An enterprise system is a system that supports the day to day operations of an enterprise or organization in real time.
Strong, D.M. & Volkoff, O. (2004) 'A roadmap for enterprise system implementation', Computer, 37 (6), pp. 22-29.
This is the best definition of enterprise system that I’ve ever found.
Keeping this definition in mind is strategic for design and development decisions.
But it is even more important for corporate managers that choose technological patners.
Recent experiences with Microsoft made me realize that no bank, school or medical institute should base their own software infrastructure on such a big company.
No matter how cheap could seem their solutions: the time will come when they put your interests after their own. And then you’ll pay a lot more than you saved before.
Banks are big fishes, in the world’s economy.
But even big fishes should avoid to depend upon bigger ones.