Advancing technology is contributing to the desire for operational change in many organizations. The introduction
of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, in particular, has exposed the need for procedural changes
across all functional areas. These systems streamline business processes through an offering of various modules
that integrate functional areas of the business—extending from simply an accounting system to provide common
support across a broad range of business functions. ERP systems allow businesses to integrate their processes
so that managers in different functional areas can improve decision making through a more centralized view of
where their process fits into the overall strategy.4
As early as 2002, it was seen that 67% of mid-size and large
companies were already using ERP systems, and 21% were considering implementing an ERP system, while
expenditures for ERP in 2004 were $30 billion and expected to continue growing by approximately 150%
per year