Enterprise Resource Management

The mid-1990s marked the start of a period of innovation in corporate IT, when the internet and enterprise software applications--like enterprise resource management (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise content management (ECM) became practical tools for business. But the way Internet has evolved has been quite unimaginable. The emerging buzzwords in the market today are Cloud computing, Social media, Analytics, Big data etc. These technologies will help in process improvements, cost optimization and understanding customer's orientation.

Cloud computing is transforming the face of IT, with the potential to deliver real business value. The rapid availability of computational resources in a cloud computing environment enables business agility. The "Pay Per Use" model provides robust mobility and flexibility. The adoption of cloud technology will also be a green initiative of the companies. Companies can reduce the energy use and carbon footprint of computing. Besides this, Cloud computing will help in generation of thousands of jobs.

Adoption of Social Media has been growing in an incremental manner over the past few years. In an attempt to capitalize the large user base present on such websites, business people have been experimenting different approaches in order to gain a competitive edge and promote their products and services to consumers. Now this social media is emphatically running on mobiles and smartphones. Consumer behavior can be effectively studied with the help of social media marketing.

The era of Big Data is underway. Business people argue about the potential benefits and costs of analyzing social media interactions, phone logs and other digital traces left by people. A powerful new business tool--Analytics--is enabling many firms to aggressively leverage their data in key business decisions and processes, with impressive results. Rather than "going with the gut" in pricing products, maintaining inventory etc, managers in these firms use data analysis and systematic reasoning. Data mining and Business Intelligence are the key drivers of data analytics. Analytics can be used in diverse domains such as Marketing, Financial Research, Operations, Human Resource etc. Social media analytics is latest buzzword in the area of analytics. Such analytics will help us understand online communities and political movements.