IT-system kan delas upp i två huvudgrupper: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-system och Best of Breed (BoB)-system. Ett ERP-system definieras som ett system vars funktioner använder en gemensam databas och kan därigenom binda ihop olika IT-system. Användaren kan då enkelt komma åt data inom den egna organisationen från sin egen arbetsstation utan att söka igenom flera olika system, jämfört med system som arbetar parallellt och inte samlar data i en gemensam databas. BoB-system är inriktade på en specifik tjänst, men är utvecklade för att klara av att utföra den så bra som möjligt. De är inriktade på sina specifika uppgifter och använder inte någon gemensam databas, eftersom de är byggda av olika utvecklare och leverantörer. När ett företag ska investera i ett system finns det flera aspekter att ta hänsyn till, exempelvis om värdet systemet väntas ge kommer överstiga utvecklings- samt driftkostnaden och/eller vilken systeminvestering som kommer effektivisera arbetet mest. I denna uppsats presenteras en fallstudie som genomförts på Swedbank Robur AB, Sveriges största fondförvaltningsbolag. Fallstudien utfördes med syftet att påvisa centrala aspekter och problem vad gäller systemmiljö och val av systemtyp i relation till detta. Tre personer med olika positioner och arbetsuppgifter har intervjuats på Robur, för att erhålla en helhetsbild av systemmiljön från flera perspektiv, vilket säkerhetsställs genom det faktum att de personer som intervjuats har olika roller och ansvar i samband med systemnyttjandet. En mer generell intervju utöver fallstudien, har även genomförts med Microsofts utvecklingschef för att uppnå jämförbarhet med andra system och användare. Baserat på de fakta studien redovisat har det blivit uppenbart att det är mycket svårt för företag att enbart använda sig av ERP-system då viss funktionalitet är specifik för företaget. Studien har även funnit att begreppet ERP är väldigt vagt och kan tolkas på många sätt. / IT-systems can be divided into two distinct groups, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Best of Breed (BoB) systems. An ERP-system is defined as a system where a number of functions are brought together and use a common database, in order to link different IT-systems. It makes it easier to access data within the organization from the users own workstation without looking through several different systems, compared to systems that work in parallel and do not collect data in a common database. BoB-systems are geared towards a specific service and are developed to be able to perform their tasks as good as possible. They are focused on their specific tasks and are not joined together through a common database, since there are different developers or vendors for the different systems. When a company is going to invest in a system there are many aspects to consider, for example whether the expected value will exceed the associated development and operating costs, and/or which system will increase the efficiency of the tasks the most. This thesis presents a case study done at Swedbank Robur AB, Sweden’s largest fund management company. The case study was carried out with the aim to find central aspects and problems with different IT-environments and the choice of systems in relation to these. Three persons with different positions and work tasks were interviewed at Robur, to give their individual opinions and a good overall picture of their system environment. A more general interview was also carried out with Microsoft’s development manager to achieve comparability with other systems and users. This thesis shows that it is not possible for large companies to only use ERP-systems, when certain functionality is specific to the company. We have also seen that the concept of ERP is very vague and can be interpreted in different ways. It is also concluded that the definition of ERP is very vauge and can thus be interpreted in several ways.

An increasingly globalized market is leading to hard competition among manufacturing companies, which means that they are forced to become more customer focused to survive in the market. A Customer Relationship Management system is a system that will be of assistance to help companies succeed in building long term relationships with their customers. Best of Breed and ERP-based are two types of CRM systems. The study has focused on analyzing and examine the need for CRM systems at manufacturing companies. Our question formulation has been: • What need do businesses want to satisfy with a Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system?• Are there any differences in the use of Best of Breed-based and ERP-based CRM system? In this study, we have chosen to carry out interviews and quantitative surveys with manufacturing companies to get their view of CRM-systems. We also chose to conduct detailed interviews with system vendors in two different perspectives to see how they perceive the need for companies to use CRM systems. The study shows that over half of the interviewed companies use a CRM system today, and between them it is an almost even distribution between those who use an ERP-based and a Best of Breed CRM system. Companies that use an ERP-based CRM system believe that integration is the main criterion for the selection of CRM, while those with Best of Breed believe that the functionality and usability of the system is the most important. The main use for the system is management of contact information and sales support. According to the system vendors, it is important for their customers that the CRM system supports the sales, market and customer service process. It is also equally important that it provides good functionality and is user friendly. A company that have used both types of CRM systems mentioned that the advantage they see with an ERP-based CRM is primarily the degree of integration with the company's other systems, and that you only need to enter information into a system at one time.Just over forty percent of the interviewed companies that currently not use a CRM system are planning to make an investment in the next four of five years.

abstract: The e-Retail industry has grown rapidly over the last few years and is projected to continue its upward trend as consumers shift from traditional channels to online channels. In March 2010, Forrester Research forecasted that online retail sales will grow by 10% a year for the next 5 years and e-Retail sales will amount to $249 billion by 2014. With intense competition for market share and profits, information systems and technology (IST) sourcing decisions are becoming increasingly important to e-Retail firms to support continued growth and market responsiveness. There are several aspects for e-Retailers to consider when formulating its IST sourcing strategy. Whether to choose make versus buy for technology assets and services has been addressed in both strategy and IS literature (Handfield et al. 1999, Leiblein et al. 2002, Wade and Hulland, 2004). Then there is the follow-up question of selecting a best-of-breed strategy or tighter partnership with a select group of vendors (Clemons et al. 1993, Kauffman and Tsai 2009). Few studies have looked at IST sourcing or proposed models and frameworks for evaluating IST sourcing decisions (Saarinen and Vepsalainen, 1994). Furthermore, these existing studies mainly address the antecedents of the decisions but not so much on their performance effects (Kauffman and Tsai 2009; Smith et al., 1998). The goal of this study is to extend the knowledge of IST sourcing for e-Retailers, a topic which has received limited attention (Kishore et al., 2004), by addressing a core problem: How should an e-Retailer develop and implement its IST sourcing strategy to accommodate the increase in consumer demand and IT complexity but still achieve high performance? The study introduces two theoretical models to examine organizational factors that influence an e-Retailer's IST sourcing strategies of make versus buy and partnership versus best-of-breed. The proposed models are tested using a panel data set of 307 e-Retail firms over the period of 2006 to 2010. The study opens up the black box of internal firm operations by introducing a granular view of IST sourcing decisions at both the value chain and e-Commerce architecture levels and examining the performance impacts of these strategic choices. This in-depth look at IST sourcing has yet to be explored in the literature. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Information Management 2012