Consider a traffic control centre, each aspect of the traffic on roads including accidents, breakdowns, construction and worksite jobs are all visible to the control centre. They need to integrate and manage each aspect of the traffic, collate and present information from these individual arms to other parts of the city’s infrastructure networks. The same goes for a company’s ERP system or software that centrally collects information about different divisions like inventory, sales, marketing, HR et cetera to help manage a business’s operations.
For example…
SAP, the world’s first ERP software would be as good an example as any. It’s aim was and still is to integrate the different divisions of a business including Finance, R&D or Operations. The aim? To increase efficiencies by streamlining processes such as reporting and aid in transparency within the business. Like many of its competitors, SAP is now available on-premise or on the cloud, further increasing its value to the business.