  Over the past decade, many Canadian organizations invested heavily in enterprise systems, implementing applications to streamline back office functions such as finance, purchasing and human resources. However, for high performers, such investments represent just the start of their journey.
These organizations are not only continuing to refresh their core systems and reap new benefits from them, but they are also leveraging their investments in enterprise systems by extending them into new areas such as supply chain and customer relationship management. More significantly, high-performance organizations are using enterprise systems to help develop distinctive capabilities—the ongoing activities and processes that differentiate them from competitors—and are the key ingredients in an organization's formula for business success. These are among the insights about Canada-based organizations derived from an Accenture research study, New Growth from Enterprise Systems: Achieving High Performance through Distinctive Capabilities. This 2006 study, which updates and expands a similar 2002 study, sheds intriguing new light on how organizations are implementing their enterprise systems and how they are faring. |