Case: Cisco Systems, Inc. Implementing Erp, 9-699-022
Personal Assignment 3
Case Study
Cisco Systems, Inc: Implementing ERP
Case: Cisco Systems, Inc. Implementing ERP, 9-699-022
Reading: Thomas H. Davenport, “Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System,” Harvard Business Review (July-August 1998): Reprint 98401
Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System by Thomas H. Davenport
Enterprise systems appear to be a dream come true. These commercial software packages promise the seamless integration of all the information flowing through a company—financial and accounting information, human resource information, supply chain information, customer information. For managers who have struggled, at great expense and with great frustration, with incompatible information systems and inconsistent operating practices, the promise of an off-the-shelf solution to the problem of business integration is enticing.
It comes as no surprise, then, that companies have been beating paths to the doors of enterprise-system developers. The sales of the largest vendor, Germany’s SAP, have soared from less than $500 million in 1992 to approximately $3.3 billion in 1997, making it the fastest-growing software company in the world. SAP’s competitors, including such companies as Baan, Oracle, and PeopleSoft, have also seen rapid growth in demand for their packages. It is estimated that businesses around the world are now spending $10 billion per year on enterprise systems—also commonly referred to as enterprise resource planning, or ERP, systems—and that figure probably doubles when you add in associated consulting expenditures. While the rise of the Internet has received most of the media attention in recent years, the business world’s embrace of enterprise systems may in fact be the most important development in the corporate use of information technology in the 1990s.
But are enterprise systems living up to companies’ expectations? The growing number of horror stories about failed or out-of-control projects should
Case Study
Cisco Systems, Inc: Implementing ERP
Case: Cisco Systems, Inc. Implementing ERP, 9-699-022
Reading: Thomas H. Davenport, “Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System,” Harvard Business Review (July-August 1998): Reprint 98401
Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System by Thomas H. Davenport
Enterprise systems appear to be a dream come true. These commercial software packages promise the seamless integration of all the information flowing through a company—financial and accounting information, human resource information, supply chain information, customer information. For managers who have struggled, at great expense and with great frustration, with incompatible information systems and inconsistent operating practices, the promise of an off-the-shelf solution to the problem of business integration is enticing.
It comes as no surprise, then, that companies have been beating paths to the doors of enterprise-system developers. The sales of the largest vendor, Germany’s SAP, have soared from less than $500 million in 1992 to approximately $3.3 billion in 1997, making it the fastest-growing software company in the world. SAP’s competitors, including such companies as Baan, Oracle, and PeopleSoft, have also seen rapid growth in demand for their packages. It is estimated that businesses around the world are now spending $10 billion per year on enterprise systems—also commonly referred to as enterprise resource planning, or ERP, systems—and that figure probably doubles when you add in associated consulting expenditures. While the rise of the Internet has received most of the media attention in recent years, the business world’s embrace of enterprise systems may in fact be the most important development in the corporate use of information technology in the 1990s.
But are enterprise systems living up to companies’ expectations? The growing number of horror stories about failed or out-of-control projects should