ERP Solutions

Transformations in the Corporate Infrastructures of ERP Software Companies and Businesses Which Employ ERP Solutions

Because the primary target of IT and ERP software companies is their customers, this system implies a form of restructuring in the corporate pyramidal hierarchy from the vertical, top-down chain of command of the corporate entity, to a more acceptable form based on an horizontal, across-the-board, simultaneous and instantaneous transfer of data and company resources throughout all the departments to increment customer interaction and meet the needs of the clientele. This is a critical feature because it allows direct visibility and transparency into the functions and operations of every department in the corporation, including the managerial sector. ERP system deployment therefore, brings many immense contributions to the business world and helps to safeguard the legality of business practices on a global level, decreasing corruption levels and magnifying the overall transparency of internal corporate affairs.

But by virtue of its very character, this process can also be viewed as a double-edged sword for ERP software companies or their partners implementing ERP business solutions. Because customers and the workforce also have increased visibility into the company’s M.O., the latter has to pay special attention to conducting any business practice according to internationally recognized legal standards if they are to pursue business activities in the global market, following the rules and regulations as laid down by the Free Market system.

Fundamentally, the environment created by mergers between ERP software companies also changes the nature and perspective of how consumers are viewed in other business sectors not related to the IT industry. This factor deserves further explanations.  Basically, we see that the role played by customers in the ERP software industry/market, differs significantly from that of buyers interested in purchasing common physical goods provided by mechanized industries like food and beverage, or the automobile manufacturing businesses, to name a couple of examples.

The consumer in the latter cases is usually treated very much like a commodity. There is no need to resort to Marxist interpretations of what is considered an openly accepted fact nowadays, at the apex of the industrial and IT revolution, and it is not hard to see why that is so. That the current state of affairs in the business and financial world is typified by more corporate and banking scandals than ever before in our modern age is an  undeniable reality.

This argument is further reinforced by a commonly used term employed by those powerful ego-driven and greed-hungry corporate bodies, when referring to consumers and the public in general. The term is “cash-cows,” and evinces the hidden nature of the relationship between said companies and their buyers.