E-Business Strategy: Cisco - Case Study Example

E-Business Strategy: Cisco Case Study Introduction Bad Boston joined Cisco as its CIO after Solvik. Boston started examining the operation of the information system at Cisco to establish what worked well and whatever needed change (Mcfee et al. 1). One of the issues he was able to notice was the management of multiple databases and nebulous definitions that resulted in confusion regarding the reports on order-status in the company (Ford 378). There was a need for a change in the way the organization obtained its information to ease the process of obtaining information whenever it was needed in from the organization. Another discrepancy with It department was the fact that various departments were involved in making IT decisions without any centralized department to examine clashes and underutilized capacity (Sholomon and Kunath 256). Improper management strategies of the IT system resulted to inefficiency that required appropriate measures to improve efficiency of operations (Mcfee et al. 2). Boston undertook various changes to improve the IT performance of the organization. Establishment of uniform IT system After assessment of the weaknesses in the IT system at Cisco Boston requested all teams responsible for implementing various projects to discontinue all applications, tools and adapted projects (Mcfee et al. 2). Despite harsh resistance, he encountered from the managers he believed further implementations of new applications result to waste of time and money. In his view, it was unnecessary to implement numerous applications without harmonizing data and fixing information (Sholomon and Kunath 397). Therefore, it was necessary to provide workers with relevant training and match the organization new software requirements. Boston focused on prioritizing the IT platform projects by having each of its key strategic initiatives and established a record of all factors limiting the implementation of projects. Those limitations provided guidance to the prioritization of three projects and improvement of the “Oracle ERP system, establishing an enterprise reporting and business intelligence solution, and establishing a single source of truth’ customer database (e-customer)” (Mcfee et al 3). In preparation for implementation of the three projects the organization made estimate of cost, number of employees required to implement the project and the duration of implementing it. Cisco conducted a system clean up by getting rid of outdated tailor-made code and interfaces in an effort to upgrade its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (Sholomon and Kunath 526). The initial systems at Cisco were designed to gather information for undefined function and converting it for business use to satisfy financial, processing and stock-management needs (Mcfee et al. 4). Boston chose the three projects because he believed that there would be a severe problem with employees in obtaining required information or accessing data sources and information appropriate for fixing the identified challenges. The company had several intelligent applications used for getting information regarding various parameters such as sales, procurements, bookings, etc. (Mcfee et al. 4). The harmonization of the system into one platform involved collaboration of all heads of divisions in order to establish a single application that could serve various users in the organization. The establishment of e-customer system required downsizing of various sources of clients’ data and the exercise was time-consuming and exhaustive (Ford 438). The endeavour brought in numerous challenges because the procedure for the flow of information within Cisco was rigorously intertwined (Mcfee et al. 5). This required different departments to collaborate in order to obtain the clients data whenever it was required. Therefore, improving Cisco’s IT system influenced all other departments and organizations in order to establish a holistic data collection system (Davis and Spekman 160). Boston focused on establishing a system for financing the IT systems at Cisco. The establishment of the new system for financing IT projects required each of the departments to share the cost of financing the system as opposed to the traditional practice whereby each function was responsible for its IT system (Mcfee et al 5). Different groups contributed towards the establishment of the IT infrastructures, development of application for client groups and direct outlay related to hardware and virtual private network (VPN) (Mcfee et al. 5). Corporate IT was responsible for infrastructures outlay while client groups were in charge for development of applications and direct charges. The establishment of uniform application for the entire organization required various groups to dedicate their resources to staff and focus on cross-functional schemes (Hartmann and Finke 428). That led to the establishment of top-level management team in each function group responsible for deciding the total contributions of each group towards cross-functional projects and the period for completion of stipulated functions. The functional groups had to prioritize the activities and resources of their groups in order to determine how much of their contribution would be availed for cross-functional projects (Mcfee et al. 6). That impacted the operations of various groups because the resources committed to cross-functional projects were unavailable for use in other activities. The reorganization of Cisco led to the realignment of multiple functions and simplification of the operations that improved customers experience with the organization and increased customer loyalty (Mcfee et al. 6). The IT acted as a business associate to Cisco through which the organization’s stakeholders could view the operations of the entire organization. Boston got rid of organizational sub-divisions thus promoting global functionality of various groups rather than focusing on regional issues. 