An E-Commerce Model for Extending ERP Systems onto the Internet: An Australian Perspective

Abstract

Commercial and research potential, associated with Internet enabled enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) in delivering e-commerce initiatives is of great interest to the IS community. However, recent reports of the expected benefits from adopting e-commerce technologies and the actual benefits achieved have proved disappointing for Australian organisations. Significantly company executives see e-commerce being useful in improving efficiency, but few see the technology as an opportunity to reach new markets and customers. A series of models is presented to clarify the issues for ERP enabled organisations when adopting e-commerce solutions. An Internet extended ERP model is offered for moving towards the integration of business, customer, and employee activities. This is an e-commerce strategy model, supported by extending the business processes of ERP systems onto the Internet. It focuses on information technology developments that support; customer interactions, business partnerships, and employee expertise. The author expands these concepts by presenting preliminary findings from a study of Western Australian organisations that have implemented SAP R/3 enterprise software.