When John Chambers assumed the CEO position, he outlined some very specific objectives for Cisco’s future success. His plans included creating a one-stop shop for business networks by creating a comprehensive product line, to make acquisitions an efficient business process, to create industry-wide software standards for networking, and to choose the right strategic partners. All of these efforts would change the way companies and industries operated by creating an infrastructure of networked voice, data and video.
Chambers’ vision of truly global networked companies would lead to improved productivity and profitability. The main focus, however, was on the end result, which was high customer satisfaction.
In addition to planning for the business improvement and process continuity they would eventually enjoy, Cisco focused on improving internal communications and web access of information for their employees. With the enhancement of their intranet and communication capabilities, employees from all regions could pull real-time reports, monitor live corporate information, and join meetings more effectively. This increase in data at their fingertips led to increased employee satisfaction. When employees are happy, it tends to influence their motivation to work hard and remain loyal to their jobs, ultimately resulting in increased corporate profitability and success.
Enhancements to the external customers were also a huge success. Customers were now able to resolve technical issues via web-based support, and this led to happier customers, and more profitability by those who were more likely to remain loyal to Cisco. The case analysis to follow ventures into more depth with some of these web enhancements and business processes that made Cisco what it is today, one of the great providers of web-connected business applications.
After investing $15 million implementing an ERP system, Cisco spent the next two years