are talking about our ERP systems. In addition, they are not small systems as they are corporate mission critical technologies that communicate nearly with each transaction in the corporation (gotERP, 2012; Weston, 1998; Simpande & Jakovljevic, 2003). In light of the above discussed facts, the selection of suitable Enterprise Resource Planning system is no longer simply a matter of choosing the correct vendor similar to SAP vs Microsoft vs. Sage etc. In the past, there was a standard process to get business licenses for software and then obtain the software services installation disks via email. On the other hand, at the present, we have a wide variety of delivery models of ERP technology. In addition, all the models do not support all the services however the majority can focus simply on one (gotERP, 2012; Weston, 1998; Simpande & Jakovljevic, 2003). In this scenario, one of the latest Internet supported ERP systems is cloud computing. Basically, the cloud computing is a most latest information technology fashion that many business organizations are adopting because of its environmental aspects, money savings, mobility, scalability and energy effectiveness. Basically, the cloud computing allows organizations or individuals to access all their tools, applications and files from anyplace on the earth, as a result releasing them from the limitations of the desktop and allowing widespread group partnership (Modavi, 2010; Miller, 2009). In addition, a public cloud based ERP solution is possessed and remotely hosted by the vendor. In many cases, instead of taking the license for the entire software, organizations pay a fee for the services they want to use, it is a software licensing model known as SaaS. In this scenario, organizations do not possess the software, they subscribe to it (ERP Softwareblog, 2011). In the same way, there is another Internet supported ERP delivery model that is known as a private cloud. Basically, this technology is much more of a catch idiom than the real technical idea; however it refers to the idea of making use of similar techniques and tools which are offered by a public cloud by hosting them on-premise. Though, in many cases, cloud service providers can still administer and update the technology server distantly. Hence, it offers the clients a capability to build-up their individual applications and customizations, along with the advantages of a prepackaged SaaS system (ERP Software Blog, 2011). Another service delivery model application service provider (ASP) is concerned with providing a business with the capability to shift application processing work to a 3rd party controlled server. The model was not basically designed for offering shared services to numerous tenants. On the other hand, Software as a Service (SaaS) offers single incorporated system/solution by means of a web browser to numerous clients through multi-tenant arrangements. In addition, for the client, it requires no open deal, no additional hardware, no upholding hassles and no need to hire an IT staff to execute the system. In fact, clients have to pay simply for those services that they utilize. However, SaaS model can be delivered on pay-as-used basis. Moreover, in scenario of SAAS on premises model, clients have to bear the open cost of maintenance and hardware. In this scenario, payment by using the web systems of this SAAS model could be formulated to the vendor according to pay-as-used technique (Nair, 2012). At the present, business organizations heavily rely on ERP systems and the Internet for carrying out business operations. The ERP and Internet technology based systems present practical functionality required for not only running the business but also improves the business performance. In this scenario, it would be extremely helpful to put together or combine the technology based functionality resulting from the ERP and Internet systems to provide the client with better facilities. In addition, the combination of ERP systems and the Internet could simply make sense with top-end clients like that business establishments and corporate areas. This integration can offer an excellent support for the business management that ultimately leads to better corporate performance (Nair, 2012; Turban et al., 2005). Reflective Piece 2 The business organization can achieve success by understanding the fact that they should value the customers in order to gain high profits. In this scenario, Dell is completely a success story. This example clearly shows how one business could be able to achieve market benefits by simply understanding what offers value to clients. Nobody, even Michael Dell himself when he initiated, recognized that people would benefit from customizing their personal orders and wait uncomplainingly as the order makes its way back to their homes. In addition, many researches talk about how people challenged the preliminary delivery approximations offered by Dell (SAP, 2012; Dell Inc., 2010; Ahmed, 2008). Additionally, the pace of growth Dell endeavored to attain brought in issues with the business. On the other hand, by implementing methods like that mutual benefit and In-sourcing services it reduced its staff from 80,000 to just 15,000. In addition, Dell was also well aware of issues and