What is Enterprise Software?

In large companies, things tend to get unwieldy. Multiple processes with numerous people involved. To whip those processes into shape, enterprises typically turn to a special breed of programs called enterprise software. 

Enterprise software exist to accelerate business processes, increase productivity, efficiency, transparency, and eventually – to boost the revenue of a company. That is done through a range of services that perform the business functions aiming to solve enterprise challenges. The most common examples of enterprise software are order processing, billing systems, customer relationship management, content management systems, business intelligence, marketing automation, customer support, and others. Most of them can be tailored to the requirement of your business. 

What is an enterprise software solution?

Now that we have a general idea of an enterprise app, let’s define it. 

Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software, or EAS, is an all-arching term that refers to computer programs used in large organizations. Given numerous processes running behind the scenes of an enterprise, every large company has a unique set of requirements to software. Therefore, the choice of EAS is defined by an organization’s objectives, size, and field. 

In essence, custom enterprise software is meant to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than an individual user.

Gartner defines enterprise application software as one that includes content, communication, and collaboration software, CRM software, digital and content creation software, ERP software, office suites, project and portfolio management, and SCM software. Enterprise solutions are usually rented, hosted on cloud servers and used by large groups of people. 

Integrating enterprise software helps companies solve these challenges: 

• Automating business processes; 
• Boosting the quality of customer service through the use of customer service platform;
• Tap into new markets using better sales tools;
• Engaging new customers with integrated marketing tools;
• Increasing overall productivity and efficiency of an organization.

Read also: Microservices vs monolithic: which architecture suits best for your project

Enterprise software: How is it different from other types of software?

Focused on long-term goals

Enterprise software is future-centric. It considers the growth of an organization and its long-term goals. It means that developers need to know early on how the business tools will be used, scaled, and maintained in the long run.

Enterprise-centric development

While standard software emphasizes users’ needs, enterprise software is centered around the goals of an enterprise. In other words, enterprise software is designed to align with the needs of a company and its business processes. 

Components are interdependent

The ecosystem of an enterprise assumes that the integrated software will be compatible with existing business tools and software. Failure to consider the interconnectivity may lead to malfunction. 

Significant investment

The cost usually includes the development and maintenance. Investing in enterprise software, companies typically bet on receiving profit in as soon as possible. So, designing enterprise software, providers need to keep high hopes in mind. 

Outstanding performance

Enterprise software needs to demonstrate excellent performance in those elements of the business for which it’s designed. It includes several areas, in particular, mobile and web versions. 

High scalability

The possibility to scale is critical for enterprise software. Its architecture needs to be designed while keeping in mind the rapid growth without compromising performance. 

Impeccable security

Data leakage puts your company at risk of losing reputation. Exposing customers’ personal data is a severe problem faced by many companies, the well-known behemoths are no exception. Designing enterprise software needs to focus on security at large and involve third-party security services. 

Cloud storage

This is a less expensive alternative to physical data centers that lets you skip the step of maintaining and configuration of servers. Cloud-based infrastructure means you can rent only those elements you need and use them from anywhere. 

SaaS vs. enterprise software

SaaS solutions provide fast access to software from any place in the world. However, when it comes to configuration, enterprise solutions definitely have the upper hand. Configuration plays a key role in the success of enterprise software, as it addresses the individual challenges of an enterprise. That is hard to achieve with a one-size-fits-all SaaS product. 

Enterprise software development: Life cycle

In general, enterprise software undergoes the same development steps within its life cycle as standard software. Let’s have a look at the stages within SDLC of an enterprise solution. 

Planning 

The stage of architecture planning is key to the success of an enterprise application. The architecture needs to be planned with consideration to the general strategy of an organization, its vision, goals, requirements, and structure. 

Because enterprise software is much more complicated than standard software, the planning stage is more difficult and time-consuming. It involves a thorough analysis of business requirements that are further transformed into a detailed plan of enterprise software.  

Development

The development process primarily includes implementation of functionality and integration of components in line with the plan detailed at the first stage.  

Testing

Testing of enterprise software is a laborious but vital process where functions need to be thoroughly tested. During this stage, a service-based application is tested with existing business applications in a complex environment. 

Testing is critical because an enterprise application constitutes a company’s IT ecosystem. The application is usually broken down into smaller modules and tested as part of the system. Then these parts undergo testing to verify if they are integrated properly. At the end of the day, high-quality enterprise software is characterized by quick set up and launch, high-load tolerance, top-notch performance, compatibility, security, and more.  

Support

Enterprise applications are integrated with other enterprise applications used within the organization and are deployed across a variety of networks. Typically, the developers who worked on it are responsible for the support of the software. In other scenarios, companies can outsource the development to providers specializing in enterprise software. Then the responsibility of support and maintenance rests on the shoulders of the vendor.  

Enterprise-level software development with NCube 

If you are looking for a software development provider, our team at NCube can help you assemble a team around your enterprise technology stack. Our developers will work on your project under your management and communicate directly with you. Contact us for more information on how we can help you with your goals.