Cisco Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cisco - Case Study Example For one, the way critical information is gathered, stored, sorted and accessed gives top management crucial insights that aid greatly in their decision-making processes. Much of the guesswork is eliminated and in its place information that is based on the solid data being gathered greatly improves the accuracy of decisions made. This type of gathering information for making important business decisions is called as data mining. When tons of data sometimes do not make any sense to a casual observer, the insights provided by a good information system makes all the difference between profits and probable losses due to wrong decisions taken. Businesses are racing to acquire information systems because these provide quality insights based on solid scientific data. Sometimes, the cost benefit analysis may not justify such huge initial outlays but business analytics provide a winning margin in the competitive marketplace. Business analysts and consultants call this as the new science of winning (Davenport & Harris 3) based on quantitative data analysis and no longer on a managers own gut feel and hunches. For firms like Cisco where much of its assets are intangible (intellectual capital or knowledge-based assets), the more urgent is the need to have a good information system. Information technology companies need to both be flexible and nimble enough to translate and transform information into a long-term advantage. This paper tackles the issues and problems that faced Cisco during its evaluation of its information technology systems currently in use. In particular, the challenge of making sense out of Ciscos several and often conflicting enterprise-wide initiatives fell on Brad Boston, the CIO or chief information officer. The problem is one of prioritization based on several crucial constraints such as managing the time element and allocating scarce financial resources. Two major initiatives that presently are under consideration by top