2. Cisco’s Business Process Operating Committee (BPOC) Cisco established BPOC in 2002 that emphasized in the significance of having effective centralized IT planning in the organization (Mcfee et al. 7). The committee focused on establishing organizational policies, harmonizing functions of the organization, enforcing policy decisions and establishing a framework for corporate business process within the organization. BPOC had the mandate to make a decision regarding the national wide policy framework guiding the implementation of the projects. They were required to establish an outline for group business practices and demonstrate the benefits of centralized organization (Hartmann and Finke 443). The committee was responsible for making project recommendations and ensuring those recommendations were fully implemented by the each functional group. It was a top-notch advisory team drawing its representatives from all main functional groups of the organization (Mcfee et al. 8). It recommended projects of strategic importance to the organization, but it was supposed to operate as a steering committee in the organization. Challenges faced by BPOC in supporting Boston’s IT Vision The implementation of global IT system as opposed to regional systems had a profound impact on implementing committee. The system recommendations were not applicable in all nations since a greater percentage of the IT specialists were based in one geographic location (Silicon Valley). After the introduction of a new IT system, the committee had various challenges with the implementation process because some of the managers had problem in understanding how the system was operating. The committee had to keep track of both the old and the new system in order to ensure it was operating effectively (Mcfee et al 8). Furthermore, there was strong resistance from the users across the globes that were unwilling to accept changes. That was because after implementing changes employees were answerable to different groups and that caused some resistance. Implementing changes in the IT system raised a serious issue of accountability, financing of the new system from various regional groups (Mcfee et al. 7). Some managers questioned how the system would take into account different needs presented by regional groups in through centralized system. Traditionally, Cisco promoted innovation by encouraging and funding new innovative ideas. However, with the new IT system introduced by Boston clients managers were concerned that the idea would demise innovation (Davis and Spekman 225). The organization promised to continue supporting innovation even though of the ideas was not funded as soon as it deemed appropriate. Finally, there was a challenge with hiring of IT experts. The organization focused on hiring IT contractors to implement the recommendations to the global groups. The number of IT contractors increased the number of IT employees in the organization thus raising the cost of operations. 3. BPOC considerations for Initiation of e-customer Before implementing policy recommendations on e-customer, the BPOC should take into consideration the users interface of the system and the ability of the clients to use the system effectively (Mcfee et al. 9). The system should be simple enough for all users to learn quickly yet it should be complete to provide the required details. In addition, the committee should take into account the consumer privacy while using the system. Te committee should ensure client’s information is appropriately secured to protect clients’ information (Hartmann and Finke 467). Failure to safeguard client’s information can be extremely expensive to the organization in case of legal suits by the clients. Finally, the committee should take into account the efficiency of the new IT system and its ability to meet and exceed organizations expectations (Mcfee et al 9). The system should provide benefits to the users and to the organizations without resulting to unwarranted cost r complications. Boston’s Suggestion for Proposal in case of Turn down In case the e-system was turned down, Boston should share with the group managers and IT experts on various ways in which the success of the system will benefit the workers and contribute to organizational goals (Mcfee et al 9). That would encourage the employees to work towards implementation of the new system with greater confidence about the operation of the system and its significance to the organization and to individual workers. Works Cited Davis, Wilson E. and Spekman, Robert, E., “The Extended Enterprise: Gaining Competitive Advantage through Collaborative Supply Chains,” (FT Press, 2004): 101-262 pages Ford, Gary, “Cisco Unified Contact Canter Enterprise (UCCE),” (Pearson Education, 2011): 323- 504. Hartmann, Dennis and Finke, Josh, “Implementing Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Part 1, (2nd Ed.)” (Cisco Press, USA, 2011): 427-473. Mcfee, Andrew; Mcfarlan, Warren, F. and Wagonfeld, Alison, B., “Enterprise IT at Cisco (2004), (Harvard Business School, 2007): 1-13. Sholomon, Andy and Kunath, Tom, “Enterprise Network Testing: Testing Throughout the Network Lifecycle to Maximize Availability and Performance,” (Pearson Education, 2011): 128-436 Read More