aspects that would hold back its supply chain. For instance, they preserved a list of shippers as not to be influenced by unexpected stoppages plus organizational problems. As well, they fully realized the significance of building their individual enterprise systems in-house to manage all their variables in addition to maintain their business procedures (SAP, 2012; Dell Inc., 2010; Ahmed, 2008). Moreover, Dell enterprise technology based solutions influence industry-standard and business applications. On the other hand, stable and scalable industry standard platforms are putting back a lot of proprietary systems and technologies for the businesses. In this scenario, the standards based on such systems and solutions are able to offer the reliability, flexibility, manageability and availability before discover mainly in their proprietary equivalents. Additionally, Dell’s scalable enterprise policy allows standardization into the data center and gives the businesses appropriate value. In addition, Dell offers scalability by paying strict attention to clients’ problems and opportunities with services, products and alliances that tackle those openings. Consequently, businesses are able to make simpler processes, cost effectively, improve usage and balance their systems (SAP, 2012; Dell Inc., 2010; Ahmed, 2008). While working in cooperation with SAP, Dell attained an open, joint application platform, and Dell presents scalable enterprise architectures that could offer the benefits of the direct model to work for our company. In this scenario, both Dell and SAP focus on joint development to offer easiness of arrangement and reduce time to service to fit our critical company requirements (SAP, 2012; Dell Inc., 2010; Ahmed, 2008). Moreover, Amazon publicized that it is running to not simply run its major systems and applications in the cloud, but also Amazon’s Web Services have been certified by SAP. In this scenario, the applications comprise SAP Rapid Deployment and SAP Business Objects. In fact, these implementations account for about half of SAP’s business. In addition, SAP users are able to at this time make use of their SAP licenses as well as execute the software over Amazon cloud. In view of the fact that SAP has improved the software capabilities consequently it executes on Amazon cloud without any difference. Additionally, both SAP Rapid Deployment and SAP Business Objects are specialized to execute on the cloud, and soon SAP ERP software will be licensed for Amazon cloud. In point of fact, the majority of businesses from the traditional software businesses such as IBM use Amazon’s cloud to present their services and run applications. This will definitely help Amazon target SMEs desiring to execute SAP without spending extra in building infrastructure (Subramanian, 2011; Morgan, 2011; Ahmed, 2008; SAP, 2012). Furthermore, SAP and Amazon have stated that the suite of storage, server, networking and additional services; combined known as Amazon Web Services; have turned out to be a specialized SAP worldwide technology associate and the two have worked to completely test and benchmark Amazon's technology based cloud to confirm that SAP's application strategy for on-premise gear executing within client data centers work on EC2 (Morgan, 2011; Ahmed, 2008; SAP, 2012). Reflective Piece 3 In this reflective piece, I will outline some of the major issues that surround the implementation of an ERP system. In addition, the implementation of an ERP can cause substantial change that organizations need to carefully control to obtain the benefits of an ERP solution. In this scenario, critical issues that must be cautiously well thought-out to guarantee successful implementation comprise commitment from top management, integration of the ERP with other business information systems, reengineering of the existing processes, selection and management of consultants and employees, and training of employees on the new system (Bingi et al., 2000). One of the initial issues regarding implementation of the ERP systems and technology can be ERP selection problem. In this scenario most of the businesses are unable to decide the most appropriate and suitable solution that could tackle their business requirements. The system and technology selection is one of the main issues in implementation of ERP systems. In addition, the implementation of an ERP system can engage reengineering the already working operations and business processes to the best business process standard. On the other hand, the cost and benefits of adjusting to an ERP model could be very high. In fact, a business has to bear additional expenses if they plan to roll out the system worldwide. Moreover, it is not an easy task to get everyone to agree to the same process. Thus, an organization needs to modify its business processes to follow the ERP package and customize the software to suit its needs. However, this customization increases the implementation costs. Thus, the implementation of an ERP should be kept as simple as possible to decrease the expenditures of customization and future continuation and improvement expenses (Bingi et al., 2000). There is another important issue that is related to the process integration. An ERP system integrates numerous