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Cisco Systems Inc.: Implementing Erp Essay

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Table of Contents

Introduction 2

ERP Implementation Process 3

Implementation Obstacles 8
Implementation Success Level Analysis 9

Suggestions for Improvement 10

Conclusion 10

References 12

Appendix 14

Introduction
To be successful in today's competitive and continuous evolving information technology (IT) market companies must be able to utilise their skills, information and knowledge to the highest efficiency level possible. Utilisation of and control over these factors will aid companies in acquiring and maintaining competitive advantages over others operating in the same competitive IT market. The implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system would be perfect to suit a …show more content…

The CIO might also have been influenced by the IT productivity paradox, which states that little or no performance effects are associated with increasing IT expenditures (e.g. Grover et al., 1998). The original solution was that all of the main functional areas are allowed to make their own decisions regarding the application and timing of the move from the old to the new application. By giving autonomy to the functional areas, conflicts associated with centrally mandated changes are avoided and the functional areas will also be allowed to pursue their independent initiatives, while reducing the risk of implementation project failure (Olson, 2004). Unfortunately, the functional areas showed resistance to change and Cisco's legacy environment started to deteriorate. As a result, on one day the Cisco's database was corrupted and business shut down for two whole days. It was now clear that the autonomous approach did not work and that a different approach was needed: the implementation of an ERP system.

ERP systems are designed for better longevity and claim to offer numerous options representing best practices. These attributes make an ERP system implementation very desirable but, at the same time, complex and expensive. Unfortunately many large companies rush into ERP system implementation projects, because of competitive pressures (Teltumbde, 2000). Cisco's

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