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Enterprise software

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Enterprise software is software that "solves" an enterprise problem (rather than a departmental problem) and usually enterprise software is written using Enterprise Software Architecture. Due to the cost of building what is often proprietary software only large organizations attempt to build software that models the entire business enterprise and is the core system of governing the enterprise and the core of business communications within the enterprise.

As many business enterprises have similar departments and systems, enterprise software is often available as a suite of programs that have attached development tools to modify the common programs for the specific enterprise. Mostly these development tools are complex programming tools that require specialist capabilities. Thus, one often sees in job advertisements that a programmer is required to have specific knowledge of a particular set of tools, such as ". . . must be an SAP developer" etc.

Enterprise-level application

Enterprise level software is software which provides business logic support functionality for an organization, typically in commercial organizations, which aims to improve the organization's productivity and efficiency.

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, etc.

Types of enterprise software

Enterprise software is often designed and implemented by an Information Technology (IT) group within an organization. It may also be purchased from an independent software developer, that often installs and maintains the software for their customers. Another model is based on a concept called on-demand software, or Software as a Service. The on-demand model is made possible through the widespread distribution of broadband access to the Internet. Software as a Service vendors maintain enterprise software on servers within their own data center and then provide access to the software to their customers via the Internet.

Enterprise software is often categorized by the business function that it automates - such as accounting software or sales force automation software. For example, there are enterprise systems devised for the health care industry, or for manufacturing enterprises.

Application software

Enterprise application software is application software that performs business functions such as accounting, production scheduling, customer information management, bank account maintenance, etc. It is frequently hosted on servers and simultaneously provides services to a large number of users, typically over a computer network. This is in contrast to the more common single-user software applications which run on a user's own local computer and serve only one user at a time.

Enterprise software developers

Major players in the field include SAP, Microsoft, Adobe Systems, and Oracle Corporation, but there are thousands of competing vendors.

In addition, a lot of enterprise software is now available through the free software movement, notably operating systems, web servers and databases. Many other types of enterprise software are also being introduced, such as application servers, portal servers, and even productivity software that is well suited for large-scale adoption by organizations. While most open source software is available freely for use and further development, several companies provide customers with open source enterprise software for free and charge for software maintenance, modifications, support and additional functionality.

Criticisms

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. Often the term is used to mean virtually anything, by virtue of its having become the latest corporate-speak buzzword.

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 even for large organizations and simpler, proven solutions are available.

See also

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