business processes. In this scenario, organizations using electronic supply chains can face a variety of problems with integration of information across the supply chain organizations. An ERP system automates all the business processes such as supply chain management, packaging and product delivery. Thus, the management of these processes requires additional skills and expertise (Bingi et al., 2000). Moreover, staff training and updating their skills on ERP system is a major challenge. In this scenario, people are one of the unseen expenditures of ERP implementation. Thus, without providing appropriate training and skills more than 30 percent of front-line staff members will not be able to deal with the demands of the new system (Bingi et al., 2000). Furthermore, changes take place rapidly and instantly in the organization soon after the implementation of an ERP. On the other hand, organizations do not have appropriate knowledge of the development or in case of mistreatment of information; it will affect the ERP implementation process. In addition, the changes do not take place all suddenly in a corporation and expecting it right away will simply cause unneeded dissatisfactions (erppandit, 2010). The next main issue we can face while implementing an ERP can be about technical issues. In this scenario lack of experienced human resource can lead to huge issues regarding ERP successful application (Technology Evaluation Centers, Inc., 2011). Another important issue is the data quality. In this scenario most of software development and implementation projects fail due to bad data quality. The dirty data and missing values often cause many issues and problems regarding successful application of technology based solutions (Technology Evaluation Centers, Inc., 2011). References Ahmed, S., 2008. Dell Online (Case Study). [Online] Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Dell-Online-(Case-Study)&id=1371240 [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Bingi, P., Sharma, M.K. & Godla, J.K., 2000. CRITICAL ISSUES AFFECTING AN ERP IMPLEMENTATION. [Online] Available at: http://carl.sandiego.edu/gba573/critical_issues_affecting_an_erp.htm [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Dell Inc., 2010. SAP Application Management Services. [Online] Available at: http://www.perotsystems.com/MediaRoom/Library/ServiceOverviews/ServiceOverview_SAPApplicationManagementServices.pdf [Accessed 20 March 2012]. ERP Softwareblog, 2011. 5 Types of ERP Software Delivery Models To Consider Before You Buy. [Online] Available at: http://community.dynamics.com/product/gp/gpnontechnical/b/erpsoftwareblog/archive/2011/01/07/5-types-of-erp-software-delivery-models-to-consider-before-you-buy.aspx [Accessed 22 March 2012]. erppandit, 2010. ERP Implementation Issues. [Online] Available at: http://www.erppandit.com/erp-implementation-issues.html [Accessed 22 March 2012]. gotERP, 2012. ERP Implementation Best Practices and Advice. [Online] Available at: http://www.goterp.com/erp-replacement.php [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Miller, M., 2009. Cloud Computing Pros and Cons for End Users. [Online] Available at: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1324280 [Accessed 03 April 2011]. Modavi, J., 2010. The Advantages and Challenges of Cloud Computing Technology. [Online] Available at: http://www.allthingscrm.com/crm-news/cloud-computing/the-advantages-and-challenges-of-cloud-computing-technology/ [Accessed 02 April 2011]. Morgan, T.P., 2011. SAP to sit enterprise offering on Amazon clouds. [Online] Available at: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/18/sap_erp_amazon_cloud/ [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Nair, S., 2012. Cloud computing – what you know and want to know. [Online] Available at: http://sudheernair.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/cloud-computing-what-you-know-and-want-to-know/ [Accessed 21 March 2012]. Norton, P., 2001. Introduction to Computers, Fourth Edition. Singapore: McGraw-Hill. SAP, 2012. SAP Technology Partners: Dell and SAP. [Online] Available at: http://www.sap.com/partners/directories/technology/dell.epx [Accessed 19 March 2012]. Shelly, Cashman & Vermaat, 2005. Discovering Computers 2005. Boston: Thomson Course Technology. Simpande, J. & Jakovljevic, M., 2003. Integrating the Internet and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in South African electricity utility companies. South African Journal of Information Management, 5(1). Subramanian, K., 2011. SAP On Amazon Web Services. [Online] Available at: http://www.cloudave.com/12280/sap-on-amazon-web-services/ [Accessed 20 March 2012]. Technology Evaluation Centers, Inc., 2011. The 5 Biggest Challenges When Implementing ERP for the First Time. [Online] Available at: http://blog.technologyevaluation.com/blog/2009/07/14/the-5-biggest-challenges-when-implementing-erp-for-the-first-time/ [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Turban, E., Leidner, D., McLean, E. & Wetherbe, J., 2005. Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy, 4th edition. 4th ed. New York: Wiley. Weston, R., 1998. ERP users find competitive advantages. (enterprise resource planning systems) (Technology Information). Computerworld, 32(3), p.9. Read More