The Reason for a Company to go to an Enterprise Solution - Literature review Example

The Reason for a Company to go to an Enterprise Solution The Reason for a Company to go to an Enterprise Solution Introduction An enterprise refers to a relatively large business network. Thus, the term “enterprise solutions” denote business solutions for relatively large companies, which have large networks. These business solutions are crucial for organizations of various sizes owing to the improved efficiency and scalability of the systems (Engebretson, 2008). Meanwhile, the term “enterprise” is very broad and often encompasses virtually all aspects of computer technology for business solutions, including software, hardware, and the employees needed to successfully implement the requirements of particular organizations. Overall, marketing personnel have coined the phrase “enterprise solutions” to foster interest in various business solutions offered by specialists. However, corporations with the most efficient systems will always have the greatest competitive advantage (Engebretson, 2008). Enterprise Solutions are usually designed to integrate multiple facets of business or a company through information interchange from different business process areas and related databases. A substantial number of enterprise IT organizations are allowing for the deployment of enterprise file sharing and synchronization solution in the public cloud. Enterprise file sharing and synchronization would foster mobile access to data and employee collaboration. Burdensome or poorly implemented public cloud EFSS solutions often drive users back to consumer products (Gupta, Sharma & Rashid, 2009). IT ought to discover and work with mainly new vendors outside the usual comfort zone to enhance the selection of external EFSS solutions. Enterprise Solutions enable business enterprises and companies to retrieve and disseminate data throughout the organization, as well as use application servers, software solutions, and data management solutions to control flow of data, manage security of data, and monitor network services. Application Servers Business solutions for implementing an inherently distributed system revolve around an application server or servers that provide copious services, including distributed transactions, state tracking, database services, fault tolerance management, load balancing and clustering, directory and naming services, and security (Robinson, 2011). Basically, the aforementioned services are commonly referred to as technical infrastructure services. Different forms of application servers play a crucial role in supplying some or all of these services or functions. Applications that operate or run on the aforementioned application servers often receive requests from clients such as using API program hooks and web browsers. The API program, for instance, sends or request information from or to other applications through the interfaces to specific services, including a database service. The application will then respond to the client respond to a client request once a reply is received (Robinson, 2011). Other areas of functionality offered by application servers that make use easier include integration with other systems and writing and managing applications. The distributed systems would require transaction processing across multiple databases to justify an application server. Software Solutions Two major business solutions currently applicable to most enterprises and corporations are J2EE and Microsoft.NET. J2EE refers to a suite of Java technologies, including Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), Java Message Service (JMS), and Remote Method Invocation (RMI). Other suites of Java technologies include Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI), Servlets, Java Transaction API, and Java Mail. On the other hand, Microsoft.NET is based on the following technologies: Component Object Modules (COM) Distributed Component Objective Modules (DCOM) Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), Microsoft Message Queue Server (MSQS), and Microsoft Clustering Technology (MSCT) The current Microsoft.NET Servers include Microsoft Application Center, Microsoft BizTalk 2000, Microsoft Commerce Server 2000, and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 among others. IT Managed Services IT managed services crucial to enterprise solutions include IT total care, professional services, strategic planning, and IT at fixed costs. Virtualization, on the other hand, includes server virtualization, desktop virtualization, application virtualization, and virtualization performance monitoring. Infrastructure solutions critical for virtually all contemporary enterprises and businesses include enterprise storage solutions, servers and blades, backup and data management, infrastructure design and monitoring, and archival solutions (Gupta, Sharma & Rashid, 2009). Enterprise Solutions for contemporary enterprises offers companies a dedicated support email address, web portal, and phone number. The phone number, web portal, and email address are usually monitored throughout the day. As a result, enterprise solutions ensure immediate and efficient response to various customer issues and queries. Successful attainment of the aims and objectives of enterprise solutions would require a dedicated service of highly skilled network administrators. These system administrators should be experts in the particular technology they support and deliver (Gupta, Sharma & Rashid, 