Enterprise software: What is it, and how can you benefit from it?

Today it is difficult to imagine the working process of any company or organization without using different types of apps. Software solutions significantly facilitate and streamline a wide range of tasks. Given all their benefits for businesses, there is no surprise that the demand for enterprise software development services is growing. But what do we mean when we talk about enterprise software, and what benefits can it offer to businesses across various industries? All this, we are going to cover in this blog post. Just keep reading!

What is Enterprise Software?

What is enterprise solutions in software? This term is used to describe software solutions used to satisfy the business needs of organizations working in different spheres and sectors. 

Apps and technologies included in this category are targeted mainly at the whole company rather than an individual user. 

Users of enterprise-level software:

• Commercial organizations
• Manufacturing enterprises
• Governmental agencies
• Educational establishments
• Charities and non-profit organizations
• Healthcare institutions
• Banks and financial organizations, etc.

If we look at the Statista data showing the changes in spending on enterprise software worldwide, we will see that they have fallen only once since 2009 on a year-to-year basis. It happened in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic disrupted all industries. However, there are still solid grounds to believe that in 2022 we will see the figure hit $572 billion, while in 2009, it was at the level of $225 billion.

Different Types of Enterprise Level Software

The enterprise software industry offers many various apps, platforms, tools, and technologies intended for addressing numerous issues. Let’s categorize them by the business processes that they cover and the tasks that they can help to fulfill.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

This group consists of systems and tools used to manage different workflows and connect them into well-organized processes. Many ERP solutions can also be available as standalone software, which provides companies with more flexibility in building their IT infrastructure. What functionality can be covered by ERP systems?

• Management of financial operations
• Distribution channel tracking
• Delivery control
• Supply chain management
• Custom relationship management
• Collaboration and messaging tools

Human Resources Management (HRM)

The bigger your company is, the higher the need for an HRM system gets. HRM software is aimed at helping to automate numerous routine processes like payroll, reporting and performance management, employee hiring, and training.

Software of this type can be enriched with the following features:

• Recruitment automation tools
• Data search and matching
• Task management
• KPI tracking

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM systems help companies better understand the needs, demands, interests, and specific requirements of each client. Such systems contain complete lists of companies’ customers with a detailed description of all the inquiries received from each of them, all contacts, and results of all acts of interaction.

CRM tools provide you with a complete overview of your relationship with each client and help you make sure that you will not miss even a single lead.

What functionality do CRM systems usually have?

• Lead management
• Management of your contacts and related data
• Tracking tools for customer interaction
• Sale process automation
• Marketing campaign management

Business Intelligence (BI)

Thanks to BI software, the decision-making process and planning can become significantly more well-grounded. Such tools accumulate vast volumes of data from different sources, including marketing, manufacturing, sales, and financial reports. As a result, they can detect trends and provide deep insights, precise statistics, and accurate forecasts. If earlier managers had to perform all these complicated tasks independently, which required a lot of time, effort, and specific knowledge, all this can be carried out automatically with minimal risk of errors.

Types of BI tools:

• Data visualization
• Report managements
• Big data integration
• Decision-making systems
• Analytical tools

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

These systems can help you track your products’ entire journey: from the production line to the retail outlets or customers’ doorbells. Depending on your requirements, SCM systems can offer the following features:

• Analytics and planning of supply chain stages
• Logistics management
• Sourcing tracking
• Warehouse management
• Processing of orders, etc.

Accounting

This category unites different types of financial management tools intended for automating transaction completion and monetary data processing. Accounting software makes sure that financial information from all the departments is appropriately consolidated. Accounting systems usually cover the following assets:

• Budgeting
• Accounts receivable and payable
• Reconciliation of bank accounts
• Expense tracking
• Payroll
• Billing
• Tax reporting
• Project accounting

Email Marketing Systems

These systems are created to help companies to establish and develop connections with clients and partners via emails. EMS solutions make it possible to automate and optimize common messages and online surveys, provide a wide range of templates, and support multi-user accounts.

