Cisco Case Analysis
Why were no managers eager to take on this project?
Large, complex, high-cost enterprise-wide projects are often avoided by managers for fear of failure. No one wanted to go to the Board of Directors to request the funding without sound business justification. Until the system outage occurred, it would have been more challenging to develop a compelling business case to replace all systems and spend $15 million doing so. Essentially, managers are afraid to take the risk to lead a multi-million dollar project because if they fail, they can lose their jobs. But, if they succeed, there is enterprise-wide recognition and opportunities for career advancement.
Give a "laundry list" of best practices (five to seven of them should be sufficient) for managing an ERP implementation, as demonstrated by Cisco in this case. Briefly elaborate each item on the list. 1. Partnering with a consulting firm like KPMG who has experience in the selecting, customizing, and implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Without expert help, internal resources are subject to making mistakes that result in impacts to the project timeline, budget, and quality of the system being implemented. Leveraging best practices and lesson learned from KPMG, a firm with expertise in this area, was an excellent decision. 2. ERP vendor selection process and criteria: a. Consulting with the big six accounting firms for the opinions on effective ERP systems. Customer testimonials and references from existing customers is invaluable. This provides evidence of the effectiveness of the system and provides insight into the quality of customer support provided by the vendor. b. Leveraging research conducted by one of the world’s leading technology and advisory companies, Gartner, Inc. Their research is reliable and specific to leading edge technology. It provides a side-by-side feature comparison of all the leading ERP systems and the companies who use them. This research data
Large, complex, high-cost enterprise-wide projects are often avoided by managers for fear of failure. No one wanted to go to the Board of Directors to request the funding without sound business justification. Until the system outage occurred, it would have been more challenging to develop a compelling business case to replace all systems and spend $15 million doing so. Essentially, managers are afraid to take the risk to lead a multi-million dollar project because if they fail, they can lose their jobs. But, if they succeed, there is enterprise-wide recognition and opportunities for career advancement.
Give a "laundry list" of best practices (five to seven of them should be sufficient) for managing an ERP implementation, as demonstrated by Cisco in this case. Briefly elaborate each item on the list. 1. Partnering with a consulting firm like KPMG who has experience in the selecting, customizing, and implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Without expert help, internal resources are subject to making mistakes that result in impacts to the project timeline, budget, and quality of the system being implemented. Leveraging best practices and lesson learned from KPMG, a firm with expertise in this area, was an excellent decision. 2. ERP vendor selection process and criteria: a. Consulting with the big six accounting firms for the opinions on effective ERP systems. Customer testimonials and references from existing customers is invaluable. This provides evidence of the effectiveness of the system and provides insight into the quality of customer support provided by the vendor. b. Leveraging research conducted by one of the world’s leading technology and advisory companies, Gartner, Inc. Their research is reliable and specific to leading edge technology. It provides a side-by-side feature comparison of all the leading ERP systems and the companies who use them. This research data