2009). Similar, they should also be familiar with the environment under which they operate. On the other hand, EFSS industry often matures and ultimately evolves to include greater emphasis on application integration, policy enforcement, and content management. IT organizations seeking to implement the EFSS solution together with an external cloud provider often create a fresh storage domain outside the traditional or conventional data center. This new storage requires extraordinary attention from network administrators to manage. Analysis of Enterprise Solutions Enterprise solutions are very critical to the success of most contemporary businesses and companies since they determine the platform of the operating systems (including servers and software) essential for efficient operation of an enterprise (corporation). Apparently, enterprise solutions often provide for efficient and scalable programming solution in addition to providing information accessibility and business management for both internal and external clients (Gupta, Sharma & Rashid, 2009). That is, enterprise solutions fundamentally deal with the issue of providing adequate and appropriate information to clients both internally and externally. It also deals with databases and programming. However, the main problem that enterprise solutions seek to solve is the ways by which a business enterprise can efficiently make data accessible to those who want it. Enterprise solutions have the following distinctive characteristics: 1. Scalability: Should show the ability to accommodate the eventual increase in the number of clients. 2. Security: The solution should be certain that individuals or groups who do not deserve or merit access do not steal to information/data 3. Cost: The solution should be relatively easy to program 4. Portability: The solution should be able to accommodate potential changes in existing and future technology 5. Management: The solution should provide network administrators and company managers with the ability or capacity to manage the implementation, as well as version control software and the software that helps in the management of team effort in the attempts to providing a viable solution A business enterprise must complete requirements definition for it to choose an enterprise solution appropriately. In addition, the enterprise must assign priorities for each feature along with all desired features to make the most suitable decision (IBM, 2012). Besides, the chosen enterprise solution must be able to accommodate future changes in organizational technology. Enterprise Solutions may also monitor all services on the company’s network using remote monitoring software. Accordingly, the enterprise solutions ensure early notification of potential problems or issues before they can probably have a destructive or harmful impact on the customers and the business organization (IBM, 2012). In addition, properly managed enterprise solutions would offer a business print management solutions. Correctly managed print services can potentially help the company budget accurately, improve environmental sustainability, operate more efficiently, minimize compliance and security risk, and reduce costs. Print management solutions include automatic consumable supply and hardware maintenance for cost. Furthermore, the company would go to enterprise solutions because of the need to have a technology that can serve a purpose and solve a challenge more effectively (IBM, 2012). However, many business organizations often lack sufficient in-house resources in order to implement this technology successfully. In addition, enterprise solutions offer different companies the relevant expertise to maximize the investment. This technology ensures completion of project delivery with the relevant and required skill-set and knowledge. Enterprise solutions always bring lots of benefits to contemporary enterprises and business organizations that are usually keen to invest vastly in anticipation of huge returns/outcomes. Since the technology is arguably expensive, modern companies invest in IT outsourcing (IBM, 2012). Apparently, IT outsourcing can potentially take away the cost, pain, and confusion that characterize investment in IT service provision. In particular, IT outsourcing helps organizations with no dedicated IT resources or simply have limited resources to fully implement enterprise solutions across all departments and the business enterprise in entirety. For instance, modern organizations can easily outsource systems management along with proactive alerting and reporting, monitoring, and delivering reliability thus giving the managers peace of mind. On the other hand, managed IT services are usually cost-effective as a method or approach to managing the IT requirements and providing access to the best available technologies. A company must invest in highly trained and qualified engineers, as well as IT consultants with accumulated years of experience working with reputable organizations (Parthasarathy, 2010). Enterprise solutions also offer effective IT solutions and support to copious Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). For instance, most SMEs require IT knowledge, software, back-up, hardware, monitoring, helpdesk, and on-site support. Many of these enterprises can use enterprise solutions effectively to manage various activities going on the organization. With regard to IT total care solutions, enterprise solutions often tailor best package to provide real business benefits to a business organization and