1.) At the start of the case the CIO Peter Solvik did not want to take on the ‘mega project’ of implementing an ERP system, in spite of the fact that the current systems were failing. Solvik felt it would be better to let each functional area of the company make autonomous decisions in regards to IT expenditures. The problem with this rationale was that the functional managers were not eager to make sweeping changes to the current IT system in their functional areas. The functional managers did not want to spend the large amounts of time and money necessary to replace their current systems. Randy Pond a director of manufacturing explained, “None of us was going to throw out the legacies and do something big” p.85.
2.) Success of Cisco’s ERP implementation can be attributed to several key factors. The first factor was Cisco’s strategic partnerships with KPMG and Oracle that proved instrumental to the successful implementation. KPMG provided a team of industry experts that had years of experience in IT. KPMG also saw the opportunity as their defining moment hence they had a strong motivation to ensure the implementation was a success. The selection of Oracle as the software vendor was a wise decision, given that Oracle possessed the strong manufacturing capability needed by Cisco. In addition, the Oracle headquarters was very close to Cisco providing more flexibility and increased ease of doing business. Like KPMG, Oracle was also strongly motivated to make certain this project was a success as this would be “the first major implementation of a new release of the Oracle ERP product” p. 87. The second factor contributing to Cisco’s success was their ability to gain support and involvement from the entire company, at all levels. Of great importance was the fact that from the beginning, support came straight from the top level. CEO Morgridge communicated to the organization that the ERP project was a priority and it was made one of the top seven goals for...