Software Packages

Industries such as pharmaceuticals and construction may not appear to have much in common.  They do, in fact, when it comes to their basic business systems: accounting, payroll, sales order processing, stocks and purchasing. Even manufacturing can be classified into three basic types: discrete (i.e. the automotive industry), processing (food processing industry) or project based (the construction industry).  

The software industry has taken advantage of this to develop standard applications that are cheaper and more reliable than tailor made solutions.

While a standard package is generally your best option, there are numerous to choose from. Selecting the most suitable can be a daunting and time consuming task.

Principal categories and terms currently in vogue:

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Multi-module applications that cover all the basic business functions from purchasing to sales order processing. They normally include accounting, payroll, inventory and manufacturing.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

They are basically databases that help you catalogue and retrieve information about your customers. However, the clever part is learning how to use the information effectively. 

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

This is the latest term for what is basically an evolution of Purchasing and Materials Requirement Planning (MRP) applications.

Business Intelligence (BI)

Software that processes large amounts of data into useful information. Similar products include: Management Information Systems (MIS), Enterprise or Executive Information Systems (EIS), Data Warehouses and Data Mining.

Collaboration, Workflow & Groupware

The terms used to describe software that links the above business processes together in the natural way work flows between people.

B2C and B2B

When the above applications are linked to customers and/or suppliers via the internet, they become Business to Customer or Business to Business applications, generally known as e-commerce.