its customers. Data management solutions Enterprise solutions play an integral part towards adopting a detailed data management solution. Effective data management solution enables an organization to enjoy a substantial number of benefits, including strategic management of data, multi-user capabilities, better reporting capabilities, enhanced forecasting capabilities, and enhanced customer relationship management (Parthasarathy, 2010). Comprehensive data management solutions enable businesses to organize and sort data in a manner that enhances easier retrieval and use when needed. Since the organization will primarily have a centralized database, it becomes much easy to control access and manage growing volumes of data. Similarly, different users located in various geographical areas may also require the same data at the same time. With a centralized data repository, it has become much easier to handle a situation whereby different users in different geographical locations want to use the same data/information. An efficient data management solution enhances better reporting since data is managed in a single platform and is more organized. With regard to improved customer relationship management, an effective data management solution can substantially improve customer relations as it offers valuable insight into their demands and needs thanks to its exceptional reporting, retrieving, and storage capabilities (Parthasarathy, 2010). Despite the several benefits associated with enterprise solutions, virtually all business today find it extremely difficult to manage, organize, and store data/information in a reasonably efficient manner. In essence, the growing volumes of information, mostly resulting from digitization and globalization, have compromised the ability of most organizations to store or even manage data. In the same way, most contemporary organizations find it extremely hard to monitor, control, and manage data because the enterprises generate more and more data on a daily basis. How business enterprises cope with an overwhelming flow of data The key to monitoring, managing and controlling large volumes of data is an efficient data management solution. An organization will enjoy numerous benefits if it successfully adopts a comprehensive data management solution (Parthasarathy, 2010). Businesses find it necessary to organize data in a meaningful fashion. The enterprise data management solution can efficiently organize and store data in a rather structured manner, thereby fostering accurate and quick decisions at the most appropriate time. It may also drastically lower the operating expenses of the organization as it enhances a reasonably streamlined workflow, thus reducing possibilities of error occurrence in the system. Nevertheless, businesses should the right management solutions that offer advanced capabilities. Relationship between enterprise solutions and network administration Business organizations require skilled and highly experienced network administrators to manage the virtual and physical aspects of computer network of an organization. On the other hand, a network can serve two or more computers and printers in an office environment (Hohpe & Woolf, 2004). For instance, a local area network (LAN) often connects printers and computers to a centralized server where data is not only backed up but also stored on a regular basis. Meanwhile, wide area network (WAN) connects local area networks to enable computers and users at one location to communicate with those at another network. However, printers, servers, computers, and other office devices are always connected to Ethernet cables. Other connection methods, including wireless connections, are also used. Today, many industries across the IT spectrum and around the world primarily depend on computer networking to keep business flowing and employees connected. These computer networks need network administrators to take a hands-on approach or technique to troubleshooting. It is important to reiterate that networking is not a profession for everyone - usually full of rewards and challenges in equal measure (Hohpe & Woolf, 2004). Network administrators play an integral role to keep computers of an organization connected to the local area network. They also control the flow of data and manage security of information flowing through the network of the organization. In most cases, system administrators also contribute to advancing the business enterprise to a global platform thanks to enterprise solutions. They particularly design enterprise solutions in order to integrate multiple facets of the business ventures of the company through information interchange from a broad range of business process areas as well as related databases (Hohpe & Woolf, 2004). In essence, the enterprise solutions enable the company to retrieve as well as disseminate data. In addition, business solutions provide executives of the enterprise with real-time operating data or information and numerous other benefits. Business Application Software, also referred to as enterprise software, is computer software, purpose-designed, and used primarily to satisfy various needs of the organization as opposed to individual users. For instance, schools, retailers, governments, clubs, and businesses may use enterprise software for an enterprise solution, as well as to satisfy other needs of the organization (Hohpe & Woolf, 2004). Enterprise software includes website software production and is an integral component of an Information System (a computer-based