Cisco Case Digest

Case Digest: Cisco ERP and Web-enabled IT

Cisco's success in web-enablement of its IT structure is manifested mostly in the following areas: internal organization development, customer interface, supply chain management, and executive decision making.

Cisco's corporate intranet CEC provides a variety of applications that facilitates information and knowledge transfer between its 40,000+ employees. These include real time access to data, tools and other resources, and online learning. The intranet also serves as a community meeting hall, an internal portal through which messages that reflect Cisco's culture and core values are broadcasted.

Cisco's website cisco.com is a focal point of its customer interface. The site provides around-the-clock customer assistance including problem diagnoses and solutions. As a result, over 80% percent of Cisco's technical support is delivered online, saving the company nearly $506 million in the process (as of 2000). Another benefit is the integration of e-commerce, as order and fulfillment is automatically processed, resulting in productivity gains of 60% for Cisco, and 20% for its customers.

The center piece of Cisco's initiative is a powerful new model of managing the supply chain which is referred as "the Global Networked Business Model". It is essentially an integrated SCM module that emphasizes the following aspects: integration of suppliers into single business, reduction of costs in NPI, outsourcing of the autotest procedure, direct fulfillment, and on-demand inventory management. The model has become the major cost saver for Cisco in the ensuing years.

The integrated and web-enabled IT infrastructure also makes it possible for Cisco executives and managers to make forecasts and decisions based on more accurate and relevant information.

The first major