A new report published by IT research and advisory organization Butler Group suggests that enterprise applications such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management, also known as “CRM” are prime targets when a company is under pressure to optimize existing resources. But the report states that these are important to run the businesses efficiently and effectively.

 

As the recession sets in, companies look to various measures of cost cutting. One tool is to stop buying new resources and trying to maximize the productivity of the existing resources. But in a bid to cut the costs and gain short term relief, companies overlook the long term loss and this can be detrimental to the future of the company.

 

Enterprise applications form part of the DNA of a company and they are important to its ability to do business, the Butler Group report said. They are usually not on the minds of the strategy makers when developing value generating initiatives, the report found.

 

“Cost cutting is a natural reaction to a tough economic climate, so is freezing budgets and halting additional expenditure, but these actions can be counterproductive if they are carried out in a siloed fashion with little attention paid to long term and strategic implications,” said Angela Eager, senior research analyst at Butler Group and the report’s lead author, in a statement. “Challenging times are times of change, but change also brings opportunity.”

 

The report states that processes such as the move to service oriented architecture that brings modularity and therefore technical and business agility, and increased use of business process management capabilities all play a part in the IT strategy of the company.

 

In another report published recently, the company points to the important role that BI and Corporate Performance Management software play in illuminating and informing the business. Holding off investment for another year is not really an option, Butler Group said, especially when the drivers are diverse, ranging from strategic to operational to legal – as is the case with compliance.