Information System). Enterprise software is vital for business-oriented services such as automated billing system, enterprise content management, online shopping processing, online payment processing, and IT service management. The software is also crucial for enterprise resource planning, security, project management, manufacturing, human resource management, enterprise forms automation, and collaboration (Hohpe & Woolf, 2004). Since enterprises have virtually similar systems and departments in common, enterprise software often serves as a suite of programs that are customizable. In general, the complexity associated with the software and enterprise software tools underscore the need to have specific knowledge and specialist capabilities. Enterprise software consists of computer programs with common tools for modeling the working of an organization, development tools for building certain applications unique to the business organization, and business applications. In addition, the enterprise software plays an integral part to solving a problem that affects the entire business or organization, rather than a problem (or problems) affecting a department within the enterprise (Robinson, 2011). The enterprise software also aims to foster productivity and efficiency of the enterprise, particularly by providing support functionality of business logic. Enterprise applications, on the other hand, are basically about the manipulation, storage, and display of large amounts of relatively complex data, as well as the automation or support of the business processes. Enterprise software attributes (or characteristics) include scalability, robustness, and performance (Robinson, 2011). The business function is often the basis of the different categories of enterprise software. The systematic interpretation tends to make different categories of software to overlap. The organizations that have played an incredible role in the field of enterprise software include Google, IBM, SAP, QAD Inc., Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, and Adobe Systems. Conclusion Enterprise solutions provide a viable opportunity for organizations to manage and control flow of information. The size of an organization generally determines the extent to which it implements business solutions in organizing, storing and disseminating data. The primary characteristics of enterprise solutions include scalability, security, cost, and management. A typical enterprise or corporation would adopt enterprise solutions to improve management and control of information across various departments. The business solution can also put the enterprise in the global map since it enhances sharing and flow of information from local area networks across to wider area networks. Corporations with the most efficient and well-organized systems will at all times have the greatest competitive advantage. Enterprise Solutions enable business enterprises and companies to retrieve and disseminate data throughout the organization. The data that enterprise solutions retrieve or disseminate is often critical to the mission of the enterprise, providing executives with instantaneous operating information. Enterprise Solutions are usually designed to integrate multiple facets of business of an enterprise through information interchange from different business process areas and related databases (Le, 2005). Since enterprise solutions can also monitor all services on a corporation’s network using remote monitoring software, the enterprise solutions would effectively ensure timely notification of the potential problems or issues before they could perhaps have a disparaging or harmful impact on the customers and the business enterprise. Furthermore, well-managed enterprise solutions would offer business efficient print management solutions (Le, 2005). Lastly, enterprise solutions play a vital part towards adopting a meticulous data management solution. Effective data management solution on the other hand enables an enterprise to enjoy a substantial number of benefits, including strategic management of data, multi-user capabilities, enhanced reporting capabilities, better forecasting capabilities, and improved customer relationship management. References Engebretson, D. J. (2008). Technicians guide to physical security networking: Enterprise solutions. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. Gupta, J. N. D., Sharma, S. K., & Rashid, M. A. (2009). Handbook of research on enterprise systems. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Hohpe, G., & Woolf, B. (2004). Enterprise integration patterns: Designing, building, and deploying messaging solutions. Boston: Addison-Wesley. IBM, R. (2012). Optimization and decision support design guide: Using IBM ilog optimization decision manager. S.l.: Vervante. Le, C. C. (2005). How to succeed in the enterprise software market. Hershey, PA: IRM Press. Pachev, A. S. (2003). MySQL enterprise solutions. Indianapolis, Ind: Wiley. Parthasarathy, S. (2010). Enterprise information systems and implementing IT infrastructures: Challenges and issues. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference. Robinson, S. (2011). IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.0 administration guide: Learn to administer a reliable, secure, and scalable environment for running applications with IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.0. Birmingham: Packt Pub. Websphere application server v7 administration and configuration guide. (2010). S.l.: IBM Rebooks. Read More