Cisco: It Fiasco Essay

1a. How did Cisco find itself in trouble with regard to its intended IT prior to Brad Boston's arrival?

The nature of the market structure and demand of Cisco Systems is its business market which contains fewer but larger companies. For Cisco Systems, this implies that even though they have fewer clients than other companies, they still have a good and profitable relationship with their clients. For the customers of Cisco Systems, this implies that they will receive better and faster service and products because they don’t have to compete for the attention and service of Cisco Systems.

Would you agree that Cisco’s problems were largely caused by inherent defects in the company’s systems? Or possibly was it just because they had failed to forecast a market downturn? Give reasons to justify your stand.

Today Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is extensively adopted by many organizations regardless of kind and size, mainly because it provides enterprise-wide view of information across all their business operations and help organizations achieve consistency across all their functional departments. The potential benefits of ERP system implementation include improved coordination across functional areas, increased efficiency, reduced operational costs, rapid access to information for decision making, managerial control and support for strategic planning.

Cisco Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 in California’s Silicon Valley. The idea for this company came about when two Stanford University employees, a husband and wife, tried to figure out a way to stay connected throughout the day and had to overcome the technological inability to send e-mail from one building to another (“Cisco overview,” n.d.). The couple designed a multi-protocol router to communicate across campus (“Cisco overview,” n.d.). The company’s primary goal was to transform the way that people connected. Since its inception, the company has expanded its operations on a global scale, employs approximately 71,825 employees and identifies itself as “The Human Network” (Cisco Systems, Inc., 2011). A strategic audit of

Whether they are facing any problems with the system at present. Whether there is a need to change. If there is a need to change then what kind of application will be required as an addition to the previous system? Will the change in company help in its future growth. (In terms of data, capacity, efficiency.etc) What will be ROI (Return on Investment) . 6. Briefly describe the structure of the implementation teams. The structure of the implementation teams was hierarchical and well spread. The Executive Steering Committee was handling the whole team. He was reported by Program Management Office. PMO’s responsibility was to manage and delegate work to all 5 tracks (Order Entry, Manufacturing, Finance, Sales and Technology). Each track had an IT lead and an IT consultant. Order Entry, Manufacturing, Finance and Sales track had the business consultant and business lead too. All tracks were required to report to PMO who in turn reported to Executive Steering Committee. In this way work was divided efficiently and there was no confusion among teams. 7. Senior management “commitment” is important in ERP type projects. “Commitment” to do what?* Discuss what top management can do to improve the chances of project success?*

The object of this research paper is to describe the implementation challenges of an enterprise system, then to analyze the changes required in its implementation and discuss the advantages of ERP over legacy systems. Some of the informational background will be discussed in this paper regarding enterprise resource planning systems. This paper will construct some examples from my research findings to show why ERP has advantages over legacy systems. This paper will also not only provide strengths of having an enterprise system, but will show weaknesses as well. And to conclude, this paper will explain why and how enterprise systems will be of benefit for organizations and business with decision-making processes.

What is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)? “Enterprise Resource Planning” is a term originally coined in 1990 by The Gartner Group to describe the next generation of MRP II software. The purpose was to integrate all facets of the business enterprise under one suite of software applications. The definition of ERP would be broadened to include almost any type of large integrated software package.[1] Webopedia provides a generalized definition of ERP as “a business management system that integrates all

Cisco focuses on delivering products and services that consists in integrated networks for all forms of communication and IT. They provide their customers with an integrated architectural approach that gathers

Enterprise Systems (ES), also called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, are among the most important business information technologies to emerge in the last decade. While no two industries Enterprise Systems are the same, the basic concept of Enterprise Systems is focused mainly on standardization, synchronization and improved efficiency. ERP is basically the successor to material resource planning (MRP) and integrated accounting systems such as payroll, general ledger, and billing. The benefits of Enterprise Systems are very significant: coordinating

The main objective of this proposal is to provide an appropriate analysis pertaining the operational challenges faced by Cisco Systems, an Internet networking icon in their business environment

The Enterprise Resource Planning System is a cross-functional information system that represents an important development for Whirlpool and an important area of activity for the information management function. Instead of focusing on the information processing requirements of business functions, ERP software focuses on supporting the business processes involved in the operations of a business. The introduction of enterprise-wide computer networking makes it possible to control all major business processes within a single software design.

1. Identify what you believe are the most important elements (criteria, processes, specific actions, etc.) of Cisco’s approach to selecting and integrating acquisitions. For each of the elements you have identified, describe why it is important? (What is its purpose)?

This computerized software system is usually known as the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Orders and delivery information should be correctly captured in the system once purchase orders from customers are received. Finished goods would be delivered to customers through in-house transport department. 4.1.4 Basic customer handling skills.

Enterprise Resource Planning is a product application that can incorporate organizations and compose every one of their operations, money related, inventory network and manufacturing. We truly can 't explain ERP without mentioning the innovation application in it. Major planning, in depth explanation of the materials required with a detail resource planning followed by the execution of the process. Reporting tools and analyzing the data is a very core part of the system.