Mar 29, 2012

"Enterprise Ready", what does it even mean?!

Posted Mar 29, 2012

I was researching about a software product and it stated in its description that it is "enterprise ready". Sure it sounded classy and awesome to be called enterprise ready or enterprise level or in whatever enterprisey manner, but I asked myself, "What does it really mean?", "How do you consider if a product is ‘ready' for enterprise".

So my research detoured a little bit for another research, this time, about the term "Enterprise Ready".

There is no exact wiki for "Enterprise Ready" but "Enterprise software" should be similar and Wikipedia defined it this way:
Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is software used in organizations, such as in a business or government, contrary to software chosen by individuals (for example, retail software). 

Okay, so as long as it can be used in an organization, big or small, then the software can be tagged as Enterprise? So why does big software companies (*ehem* Oracle) use the term like it's a big deal? It's like "Ooohh, look at our cool enterprisey software!" Okay maybe not like that but the point is, the impression that people are getting when the term “enterprise” is tagged in a product is that it can be used for overly complex business solution for huge companies.

Oracle must be really pissed when Apple called their products enterprise ready. Why not, many people use iPad in the office anyway, thus the enterprise readiness I guess.

So what's the conclusion? I don't know and I think it doesn't matter too much. The meaning of enterprise ready may highly depend on the context it is used. So bring out your gradeschool memories when you were taught to look for contextual clues to get to a plausible meaning of the word. I leave you with one statement to think about: “Manny is enterprise ready.” LOL


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_software
http://www.enemyofthestatement.com/but-is-it-enterprise-ready
http://lowendmac.com/ed/fox/08ff/apple-enterprise-ready.html

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