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CISCO Systems, Inc. Implementing ERP
1. Cisco was highly successful with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) effort. What
were the most important things that Cisco did correctly? Cisco not only involved its IT team
but also involved their dedicated business community in this ERP project. Cisco chose KPMG as
their integration vendor who assisted them not only with the selection but also with the
implementation of ERP. KPMG also had the talented, experienced and skilled team of
consultants and business knowledge experts. Cisco also involved Oracle as a vendor in this
project and was able to get a super deal from Oracle. Cisco management also realized the need to
replace the legacy systems with one integrated solution to take faster decisions. They also
thought it would be a better to integrate all systems into one application rather than spending
separately on each legacy system project.
2. Cisco did not make every decision perfectly on this project. What did they do wrong?
Implementing an ERP system takes time, but the work hardly stops once the system is
successfully in place. Businesses should implement a maintenance strategy to ensure workers are
aligned on what needs to be done to maintain and improve the ERP system on a regular basis so
it doesn’t become outdated or obsolete. I don’t believe Cisco implemented a maintenance plan
early enough because they were focused on the initial implementation. Outdated ERP systems
can put companies at risk for security issues and holes in their business processes. Having a set
plan and assigning who in the company is responsible for the project and maintenance at a given
