Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Case study - Essay ExampleIn 1993, Peter Solvik joined Cisco and make IT the central functionality of the troupe. He showed interest in starting many projects for the upgrading of IT in the friendship. He brought many changes and supported the company in adopting IT successfully. However, when Peter Solvik left the company and Boston joined as the new CEO, there were many problems revealed with the current IT adopted by the company (McAfee, McFarlan and Wagonfeld 4). ERP was introduced by Peter Solvik in the company and was installed for intervention inventory and manufacturing functions but with the passage of time, other functions was in any case added to the ERP system due to which, problems were there (McAfee, McFarlan and Wagonfeld 3-4). Boston after becoming the CEO identified these problems and showed interest in three main projects, which were to upgrade the ERP, to develop enterprise reporting and business information solution and to develop a single database (McAfee, McF arlan and Wagonfeld 5). This paper will dispute all the relevant details of the case in depth. IT Governance Styles at Different Levels Peter Solvik after joining Cisco changed the companys retainer of IT as an overhead. He made sure that IT performed the role of central functionality of the company. According to his opinion, with push through using latest technology, the company was not able to progress. Under his governance, ERP system was implemented, which was to plough manufacturing and inventory tasks at the start. In his tenure, the company created its own internet and intranet, due to which not only the data transfer procedures were eased out but also many customers were added to the companys profile due to which, the company was able to generate more revenue. Peter Solviks IT governance style was profitable and laudably for the company as it was due to this style that the company gained reputation and enhanced profits in the market. The organization was made an IT centra lized organization (McAfee, McFarlan and Wagonfeld 3). At engagement/infrastructure level, internet and intranet were developed to control all network related functions such as sales, manufacturing and others. A website was developed with the name Cisco.com. At data level, intranet was use for data transferring while at application level, the ERP was developed to handle the manufacturing and inventory applications of the company. Problems with Cisco There were many problems with the companys IT by 2001, which were discovered after Bostons joining the company. Many customized tools were there to handle different functionalities for which, extra costs were paid. The investment for the customized tools was too much and information retrieval was problem. In addition, there was no central decision making for the IT functions as every department made its own decisions due to which, there were problems related to upgrading ERP system of the company as a whole. There was lack of centralize d planning, which was again problematic for the company (McAfee, McFarlan and Wagonfeld 5). Many old custom interfaces were required to be put out of action in order to install a newer version of ERP, which will be problematic for the users of ERP. In addition, ERP was designed mainly to