Essay On Enterprise Technology

Enterprise Technologies and the Value Chain

In today’s business environment, an effective value chain helps a firm create a competitive advantage. Technology is essential in maintaining efficiency within the chain of value creating activities particularly enterprise technology. According to Poirier (2004) enterprise technology was borne from business partners who sought higher levels of saving and profits (p.1). Improvements progressed toward advanced supply chain management techniques that required the use and application of external resources. Some industries were quicker than others to adopt value chain optimization as the techniques were associated mainly with the manufacturing industry (Poirier, 2004, p.3). Eventually, insurance companies

Many big businesses such as Walmart and Proctor & Gamble have found success with networked supply chains (Poirier, 2004, p.3). Enterprise systems offer particular benefits including an improved response to the marketplace and increased work quality as well as greater employee collaboration and efficiency (Nordmeyer, 2015). Early technology includes enterprise systems which allows companies to integrate business processes by sharing information across business functions and employee hierarchies (Nordmeyer, 2015). Rafter (2008) observes that big corporations have used supply chain management and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for years. Business that seek to improve their sales department productivity or manage customers in a way that increases sales can utilize customer relationship management (CRM) to better understand these functions (Nordmeyer, 2015). These two systems represent many others that have helped firms optimize their supply chains and obtain an advantage over their

Technological advances coupled with new global conflicts changed the way the Army trained at home and fought overseas during wartime. GCSS-Army replaces several aging and outdated stand alone systems across all logistics environment including the Army National Guard and the Army reserves (“General Program”, 2015). Although the system is still being phased into Army units, it seems to appropriately address the optimal value management of today’s Army logistics chain. When evaluating the benefits of enterprise technology, what has to be considered is if the system meets the interest of the business. Other aspects to consider include quality improvement, support for business growth, IT cost reduction, and production improvement (Shang & Seedon, 2002). According to the Army, the system will prove beneficial because it will connect all users; integrate thousands of loca databases into a single enterprise wide system; allow warfighters to move, track, and account for equipment and supplies; allow commanders to better manage flow of resources; provide real time view of funds for better allocation and management; and connect modular forces across entire military (“General Program”,