ERP Implementation in Cisco

Running head: ERP IMPLEMENTATION IN CISCO
ERP Implementation in CISCO
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1ERP IMPLEMENTATION IN CISCO
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Overview................................................................................................................................2
Case Background...................................................................................................................3
Salient facts about the case................................................................................................4
Economy and Industry.......................................................................................................5
Company Attributes...........................................................................................................5
Problem and key issues in the case........................................................................................9
Case Analysis.........................................................................................................................9
Management Recommendations and its implementation....................................................10
Working Schedule....................................................................................................................11
Gantt Chart:..............................................................................................................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
Bibliography:............................................................................................................................14

2ERP IMPLEMENTATION IN CISCO
Introduction
Cisco was founded by two scientists of Stanford computer in the year 1984 and since
then it is at the top in the field of information technology. The story behind its establishment
is that, two of its founder disappointed by not being able to email each other from two
different office premises thought of developing Cisco Systems and came up with the multi-
protocol router. At present, Cisco is involved in producing and transporting more than 35,000
components and is a master in developing designs and fabricating them, delivering and
maintaining the production of near about 225 hardware products1. It has achieved the tag of
being one of the pioneers of the networking equipment suppliers. They provide networking
products as well as networking services. Cisco is dependent on nearly 600 suppliers
throughout the world to manufacture, ship, recycle and test products developed by the
company. Starting its initial operations from San Jose, California, the firm has expanded its
roots to locations such as North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Discussion
Overview
Cisco faced certain challenges related to the UNIX-based software package that
supports financial, manufacturing and order entries2. Cisco had included active acquisitions
as a part of their companies growing strategy that has affected the software of the company. It
did not take much time for Cisco to become the largest consumer of the UNIX software3. The
present system lacked in redundancy, maintainability and reliability. The firm has maintained
a growth rate of 80% but the abrupt regular shut down of the system led to the shortcomings.
1 Harwood, Stephen. ERP: The implementation cycle. Routledge, 2017.
2 Sun, Hongyi, Wenbin Ni, and Rocky Lam. "A step-by-step performance assessment and improvement
method for ERP implementation: Action case studies in Chinese companies." Computers in Industry 68 (2015):
40-52. 3 Almajali, Dmaithan Abdelkarim, Ra'ed Masa'deh, and Ali Tarhini. "Antecedents of ERP systems
implementation success: a study on Jordanian healthcare sector." Journal of Enterprise Information
Management 29, no. 4 (2016): 549-565.

3ERP IMPLEMENTATION IN CISCO
The legacy of the company failed drastically in the year 1994 and an urgent way out needed
to be thought of4. The firm inferred from its downfall that an Enterprise Resource Planning is
needed to be implemented. In order to implement the ERP planning an Information System
strategy was made to excel in their operations. The project included its own problems, the
team started working to respond to a quick deadline, and a costly budget was approved to
make Cisco ready for the upcoming growth.
Case Background
The UNIX software was unable to provide Cisco with redundancy, maintainability
and the company could not rely upon the software extensively for escalating its growth5. The
failure of the software led to a sudden two days shutdown of the firm but still the managers
did not take any heed to replace the faulty system and were not ready to address the problem
for various reasons that have been listed below:
1. The governance policies of the company- Major of the expenditures related to the IT
were assigned to separate functional areas and the core infrastructure expenses were
made from the general overhead accounts6. A replacement of the system demanded
heavy investment and no individual business unit was convinced to support the board.
2. ERP, time-consuming project- Implementing the system required huge efforts and
time that could bring effective changes in various spheres of the firm. Initial research
work on packaging, strategic planning and the budget of the project needed to be done
before it could be presented to the board members. The support of the higher officials
plays a vital role in the process. Skilled employees are required who could provide the
4 Guerrero, Nenita D., and Shaneth C. Ambat. "Mining Students’ Performance in Cisco Networking
Academy Program Using Apriori Algorithm." International Journal 6, no. 11 (2016).
5 Carrel, D., and L. Grant. "Operations T. Dahm Internet-Draft A. Ota Intended status: Standards Track
Google Inc Expires: December 14, 2015 D. Medway Gash Cisco Systems, Inc." (2015).
6 Ranjan, Shree, Vijay Kumar Jha, and Pralay Pal. "Literature review on ERP implementation
challenges." International Journal of Business Information Systems 21, no. 3 (2016): 388-402.