B!S_219_Information_Systems_and_Software_Applications

Information Systems and Software Applications The arrival of information systems in the workplace has changed the way the world does business. One person and one computer can now do the work of many employees. Big businesses now use this technology to help them collect, analyze, and circulate information, to make them more competitive. Running these applications in Accounting, Human Resources, and Marketing will allow these organizational departments to run more effectively. A Human Resource (HR) application that is popular to use is called PeopleSoft. It enables companies to manage employees globally, from one system, while still complying with all laws and regulations (2009). This is especially useful to global companies with thousands of employees because their HR departments are located around the world and this will eliminate the time it may take to search for the information they need. PeopleSoft records employee's benefits, pension, payroll, and stock allowances. Other enterprise applications also have the ability to access this Information and link itself to PeopleSoft, such as Microsoft's Active Directory. This makes changing an employee's contact information easier and quicker. Marketing is the department that should be involved in hiring, advertising, and expansion. Salesforce.com offers a customer relationship management (CRM) software named Salesforce (2010). This application deals with the customer from start to finish. It helps the company understand why, when, and how the customer interactions are happening. The manager can then use this information to decide what type of marketing strategies were successful, customer complaints, and can also see feedback on salespeople. Salesforce also can be incorporated into PeopleSoft to pull the marketing team's information. Accounting is used to track the money flow throughout a company. Oracle also has an application called iProcurement. This software combines with the other two systems; assigns cost centers, department, and other pertinent information (2009). This application accounts for the money that has been spent in the company. It also has a feature that provides a list to be set up for specific categories for valid payments, and non-accounting employees to make purchases. For a small fraction of the cost companies can now streamline their processes through these applications. As technology grows and emerges and more applications, like these that have been described here, are implemented, companies will become dependent on them. Remember though technology can only be as powerful as the person using it. References (2009). Enterprise Human Capital Management. Retrieved from http://www.oracle.com (2010). Customer Relationship Management. Retrieved from http://www.salesforc.com