ERP Implementation at CISCO

GROUP 8
BELINDA FERNANDES (121202044) ABHISHEK NULI (121202024) NAGENDRA BHARADWAJ (121202094) GURURAJ PATIL (121202074) ADITYA TRIPATHI (121202022) S.N.LAVANYA (121202064)

CISCO Systems Inc.

It was founded by two Stanford computer scientists

in 1984. It subsequently went public in 1990. It manufactures routers. With rise in internet usage, the demand for Cisco products grew rapidly. Fortune 500 ranked Cisco among top 5 for return on revenues and assets. Microsoft and Intel were the other big companies in this list.

Company Structure
John Morgridge was appointed CEO in 1988.

He thought the firms in Silicon Valley decentralized

too quickly and subsequently lost control. He maintained a centralized organization. Only product marketing and research and development were decentralized. Finance, human resources, manufacturing, IT, customer support, etc. were centralized.

IT at Cisco
Cisco was a $500 million company using a UNIX-

based software package for its core transaction processes. This software package was suitable for companies with $50 million to $250 million revenue and not $500 million. Finance, manufacturing and order entry were supported by this software package. CIO knew the companys growth prospects were very good. So thought the software package wasnt enough.

Apprehension towards ERP solutions

CIO thought the budgetary decisions IT expenditure

should be taken by the functional areas not the IT dept.

Unless they ask, IT wont do anything. ERP solutions implementations often turned into

mega projects and take up lot of time and money of the organization.

Problems faced with the legacy applications

Companys annual growth rate was 80%.

Transaction rate had increased drastically.

The legacy systems did not have the capacity to

handle the load. Any attempt to improve the applications would crash the system. IT department would spend its time repairing the legacy systems. One day, it was corrupted and thus shut down for 2 days.

Expected Benefits of ERP Implementation

They wanted an ERP that could maintain centralized

structure of the company. They wanted to put manufacturing, order entry and finance in one place. They wanted an ERP that could do it. Capacity of the ERP could be improved in the longrun as the size of the business increases. They wanted an ERP that wouldnt have to be modified according to the business needs.

Pre-implementation Steps
Select a good integration partner to help in selecting a

good ERP solution and vendor. They chose KPMG. Do market research and ask other companies what they know about ERP systems. Based on market research and KPMGs advice, they selected Oracle. Decide a price and time needed for implementing the ERP. Get board approval for funding the project. Build ERP implementation team one each from KPMG, Oracle and Cisco.

Critical Success Factors

They tested it thoroughly and made the required

modifications immediately wherever needed.

They knew what the software could or couldnt support. They worked together in a tight team and stuck to the

schedule.
Employees gave their 100% in the project to make sure

they did quality work

Areas Where Cisco Was Lucky

On the day of the presentation to board for project

approval, the legacy system crashed. It helped the IT dept. to convince the board members faster. Ciscos contract with the hardware vendor for capability of hardware rather than specific configuration helped in keeping costs low. The Oracle and KPMG teams were always with them and put in their 100% even when they werent required to. Hardware companys president sponsored the final stage. All the additional costs were borne by the hardware vendor company from its own pocket.

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