Enterprise It at Cisco
1. Executive Summary of the Case
This case study goes through the evolution of IT governance at Cisco and the related project management. This case is a classic example of the result of a decentralized governance of business units. What happened to CISCO due to the decentralized governance, how the business processes were modified to overcome the chaos created by the decentralized governance and how the employees and management reacted to this change in CISCO’s business governance? This case clearly illustrates the effect of a totally decentralized governance and how changing to a centralized governance leads to unrest and resistance. It also illustrates how the cultural/managerial change effects the business decisions needed to be made by a company to achieve success. Essentially, the case shows that IT governance must be aligned with business activities and tie all functions together to support the company’s strategy.
2. Problem Statement
Will BPOC give a go-ahead for the proposal that the customer advocacy group was proposing? The proposal was to build a state-of-the-art customer interaction network that would centralize all incoming calls into a globally managed set of contact centers. Though this is a potentially valuable project, CISCO’s new centralized governance means that the customer advocacy group needs to get an approval from the BPOC. Will the BPOC realize the potential? Will it support the project and commit to a full cross-border and cross-functional implementation? If I was in Boston’s shoes, do I think he should approve the proposal?
3. Proposed Solution
First, we need to understand the new strategies put in place by the CIO Brad Boston in late 2001 and why the new strategy faces resistance. This directly has an effect on the result of the BPOC’s decision on whether to go ahead with the central call center or not and how it might affect the stakeholders.
i. IT Strategy before Boston became CIO
- Peter Slovik was the CIO until 2001
This case study goes through the evolution of IT governance at Cisco and the related project management. This case is a classic example of the result of a decentralized governance of business units. What happened to CISCO due to the decentralized governance, how the business processes were modified to overcome the chaos created by the decentralized governance and how the employees and management reacted to this change in CISCO’s business governance? This case clearly illustrates the effect of a totally decentralized governance and how changing to a centralized governance leads to unrest and resistance. It also illustrates how the cultural/managerial change effects the business decisions needed to be made by a company to achieve success. Essentially, the case shows that IT governance must be aligned with business activities and tie all functions together to support the company’s strategy.
2. Problem Statement
Will BPOC give a go-ahead for the proposal that the customer advocacy group was proposing? The proposal was to build a state-of-the-art customer interaction network that would centralize all incoming calls into a globally managed set of contact centers. Though this is a potentially valuable project, CISCO’s new centralized governance means that the customer advocacy group needs to get an approval from the BPOC. Will the BPOC realize the potential? Will it support the project and commit to a full cross-border and cross-functional implementation? If I was in Boston’s shoes, do I think he should approve the proposal?
3. Proposed Solution
First, we need to understand the new strategies put in place by the CIO Brad Boston in late 2001 and why the new strategy faces resistance. This directly has an effect on the result of the BPOC’s decision on whether to go ahead with the central call center or not and how it might affect the stakeholders.
i. IT Strategy before Boston became CIO
- Peter Slovik was the CIO until 2001