Business Suite
Encyclopedia
A business suite is a set of business software functions enabling the core business and business support processes inside and beyond the boundaries of an organization.
Business Suites are generally rooted in the traditional ERP
systems that are based on a common data model
used to storing the data to be shared between departments and their business processes. Most corporate ERP systems have been enhanced and complemented by additional applications over the years. As a result, the total cost of ownership (TCO
) grows, process integrity across applications is at stake, and the flexibility to consistently change and optimize business processes suffers. The vendors of business suites claim to address these issues.
Since no vendor today offers applications covering all business process requirements of larger organizations, vendors complement their application portfolio through acquisitions or through cooperation with specialized partners.
A "coverage through acquisition" strategy is confined to the processes that are entirely under the control of a single organization, while the "coverage through cooperation" approach can also enable and support processes that span the boundaries of multiple organizations like suppliers, customers, banks.
The foundational set of business processes supported by a business suite includes business support processes to manage financials, build, develop and administer the workforce, run facilities, support the procurement of generic goods and services. Those foundational processes are required to sustain a functional enterprise that complies with all regulatory requirements.
The next layer of business processes is sometimes grouped by the main value drivers or differentiators of a company:
Key processes supporting those value drivers invariably span organizational boundaries and are relevant for multiple lines of business. A typical business process that connects organizational entities is "order to cash" which can span sales, production, finance, logistics, billing and dispute management and influences important key performance indicators of the involved areas like "free cash-flow", "customer satisfaction", "customer profitability", "fulfillment cost".
Some business suites offer a layer of deep industry processes - either through industry extensions of the core business suite or through a network of frequently certified 3rd party software providers which adopt compatible or identical process and data models.
Today, no commercial business suite can cover all business process requirements of a large organization. Modern business suites offer an environment in which an organization can develop or modify business processes reusing the supplied standard processes. Some advanced business suites allow the fast composition of new business processes from process fragments or process steps.
Overview
The key characteristic of a business suite is the delivery of end-to-end business processes which span organizational boundaries such as business departments and locations. In the last years the focus of the business processes supported by business suites has expanded to integrate business partners such as customers, suppliers and service providers .Business Suites are generally rooted in the traditional ERP
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
systems that are based on a common data model
Data model
A data model in software engineering is an abstract model, that documents and organizes the business data for communication between team members and is used as a plan for developing applications, specifically how data is stored and accessed....
used to storing the data to be shared between departments and their business processes. Most corporate ERP systems have been enhanced and complemented by additional applications over the years. As a result, the total cost of ownership (TCO
Total cost of ownership
Total cost of ownership is a financial estimate whose purpose is to help consumers and enterprise managers determine direct and indirect costs of a product or system...
) grows, process integrity across applications is at stake, and the flexibility to consistently change and optimize business processes suffers. The vendors of business suites claim to address these issues.
Business suite topics
The issues with business process visibility, flexibility, efficiency, and integrity in heterogeneous business application environments have recently created 2 basic types of business suites:- The "cumulative" business suite consists of a set of previously separate applications that are connected at the middlewareMiddlewareMiddleware is computer software that connects software components or people and their applications. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact...
or databaseDatabaseA database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
level. The absence of a unified data and process model complicates the implementation of end-to-end processes with ensured process integrity for customers. System integrators are addressing this issue at the expense of a business suite owner. - The "organic" business suite delivers end-to-end business processes designed to run in one offering. Modern organic business suites provide additional openness to integrate with other applications or extend processes to business partners through SOAService-oriented architectureIn software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
technologies.
Business Process Scope
A business suite usually encompasses all core business and business support processes of an organization, unlike business applications like Treasury Management or CRM that have been designed to serve a single line of business.Since no vendor today offers applications covering all business process requirements of larger organizations, vendors complement their application portfolio through acquisitions or through cooperation with specialized partners.
A "coverage through acquisition" strategy is confined to the processes that are entirely under the control of a single organization, while the "coverage through cooperation" approach can also enable and support processes that span the boundaries of multiple organizations like suppliers, customers, banks.
The foundational set of business processes supported by a business suite includes business support processes to manage financials, build, develop and administer the workforce, run facilities, support the procurement of generic goods and services. Those foundational processes are required to sustain a functional enterprise that complies with all regulatory requirements.
The next layer of business processes is sometimes grouped by the main value drivers or differentiators of a company:
- Development, production, sales, and distribution of products
- Acquisition, operations, and compliance of production assets
- Management of the production, logistics, and distribution network
- Marketing, sales, production, and service for customers
- Cost/performance optimized procurement, production, and operations
Key processes supporting those value drivers invariably span organizational boundaries and are relevant for multiple lines of business. A typical business process that connects organizational entities is "order to cash" which can span sales, production, finance, logistics, billing and dispute management and influences important key performance indicators of the involved areas like "free cash-flow", "customer satisfaction", "customer profitability", "fulfillment cost".
Some business suites offer a layer of deep industry processes - either through industry extensions of the core business suite or through a network of frequently certified 3rd party software providers which adopt compatible or identical process and data models.
Today, no commercial business suite can cover all business process requirements of a large organization. Modern business suites offer an environment in which an organization can develop or modify business processes reusing the supplied standard processes. Some advanced business suites allow the fast composition of new business processes from process fragments or process steps.