Enterprise It at Cisco (2004)

Contrary to the situation at E-Z RP, there is no linkage of customer service representatives to development teams. For instance, CRSs are often the last to gain access about new information or new products. In terms of the organization of customer service, E-Z RP uses a specialized call center where customer service representatives deal with a single product. At Datatronics, the call center is centralized and CRSs deal with all products. E-Z RP uses the second tier support while Datatronics uses a minimal second-tier support. In terms of the training of CSRs, Datatronics only provides minimal on-the-job training while E-Z RP provides extensive training. Datatronics hires employees with basic customer service ability while E-Z RP recruits employees based on customer service skills, business knowledge, and communication ability. The performance metric at E-Z RP is the level of customer satisfaction, while the metric at Datatronics is the time on call or between calls. Although Matt does not intend to reproduce E-Z RP’s customer service system at Datatronics, these are the key issues that he ought to consider in making recommendations for changes at Datatronics.

“Networks are all around us. They are in our walls, in the air. At schools, hotels, hospitals, even coffee shops. Always there, always on…This power exists today. In our routers. In our switches... . (Cisco, n.d.)

Even though Cisco created the Customer Focus Initiative to try to serve leader customers better, as the SVP of Customer Advocacy, Allred still felt anxious that this reorganization would reduce the customers’ loyalty. He was also afraid that since the products were high priced, customers would ignore the longtime relationship and turn to Cisco’s competitors. Therefore, adjusting the existing culture to adapt to the new structure became the fundamental issue of Allred.

Providing consultation for new and existing programs to both Internal Business teams and external customers.

Cisco is clearly the one of Information Age companies. Cisco gives the priority on the Information Technology. In the case study, Cisco adopted strategy of systematic acquisitions and strategic partners, which proof that Cisco focuses on cooperated information. Cisco also concerned about standardization, flexibility, extensibility, and scalability. The decisions that Solvik and his team made during this case trends to emphasize how more Cisco becomes closer to the definition of Information Age company. They applied internet and intranet which is not so popular at that year for employee self-service, communication and distance learning, customer

Customers must use the internet to fill out an online form to address their complaints or service needs. These forms are processed by employees in your department. Currently the turnaround time on any given form is between four to eight hours. This creates a number of other customer complaints. Project Call Center is designed to reduce this turnaround time by 75% by creating and staffing a call center in Tampa. Building acquisition, building renovations, building fit out, IT system upgrades, and hiring and training of staff are estimated to cost $8.5 million dollars. This $8.5 million dollars can be paid evenly in any two quarters in the next year. In addition, seven new employees will need to be hired at $40,000 burdened labor costs per year to staff the call center. Management of this project could easily be done with the current in-house staff. Most of the work of this project would be outsourced and will have minimal impact on day-to-operations.

Competition and technology changes in the telecommunications industry has resulted in declining profits for Desert Communications Incorporated (DCI). The competitive business climate in the telecommunications industry requires DCI to initiate proactive strategies to drive profits. The conventional view of the customer contact center is as a cost center for supporting customer relations (Kaiser, 2011). Learning Team B will demonstrate

By grafting its system of custom direct sales onto the Internet infrastructure, Dell has transformed these activities, creating an innovative and efficient procurement, production, and distribution network. The innovative advance made by Dell in deploying Internet communication as the foundation of its production network, is a process innovation. Although to some extent, the Internet has enabled Dell to create a new product -- a PC custom-configured through Internet communication -- it is the process of organizing flows of materials and information within its network, from customer order to procurement, production and delivery, by means of Internet communication, that defines the innovation at the Firm. The case supports this notion by stating “While most other PCs were sold preconfigured and pre-assembled in retail stores, Dell offered superior customer choice in system configuration at a deeply discounted price, due to the cost-savings associated with cutting out the retail middleman. Additionally, an important side-benefit of the Internet-based direct sales model was that it generated a wealth of market data the company used to efficiently forecast demand trends and carry out effective segmentation strategies. This data drove the company’s product development efforts and allowed Dell to profit from information on the value drivers in each of its key customer

We would approve the call center project. The call center pilot was already successful in the European market and is ready to be deployed throughout the entire company. It would create a more efficient process for both internal and external Cisco customers. It would impact multiple

The nature of the market structure and demand of Cisco Systems is its business market which contains fewer but larger companies. For Cisco Systems, this implies that even though they have fewer clients than other companies, they still have a good and profitable relationship with their clients. For the customers of Cisco Systems, this implies that they will receive better and faster service and products because they don’t have to compete for the attention and service of Cisco Systems.

Reportedly, analysts mentioned that Cisco’s supply chain structured like a pyramid. Based on Figure 2 below, there were quite a number of contract manufacturers on the second tier who were responsible for final assembly and they were dependent on large sub-tier companies for components such as processor chips and optical gear. And in turn, those companies were dependent on an even larger base of commodity

1. Cisco suffered from inertia when an attempt was made to engage business management in selecting software for their individual areas, and/or agreeing to participate in the ERP implementation project. List and explain reasons why management would hesitate to become engaged in the IT process/project.

*Integrate all areas of sales support and get rid of the industry centered structure of proposal support. BPS has relied on the unique industry-centric organization of their sales support and salespeople for competitive advantage. Customer surveys to gauge how much they actually value the industry niche approach could be useful in determining what effect any

Device an implementation strategy that would guarantee the support of the divisions presidents for the shared customer service center.

From incorporation in 1984 until around 2004, Cisco monopolized the industry of commercial routers and networking products. However, competition from rising giants like Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR), Nortel Networks Corp (NT) and to some extent also Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has given Cisco growing competition. Cisco is now in a position where competition drives its operating practices and inspires constant improvements in areas such as customer service and sales/marketing in order to maintain its market leadership. Though Cisco has lost market share to rising competitors, overall outlook remains good with new product lines set for production.