Critical Features All Enterprise Application Software Must Have

In today’s competitive business environment, organizations across industry domains require an efficient enterprise application software (EAS) to stay ahead and generate profits. An enterprise software like an enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool helps organizations to integrate and improve the workflow between various business functions.

This is the reason why 53% of organizations implementing ERP have recorded a positive ROI. Besides that, 70% of large enterprises are already using ERP tools. Having said that, enterprise applications are not just suited for large corporations and multinationals. Even small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) are now adopting enterprise applications in ERP and CRM. According to this 2022 Forbes article, more SMBs are implementing enterprise applications across their departments.

Be it any enterprise application, what are the essential features that organizations must look for in the software tools? In this blog, let’s look at 5 critical features of enterprise applications.

5 Critical Features in Enterprise Applications

Essentially, any enterprise application is designed to address business problems faced by organizations and to seamlessly manage their business functions.

Here are 5 critical features (or capabilities) to look for in any enterprise application:

1. Scalability

In the age of cloud computing, every organization expects their enterprise application to scale according to their business growth. For instance, enterprise applications like ERP must be able to accommodate any sudden increase in data, workloads, and users.

Without scalability, organizations need to pay more money to add more users to their enterprise applications – or upgrade to an advanced software version (if available). As the business keeps growing, this cost will keep increasing exponentially. Most of the entry-level enterprise software are not scalable – and are not designed for long-term usage.

Here are some important scalability-related questions to ask enterprise application developers:

• What are the costs involved in scaling your enterprise application to the next level?
• What are the maximum number of users that it can support?
• Does your enterprise application work in a diversified business environment?

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1. Data security

Unfortunately, enterprise applications suffer from the highest number of cyberattacks and data breaches. Globally, the average cost of a successful data breach is around $4.45 million in 2023. Hackers are also targeting ERP systems to exploit sensitive business data that are stored in them.

Hence, data security is a critical feature of any enterprise application – as any data breach can make customers lose their brand trust and reputation in the market.

Here are some important security-related features that enterprise applications must have:

• Single user and multi-factor authentication for users signing into the enterprise application.
• End-to-end data encryption to minimize the risk of unauthorized access.
• Compliance with security-related regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

1. User-friendly interface

Most enterprise applications fail despite having loads of innovative functionalities and capabilities. This is because these applications do not have a user-friendly and intuitive user interface (UI). Most of the “traditional” software applications have an outdated UI and are difficult to navigate, thus impacting the user experience.

Besides the UI factor, enterprise applications must be easy to customize – based on the business requirements. Application developers must also be able to customize the solution when implementing it for various customers.

‘For their user’s convenience, every enterprise application must have a single sign-on (SSO) feature for users to log into the application portal or user account. This means application users do not need to remember multiple passwords and accounts to perform their daily work.

1. Integration

An enterprise-level software application must also integrate seamlessly with existing third-party systems. Among its key capabilities, an ERP tool can seamlessly integrate various business functions like sales, marketing, accounting, and inventory management under a single unified platform.

With integration, enterprise applications provide real-time data access to business users. For example, sales professionals can retrieve the latest customer information from the integrated CRM database. The integration feature also ensures that users do not have to duplicate the same data across business systems, thus avoiding repetitive tasks.

Similarly, EAS must be integrated with mobile phones, so that users can access and use the application from any location, while on the move. Besides, smartphone users can receive real-time alerts and notifications from enterprise applications – without any delay.

1. Cloud compatibility

Cloud computing or cloud platforms are an essential step towards digital transformation in any business enterprise. To save costs and improve scalability, more enterprises are migrating their applications and workloads to the cloud platform. Cloud-powered data centers are also more cost-effective and scalable than in-premises data centers.

Enterprise applications including ERP tools must be compatible with both on-premises and cloud infrastructure. Besides compatibility, organizations must also consider cloud-related factors like software architecture, data dependencies, and overall performance.

Here are some effective ways to check for cloud-compatible applications:

1. Evaluate applications for cloud compatibility and identify any potential issues.
2. Choose the right type of cloud service model for the enterprise application. For instance, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).
3. Check for data security and scalability of the application on the cloud.
4. Test and monitor the cloud deployment regularly.

Conclusion?

Be it a small enterprise or a large corporation, an enterprise application software (EAS) is essential for the success of any organization or industry. Among its primary objectives, an enterprise software tool must integrate business functions and facilitate smooth data flow. Companies using an enterprise software can:

• Minimize costly human errors.
• Automate manual or repetitive tasks.
• Generate actionable insights from enterprise data.
• Improve operational efficiency.

As an enterprise application, an ERP tool provides end-to-end visibility into business operations. In this blog, we have looked at 5 critical features that every enterprise software must have. Hope this blog has been informative and useful to you.

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