Brady Corporation

Although the Brady Corporation is a leader in the production of high-performance labels, signs, and related industrial products, it faced heavy competition from smaller, new competitors. These new, more nimble competitors were using the Internet to cut costs. Also, Brady's customers needed immediate and reliable sources of supply as they moved into Asian and Latin American markets. Brady Corporation used information technology to enhance both its primary and support activities. As the case points out, Brady connected its 44 business units and integrated its 1,400 business processes into a single system.Brady's systems did not support its business model. As the case points out, employees were making errors; the systems were antiquated and could not communicate; customers were not promptly paying their invoices; work was duplicated; the business processes had too many steps, and the company was sprawling and fragmented. There were 19 separate databases each with its own file servers and transaction software; there were incompatible platforms; each unit had its own sales tracking system; plants used different product identification numbers for the same items; there was not a way of identifying total business for a specific customer, and management needed more information about its customers.

Student answers will vary for this question. In general enterprise software enables a company to share data among its business processes, thus facilitating organizational coordination and control.