The vast majority of organizations run separate applications for each function. Because none of these systems typically talk to each other, duplicate information must be manually entered or imported over and over again, leading to human error and a lack of business intelligence. The goal is to integrate all of the applications used to run businesses into a single consolidated system that shares data where needed. Independent software vendors generally take one of two approaches to the problem. The first solution is core module integration, where a software service provider acts as a central hub and other application service providers integrate their core modules (i.e., accounting,  inventory, etc.) into that hub, each consuming its own utilities as needed via Web services. Salesforce.com uses this approach. The second solution is an all-in-one super suite, where a single vendor provides all of the core modules within a single suite, which consumes utilities via Web services as needed. Vendors include SAP, NetSuite, Applicor and BizAutomation.com.

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