Cisco’s Web Enablement Essay

CEO John Chambers believed that â€Å"by providing the end-to-end network plumbing, we can change the way entire companies and industries operate. † How did Cisco’s IT web-enablement initiatives reinforce and demonstrate that belief? Explain your answer with examples. Cisco began web development in early 1990s. Cisco invested around $100 million to web-enable all the applications using standard set of tools and smart group of people. Most of the interactions with customers, partner and suppliers were network-based and began at Cisco’s home page which allowed them to do business with Cisco more efficiently and effectively. Below are some of the examples of the intranet and internet applications that were built part of this initiative: Intranet Applicationss: Employee Self-Service & Communication and distance learning: Cisco’s corporate intranet, Cisco Employee Connection, a centralized portal to access the information, tools and resources needed to streamline processes, facilitate knowledge exchange and maximize employee productivity met the unique needs of 40,000 plus employees. Training modules were available to employees to be trained from their desktops through the distance learning application. The usage of training modules was tracked to improve the quality and its effectiveness. Personalized home pages using ‘My Yahoo! ’ retrieved information from the internet based on user preferences and pushed it to their desktops. Cisco’s quarterly meetings were available for employees to be viewed from their desktop. This not just doubled the attendance but also enhanced the Cisco’s culture of maintaining a strong relationship with each employee. Internet Applications: Customer Self-service through website Cisco’s customer self-service portal built on Cisco. com, a comprehensive, web-based, online resource for information and networked application, was the primary vehicle for delivering responsive, around the clock support for its customers. They relied on Cisco. com to get their questions answered, diagnose network problems, provided solutions and expert assistance worldwide. It was translated into 17 languages for international customers. Cisco’s customers were highly satisfied and enjoyed the lower cost of doing business with Cisco than those who do not used internet based applications to support. Net commerce through the web: Cisco was an early pioneer in using the internet for full electronic commerce. Customer could place and track their orders using Cisco. com. As of January 2001, internet-commerce-based revenue represented 92% of the total revenue base. Productivity gains of 60% for Cisco and 20% for Customers and resellers were being realized through online commerce. Besides the above examples there were other intranet and internet based applications which increased the productivity of its employees and improved supply chain process & customer satisfaction. Thus the above web-enabled systems reinforce and demonstrate the CEO’s belief of changing how companies and business operate. It was very clear that Cisco was successful in the principles of using internet in doing general business.