enterprise software

Shares of Germany-based SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) soared Thursday after the company released preliminary fourth-quarter results showing a 27 percent increase in revenue from software and software-related services.

Private-equity group Attachmate Corp. will purchase enterprise infrastructure software vendor Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) for $2.2 billion, or $6.10 per share.

The first thing you have to do when evaluating enterprise software is to think like a customer, says Jeff Papows, author of "GLITCH: The Hidden Impact of Faulty Software". While many of the immediate goals for software are to address critical business issues in your organization, you need to keep your eye on the larger goal of growing your customer base, advises Papows.

To upgrade, or not to upgrade your company's core enterprise applications? That is the vexing decision that haunts companies, CIOs and budget planners everywhere.

ERP, CRM, BI and supply chain are among the most core applications to enterprises. Where are CIOs paying the most attention? CIO magazine's new "Technology Priorities" survey shows where companies are in their application evolutions.

Social networking features such as discussion forums, chat, file sharing and status updates are seeping into more enterprise applications. Whether it is a fad, a trend, or a time-sucking annoyance isn't really important: it is here to stay.

Houston, we have a problem: Businesses have major issues with the enterprise software they're paying millions of dollars to implement and support, according to new Forrester data. The solution? More software!