In: Operations Management
1. Describe enterprise-wide and inter-enterprise systems and give examples of both in companies.
An enterprise-wide system refers to an information system that enables the entire organization to standardize one or more aspect of their operation. This could relate to data, tasks, communication or any other function of the organization. An example of enterprise-wide system could be ERP systems implemented by large companies like Walmart. The ERP system handles information regarding stocks, purchases, orders, shipments and overall movement of goods and information within the company. If any department wants to extract data, they can connect to the ERP and retrieve data for their use.
An inter-enterprise system refers to an information system that operates across two or more organizations that are independent. The main motive of an inter-enterprise system is to share key data and allow the organizations to help one another. An example of such system can be the data transmission system between hospitals and insurance companies. Whenever a patient visits the hospital, the hospital can use the insurance information of the patient to connect to the insurance company database and verify if the insurance is valid. This is an inter-enterprise system.