Business Integration

When technology was first introduced into business,companies built or purchased separate applications. Over time, as networks and databases improved, it became possible to build new systems that integrated data from multiple areas of the firm. Now it is possible to purchase large integrated systems to cover almost all aspects of a company—even for large firms. These tools are generally known as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The terminology stems from earlier manufacturing systems. The initial goals were to integrate production, logistics, and accounting. Eventually, finance, human resources management, and other business tasks were added.