Among the most popular features that can enrich EMS systems, we should name:

• Email builder
• SMS marketing tools
• Real-time reports
• Social media integration
• Transactional emails, etc.

Benefits of Enterprise Business Solutions

With a reliable enterprise solution that fully meets your requirements and goals, you have the possibility to:

• Efficiently automate a wide range of business processes
• Eliminate the risk of human errors within many tasks and operations
• Enhance productivity across all departments of your organization
• Boost your revenue
• Increase customer loyalty and retention
• Get access to vast volumes of business data in real-time
• Ensure secure data storage and exchange.

What Can Enterprise Software Companies Offer Today?

As you know, where there’s demand, there’s supply. The enterprise software industry offers ready-made solutions for all tastes and needs. To help you better orient yourself on the market, we’ve chosen a couple of widely-used and highly-praised solutions that can help you modernize your business processes.

CRM Software by Salesforce

Probably one of the most well-known CRM solutions is the Salesforce software. It is a cloud-based system that addresses many business tasks aimed at finding and retaining customers. Salesforce offers such products as Analytics Cloud, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud among others. These tools help to cover every client touchpoint and every step of the interaction with each customer. The flexibility and scalability of the Salesforce software have already attracted more than 100,000 companies of all types and sizes worldwide.

Issue Tracking Software Jira by Atlassian

Jira is a tool that helps to conduct efficient monitoring of issues and to resolve them immediately. It provides the possibility to filter and analyze options for tickers and create dashboards and reports. This software is targeted mainly at IT companies and ensures easy connection with all the most popular developer tools like GitHub.

Collaboration Software by Slack Technologies

Slack is a business communication platform that can be integrated with a wide range of other enterprise software products, making it a preferable option for many companies. The communication on the platform can be organized via direct messages as well as in channels. As a result, you can collect and manage teamwork on your project in the most efficient manner.  Different subscription plans allow you to scale the solution based on your needs.

HR Recruiting Software by iCIMS

It is a cloud-based solution to facilitate and automate the hiring process covering all steps from application submission to pre-boarding. The solution offers reliable analytics and tracking tools to optimize the work of HR specialists.

Web Analytics Service by Google

Google Analytics is the most popular platform for website performance analysis used to track the results of your digital marketing efforts. With an automated process of data collection and various reporting options that can be customized, you will see where you receive your traffic from and how users behave on your website. The tool can be integrated with other products by Google Search Console or Google Ads.

Among other popular software enterprise solutions, we can name:

• Microsoft Office 365
• Google’s G Suite
• Amazon Web Services
• Trello by Atlassian
• Asana Work Management

But what can you do if there is no ready-made solution that meets your expectations and doesn’t have the functionality that addresses your business tasks? You can build your app (or hire professionals who will do it for you).

Enterprise Business Software: to Buy or to Build?

When you want to integrate an enterprise solution into your business processes, you always have two options: either to take a ready-made solution and customize it or to develop a product in full accordance with your needs.

If you ask us which option is better, we won’t provide a reply immediately. It is always necessary to analyze each case individually. To help you to make the right decision, we’ve created a small checklist for you.

It’s important to note that the cost always remains one of the main factors considered by every company looking for a software solution.

Some proponents of the “buy” approach may say that you can save a lot of money by buying the software, but their idea is only partially accurate. Yes, to begin with, you need to pay only the license and deployment fees. But do not forget that some software providers can charge fees for updates, maintenance, and customer support service. Please bear it in mind, and include these expenses in your budget beforehand.

The cost of software development services is calculated in every single case individually. In one of our previously published blog posts, we’ve already shared what approaches can be applied to estimate your expenses on software.

Suppose you are trying to find out whether it's more feasible to buy or build an enterprise solution in your case. In that case, we recommend you consider all factors in combination without making the cost the only factor that matters.However, if you’ve already decided what type of software you need or just want to have a look at what can be offered for reaching your business goals, please do not hesitate to contact us. The Geomotiv team has rich expertise in building innovative products for different business domains and will always be happy to help you.