Back to basics: Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software attempts to link all internal business processes into a common set of applications that share a common database. It is the common database that allows an ERP system to serve as a source for a robust data warehouse that can support sophisticated decision support and analysis. Top suppliers include SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics.

Data warehouse design can also involve a process of extract, transform and load (ETL) that allows business intelligence software to perform its queries and predictive analysis of your organisation's data.

Business intelligence (BI) systems have the ability to sit on top of a data warehouse and perform intelligent querying of data through data mining, online analytical processing (OLAP) and business performance management (BPM). In particular, it is the BPM aspect that MDs/CEOs utilise the most as it becomes a decision support system, providing dashboards for all sorts of performance indicators allowing management quick synopsis of any given situation, allowing quicker decision making.

Market trends: Current Consolidation, who owns who and how it will affect the future of ERP

The IT market is undergoing significant reshuffle and consolidation. This has led to a great deal of confusion on who owns who, especially if your CEO does not actively follow the IT industry. ERP system supplier consolidation has meant that Microsoft has bought Navision and Great Plains. SAP now owns BI vendor Business Objects . Oracle is the supplier that is the most influential as far as acquisitions are concerned as it has bought, Sun Microsystems, PeopleSoft, which already owned JD Edwards, Siebel, Primavera and Hyperion. Also IBM bought Cognos as it is software for BI.

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