In the 1800s, a mathematician named Charles Babbage developed a large steam-powered calculator. And throughout the 1920s , scientists and engineers made great strides toward automation and process improvement. The most significant of these innovations generally occur in three phases. The first occurred in the 1980s with the development of enterprise systems and efficient manufacturing process methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma.
The second came at the end of the 20th century with singapore email list the widespread adoption of business process management systems. These tools helped improve operational efficiency while addressing the integration challenges of legacy business systems. The third phase, digital process automation, emerged in the last decade and enabled organizations to deliver superior customer experiences as well as automate complex business processes.
Enterprise Applications (1980s to Present)
Enterprise systems are software solutions used for specific functions of business management. These include marketing, accounting, human resource management, project management, and manufacturing. These legacy systems became popular in the 1960s. Much like the technology of the time, these programs offered limited functionality and had no ability to integrate with other solutions.
In the 1970s, material requirements planning (MRP) systems were created to increase productivity by ensuring adequate materials were available while estimating inventory levels to meet consumer demand. In the 1980s, manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) systems were designed to optimize manufacturing processes. Both MRP and MRP II served as precursors to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, a term coined by analyst firm Gartner in 1990.
ERP systems could handle a variety of back-office processes like human resources and accounting, as well as front-office processes. However, with ERP solutions, organizations could not focus on improving the efficiency of their business processes. For this, more sophisticated integration and planning tools were required.
