Cisco Systems : Implementing 'Customized' ERP in Nine Months and Within Budget

This case illustrates the importance of vendor selection, top management support, and team structuring in implementing a complex ERP system. While most organizations choose the de-facto brand as their product, Cisco and its consulting partner, KPMG, went against this perception and selected Oracle who was a newcomer in ERP business. For Oracle this was a golden opportunity to enter a market dominated by SAP and get its ERP modules litmus tested by an industry leader. Cisco on the other hand agreed to help Oracle to market its latest releases to potential customers, in lieu of the successful implementation. Oracle even allowed changing some of its modules to fit Cisco's purposes. The implementation team comprised the best people from Cisco, KMPG and Oracle. To have the customized ERP up and running in nine months the team blended the robustness of sequential life cycle model with the flexibility of the iterative prototyping