ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
Oracle? SAP? PeopleSoft? JdEdwards? Baan?

What is ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP)?

Enterprise Resource Planning is a sector in the I.T. market where businesses were looking for 1 software product to replace hundreds of 'non-integrated' legacy systems. The market hit it's hey day in the nineties when most companies sought to eliminate their old legacy apps rather than upgrade them to become year 2000 compliant. The tech market is a very different place today where open platforms and integration between all software venders is the expectation of most companies.

Hence, all of the major ERP players are stretching their product lines to include: Connectors to other systems (like PeopleSoft's App Connect for example); Enterprise Portals which allow users to access numerous legacy and ERP systems using a company's intranet via a single log in; and Customer Resource Management products which link sales and marketing to the back office system.

Generally, when a company buys an ERP product, it's making a strategic decision to become a long term partner of a particluar software vender...because the licensing cost of these products is cost prohibitive to pick the best functionality in each business process.

SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
	Knowledge Transfer: Hershey's SAP Lesson Knowledge Transfer: PeopleSoft releases 3 new data-related tools Knowledge Transfer: Digitas nails 800% ROI in first year of implementation Knowledge Transfer: BAAN won't follow an SAP ERP Model