Enterprise Systems Adoption: Organizational Change at CISCO

This essay explores the adoption of enterprise systems, focusing on CISCO as a case study. It discusses the principal drivers behind businesses adopting enterprise systems, emphasizing factors like data storage, automated customer service, real-time information access, and supply chain management improvements. The essay also examines how enterprise systems contribute to organizational performance, particularly through improved business unit integration and the implementation of Oracle 11i, leading to better financial controls and scalable order management. Furthermore, it addresses the organizational change management considerations necessary for successful adoption, highlighting the importance of employee training, stakeholder analysis, and communication using models like Lewin's change management model. The essay concludes that enterprise systems are essential for managing and innovating in a dynamic business environment, and Desklib offers additional resources for students studying this topic.

Running Head: ENTERPRISE SYSTEM
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Name

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Executive Summary
Enterprise system has become the new trend of business operation where the multination
firms aims at developing one single technological strategy for their business operation.
Companies like CISCO who have significantly emerged and witnessed unprecedented growth in
the last few years and this can be primarily attribute to its constant innovation and technological
experimentation. Thus, this report significantly highlights on the Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) Systems of a big brand like CISCO, how and it intends to operate and strengthen its
market position in the future business years.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................4
A) Principal drivers behind businesses adopting Enterprise Systems.......................................4
b) Contribution of Enterprise System in organizational performance and measuring such
contribution..................................................................................................................................5
c) Organizational change management considerations necessary for successful adoption of an
Enterprise System........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Enterprise system is identified as on complex computing system which is responsible to
handle huge capacities of data and helps the organization assimilate and synchronize their
business activities. This facilitates easy sharing of information or data across one single platform
which can be accessed by all within the organization. Enterprise system is also known as
enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and is significantly used in large multinational
enterprise (Hoch and Dulebohn, 2013). There are different types of enterprise system available
today which range from ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning, CRM: Customer Relationship
Management and SCM: Supply Chain Management. Therefore this report will specifically
highlight on the enterprise resource planning (ERP) process adopted by the CISCO System Inc.
which is a multinational information technology conglomerate with its headquarters in San Jose,
California, in the center of Silicon Valley.

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Discussion
A) Principal drivers behind businesses adopting Enterprise Systems.
Information Technology has significantly emerged as one of the most important
resources to help organizations operate and manage their organizational performance to remain
relevant in today’s dynamic business environment (Kasemsap, 2018). Although there have been
various companies who have done significantly large investments on Enterprise Systems
implementation, there is extensive evidence that only a limited number of them have been
successful with the implementation. Realizing the potential benefits offered by Enterprise
Systems implementation and the high failure rate found in practice, the study reported here aims
at developing a framework that can help to provide a better understanding of how the process can
be managed to bring the benefits for the implementing organizations. To develop the conceptual
framework for proper implementation of the enterprise system it is very essential to concentrate
on the core skills and competencies of the organization along with the aspirations of the
employees.
Thus in order to increase their efficiency modern enterprises are subsequently growing
their dependence on enterprise systems to enhance their customer service to other technical
operations, to varied other social media, and security activities. CISCO being established 1984
very soon climbed the ladder of success and emerged world’s top technology (Freeman and
Siegfried, 2015). Enterprise system is identified as on complex computing system which is
responsible to handle large volumes of data and helps the organization integrate and coordinate
their business activities. This facilitates easy sharing of information or data across one single
platform which can be accessed by all within the organization. Enterprise system is also known

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as enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and is significantly used in large multinational
enterprise. CISCO has always emphasized on innovating and experimenting in both technology
and its management principles. This extensively helped the company to launch its enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system in a pragmatic manner. Thus the main driving principals behind
this activity was:
 Easy storage of organizational data in a usable format- this is a very important aspect
which has largely helped CISCO improve their customer experience with easy access and
analysis of their stored data .Thus it helps to increase the efficiency of the organization by
enabling it to resolve every possible customer query in the quickest manner.
 Easy automated customer service process for employees- effective Enterprise system
helps the brand maintain consistency in ensuring proper customer service process with
effective back office operations. Thus helping the brand establish a standardization of the
whole process (Toppenberg, Henningsson and Shanks, 2015).
 Real-Time access to information- Accessing real-time information is one of the most vital
features of enterprise system which help originations boost their business performance
level.
 Significant improvement in Supply Chain Management- Enterprise systems can extend
help in streamling supply chain management, in large part through the use of data about
where, when, and how customers order and suppliers deliver (Kurbel, 2016). This again
emphasizes the importance of storing business data in a usable format. Ultimately, the
ability to streamline the supply chain means that products are delivered to customers
more reliably, and at a lower cost, than would otherwise be possible

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 Reduce the cost involved in the total transaction processing of both hardware, software,
and IT support staff in a significant manner.
 Significantly improving the quality and efficiency of customer service, production and
distribution by integrating the company’s internal business processes in sales, finance,
production, custom and logistics.
b) Contribution of Enterprise System in organizational performance and measuring
such contribution
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system began to evolve during 1960’s with the
incorporation of customer software packages which specifically helped to control the inventory
of the organization (Soliman, and Karia, 2016). Since then enterprise system has significantly
contributed in increasing organizational effectiveness and operational efficiencies. CISCO has
effectively built its Enterprise System to achieve better integration of business activities.
Effective tools like business intelligence in conjunction with balanced score cards and digital
dashboards aids the company is efficient analysis of its operational goals. CISCO has
implemented Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to improve its inert-business unit
integration.
With the up gradation of outdated software and customizations to Oracle11i solutions
lead to significant improvement in the governance structure of the firm. The move to Oracle 11i
introduced radical architectural changes throughout the Cisco infrastructure. The main changes
included:

