Information systems (IS) are a crucial part of modern business, made possible by the rapid advances of information technology, and made necessary by their near-universal adoption and the competitive advantages they bring. As the broad definition of an information system is any system whose purpose is processing information, a large variety of systems fall into this category (Mallach, 2016). These systems interact to enable and improve one another’s effectiveness, thus serving as components of a business’ overall IS.
One of the most ubiquitous and critical components of an IS is a database. Databases store and organize information that can be further processed by other parts of the IS and used for record-keeping or decision-making (Mallach, 2016). While these applications vary and depend on other software solutions, overall database management requires database management software (DBMS), represented by vendors such as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft (Mallach, 2016). Databases and DBMS generally form the basis for information storage and processing in business.
Resource planning is a critical part of any business; it can be facilitated by an IS component called enterprise resource planning (ERP). This component supports business processes, such as procurement, sales, production, finance and accounting (Gronwald, 2020). An ERP standardizes these processes, creating a uniform environment that facilitates interaction between business units and rapid company-wide changes (Gronwald, 2020). An ERP system, such as Oracle EPR Cloud or Infor CloudSuite can become a necessity for the maintenance and decision making in an enterprise, particularly for larger companies.
Companies that work with many customers can benefit from customer relationship management (CRM) software. This IS component is used in two separate methods: operational CRM enhances a customer’s interaction with the company by storing and analyzing information about that particular customer; Analytical CRM helps make general decisions by analyzing customers in general (Mallach, 2016). These systems can be used to develop personalized offers to customers, suggest goods or services based on their previous purchases, and forecast demand (Mallach, 2016). A CRM package such as Zoho, Salesforce, or Bitrix24 is, therefore, an important part of a business-to-customer (B2C) enterprise.
References
Gronwald, K.-D. (2020). Integrated business information systems: A holistic view of the linked business process chain ERP-SCM-CRM-BI-big data (2nd ed.). Springer.
Mallach, E. (2016). Information systems: What every business student needs to know. CRC Press.