Can ERP be taken to next level of enterprise integration?

businesses must view the software and technologies that
run their enterprises as a tightly integrated Business Operations System (BOS). A natural
outgrowth of today’s BPM solutions, a BOS is characterized by a comprehensive work
environment, only achieved through seamless, total integration of the data, information
and processes—internal and external—crucial to the business. The comprehensive
work environment will be accessed by a self-service desktop that can be easily personalized
to provide the most useful information to the employee, the information needed
to best do their jobs on a daily basis.

The majority of BPM solutions available today look and behave more like extensions
of the “islands of automation” paradigm often associated with ERP deployments. They
do not go far enough toward understanding that business processes are intrinsically
linked, and that a “departmental approach” to BPM will eventually fall short of the
intended goals. Companies, and their technology vendors, need to understand that
business processes should not be viewed within the confines of departmental or even
organizational boundaries.