Till the mid 20 century, most organizations used to take a static view about their organizational structures. A view dictated by the top players and past experiences in the industry; a view that had little significance and offered even lesser room for improvement, if any. The organizations were used to have a vertical hierarchy and centralized control with mechanistic structure. The era was marked with inefficient operations, delayed processing, de-motivated employees and information loss that proved to be critical for many organizations. Most organizations were neither aware of nor realized the importance of technology in achieving efficiency in their businesses.

One of the earliest and most influential researches into the relationship of technology and organization structure was conducted by Joan Woodward. Today, Information Systems have changed the way organizations are structured. New ways of doing business have emerged; information systems have allowed organizations to be more productive with cheaper and lesser resources.

ERP systems warrant the amalgamation of IT into every aspect of an organization’s business, thus aligning all the organizational functions as a cohesive whole. This integration helps to achieve efficiencies and economies for the company, allows tracking of all the organization’s resources and assists management in developing a flatter view of the organization. Some ERP systems in market today include Oracle and Siebel.