Line of business

Line of business(LOB) is a general term which refers to a product or a set of related products that serve a particular customer transaction orbusinessneed. In someindustry sectors,likeinsurance,"line of business" also has a regulatory and accounting definition to meet a statutory set of insurance policies. It may or may not be a strategically relevantbusiness unit.

"Line of business" often refers to an internal corporate business unit, whereas the term "industry" refers to an external view that includes all competitors competing in a similar market. A line of business will often examine its position within an industry using aPorter five forces analysis(or other industry-analysis method) and other relevantindustry information.

Computer applications

In the context ofcomputing,a "line-of-business application" is one of the set of critical computer applications perceived as vital to running an enterprise. For example:

"Governance has become the hot topic inSOAover the past year. As companies' SOA usage becomes real, widespread and line-of-business, the requirement to ensure that the systems are properly governed has emerged as the number one concern for SOA adopters. "

Mobile LOB

Mobile LOBrefers to LOBapplicationsrunning onmobile computersorPDAs- usuallyruggedfor use in the field to process transaction at the site of the customer with minimum usage of paper.

Mobile route accounting exemplifies a typical mobile application.

See also

• Industry classification
• North American Industry Classification System(NAICS)
• North American Product Classification System(NAPCS)
• Standard Industrial Classification(SIC)