Business ByDesign includes hosted versions of several SAP applications, including enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, business intelligence, supply chain management and product lifecycle management.

FORBES: SAP's Stock Is Stuck If It Keeps On Bungling Software-As-A-Service

The applications software market consists of various applications like Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management and Business Intelligence to name a few.

FORBES: The Ups And Downs For SAP

Open-source firms are flourishing in databases (Ingres, for instance), business intelligence (JasperSoft), customer-relationship management and other business applications (SugarCRM, Alfresco).

ECONOMIST: Open-source software in the recession: Born free | The

Building off point 4, imagine if the firm-wide risk management group was able to capture all the business intelligence of the trading group, and the trading floor was able to capture all the statistical clustering from a marketing group, and so on.

FORBES: Who Actually Uses Palantir Finance?

Especially since students graduating today find themselves in management positions sooner than was the case in business even just 10 years ago, management education needs to focus on social intelligence and leadership development training.

FORBES: Back To Basics

Now, organizations can create a cross-department, enterprise-wide identity management process that provides a layer of intelligence to give enterprises the business insights needed to strengthen IT controls and reduce operational risk.

FORBES: Written by Kevin Cunningham

Business applications include Customer Relationship Management, Regulatory Compliance, Contact Centers, Help Desks, Web Self-Service and Business Intelligence.

FORBES: Build Your Own Watson with Open Source Software