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 Three-tier architecture - Prior to the use of Oracle 11i, users who accessed applications
on a data center server were asked to load lent software programs in their desktops.
Oracle 11i encompasses enormous facilities and enables easy working. In the new Oracle
11i environment, clients can access the applications using Web browsers (Zaheer and
Arslan, 2016). This thin-client, three-tier model provides users with a new, friendlier
interface.
 Storage area network (SAN) - Storage requirements increased radically with the upgrade,
especially during development and rollout testing when other projects were looking for
copies of applications and data sets. Combined storage for design, development, staging,
testing, training, and production added up to hundreds of terabytes. To connect servers
and storage, two Cisco MDS 9000 Series multilayer director switches were introduced to
replace unwieldy, smaller switches (Crescenti et al. 2013). The scalable, director-class
switches provide 640 ports and allow scalable, flexible SAN configurations
 Load balancing - The Cisco Content Switch Module (CSM) optimizes Oracle 11i
performance relating to forms, reports, and Java applications. In this entries system
management the Traffic is redirected automatically and dynamically, balancing the load
in real time among servers, firewalls, and other devices on the network. As processing
demands increase, more servers can be installed without the need to replace the systems
that are already in place. As a plug-in module for Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series switches,
the CSM combines Layer 2–4 services and Layer 4–7 functions within a single, high-
performance platform.
Thus, Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are being primarily employed by the
multinationals to bring in a centralized and integrated systematic approach to keep a

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better control over the whole production, manufacturing and distribution system of the
organization. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has been employed by profit as
well as non-profit organization as it enables an easy and systematic approach to the
success on the firm
Employing the Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system also requires efficient
measurement of the firm’s performance. Thus CISCO in order to understand and measure
its effectiveness it has emphasized on building an Enterprise System Framework
followed by an Enterprise resource planning (ERP) performance measurement
model and finally an Enterprise resource planning (ERP) scorecard (Yoon, 2018). In
order to measure the effectiveness of enterprise system on the business performance of
CISCO, the company emphasizes on connecting the performance measurement strategy
with business goals and organizational strategy. The company also takes into account a
set of financial and non-financial measures which are then linked with strategic objective
of the firm. CISCO also lends equal emphasis on understanding the time factor analysis
of the market performance of the firm.
Enhancement of organizational performed can be best measured by analyzing the
new architecture brought in by the incorporation of enterprise system in CISCO.
Introduction of Oracle 11i brought significant change throughout CISCO infrastructure.
The core business benefit includes:
●Better financial controls and tax application
● Supportable global procurement
● Simplified pricing system
● Scalable order management

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● Scalable, integrated service logistics.
c) Organizational change management considerations necessary for successful
adoption of an Enterprise System
The most crucial step in implementing Enterprise System is first understanding the
importance of bringing in organizational change management. Change management is integral to
ERP implementation. One must thoroughly understand the impact of the new ERP application on
business processes and the key users prior to implementation. The approach towards
organizational change management should be based on business objective along with factors
such as region, culture, language and experience. However to bring in these strategic innovative
changes CISCO needs to employ the most common change management models to bring in the
necessary innovation which is known as the Lewin’s change management model (Shirey,
2013). This model involves unfreeze, make changes and then refreeze activity. Thus initially the
management of the firm makes the employees aware of what crisis or problem the firm is facing,
and tries to break the existing structure or pattern of operation. This is a very crucial step in
incorporating the new changes in the system as well as make the employees aware of the existing
problems. Incorporation of this management model will help the firm easily regulate its
employees and help them easily adapt to these changes.
The main reason behind organization who wish to implement Enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system need to bring in organizational changes because Organization Change
Management aids in preparing the employees for the impending transformation that otherwise
may not be well accepted. It helps to make the employees more open and acceptable to these

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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system which would be beneficial to the whole organization
and especially to the employees. This also brings in the need of preparing the staffs with proper
directional training to help
them easily adapt to these
new changes. It also
enables in designing
constant employee
engagement (Boons and
Lüdeke- Freund, 2013).
Change management
plans must be devised to address workforce transition to the new ERP system with clear
demarcation of super-users and trainers. A comprehensive training strategy should account for
organization specific nuances, locations and testing prior to go-live. Failing to fully develop a
training strategy can have serious implications on the success of a global brand like CISCO.
Thus the brand interprets three crucial steps in successful Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system in a revised workforce setting which includes: communicating the necessary changes,
followed by conducting a proper stakeholder analysis and finally offering an end user training
(Altamony et al. 2016).

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(Baden-Fuller and Mangematin, 2013)
The change management strategy will largely emphasize on the aspect of how well the
employees of an organization adopt to the changes and the new technology. This aspect in turn
makes the employers more concerned regarding the implication of proper staff straining. Change
management concepts have been largely emphasized by all the growing firms because constant
innovation and experimentation has been identified as the key to this changing and dynamic
business environment.