INFORMATION SYSTEMS

AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

WESTERN DIGITAL CASE

Presented by: Rima Arora (2352116)

Riya Jain (2352328)
Sanskriti Seth (2352020)
Isha Garg (2352081)
Meghna Banerjee (2352109)
 WESTERN
DIGITAL
Western Digital is an American company, that manufactures hard disk
drives and data storage. WD designs, manufactures, and sells data
technology products, including storage devices, data center systems,
and cloud storage devices.
Being founded in 1970, Western Digital initially gained prominence as
the biggest producer of calculator chips globally. Subsequently, the
company expanded into data storage and contributed to the PC
revolution by launching a floppy disk controller. The first flash-based
solid-state drive manufacturer for IBM computers, SanDisk, was
purchased by Western Digital in the 1990s.
Currently, Western Digital's development of a variety of technologies
aimed at satisfying the data storage needs of anything from driverless
cars to next-generation mobile devices is driven by the same
inventive attitude.
CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED
Integration of three acquired companies: Hitachi
01 Global Storage Technology, SanDisk, and the third
being the company itself.

Moving to a single platform through consolidation-

02 for office tools, cloud storage, and online meeting
capabilities.

Integrating three different internal information

03 systems into a single enterprise resource planning
system (ERP)

Mitigating costs and complexities of the

04 companies occurred due to the merging and
data migration of the companies.
ERP systems are designed to correct the lack of communication
among the functional area information system (FAIS). ERPs
resolve such issues by tightening and integrating the FAISs
through common database.
ERPs increase organizational productivity through- planning,
management, using resources and employing common software
platform and database, for seamless flow of information.
Changes in one functional area are reflected in all other
pertinent functional areas.
provides information necessary to control the business
processes.
Facilatitates business processes like manufacturing, raw
materials management, inventory control, order entry, and
distribution.
 ERP I
Did not extend to other functional
areas- sales and marketing.
Did not capture customer-specific
information.
Did not provide web-enabled
customer service or order
fulfillment.
ERP II
It has evolved to include administration
sales, marketing, and HR processes.
Companies can now employ an enterprise-
wide approach, connecting all facets of the
value chain using the web.
Web-enabled links for systems such as
inventory and production, customers and
suppliers, distributors, etc.
ERP II systems integrated internal-facing
ERP applications with the externally
focused applications of supply chain
management and CRM.
 Benefits of ERP Systems

Decision Quality &

Flexibility
ERP systems break down
former departmental and
functional silos of business
processes, information
systems and information
resources.
Organizations become
flexible, agile and adaptive.
Organizations respond
quickly to changing
business conditions.
Support Efficiency
Provides essential Integrates and
information on improves the
business organization’s business
performance across processes.
functional areas. Generates significant
improvements in the
Improves manager’s
quality of production,
ability to make
distribution, and
decisions. customer service.
After Western Digital decided to implement a cloud ERP
solution, the project team began investigating the three
firms’ systems for similarities and differences.

It was discovered that the three companies managed

their respective data efficiently, however, they lacked
mature data standards across systems and functional
areas, resulting in significant data quality and
compatibility issues.
Migration of data would require more time and system
upgrades.
Need for streamlining business processes and data
management.
Cost Center Managemnt
Information technology
Human Resource Management
Payroll Processing
Streamlined systems for forecasting
business analytics and forecasts
Workforce Planning
Comprehensive dashboards and
automated reporting
Improved customer relationship
analysis
 Solution: Implementing ORACLE ERP Cloud

Owing to the company's usage of

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise
Edition and other technologies, the
Western Digital team already had
experience with Oracle. To assist
Western Digital in streamlining its
financial planning and ensuring
business continuity, the organization
relied on Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP and
Oracle Integration.
Western Digital has seen significant process and productivity improvements since
adopting Oracle ERP.
Three thousand application The company optimized
modules—many of them operations with Oracle
unnecessary—were Integration's out-of-the-
streamlined by Western box adapters, connecting
Digital. Executives at the 2,000+ applications. This
organization may now get a streamlined integration
single report that includes between Oracle ERP,
detailed spending Workday, and Salesforce,
breakdowns across all automating data collection
departments as well as the for real-time reporting. ERP
overall amount spent refresh times were slashed
thanks to data from 24-48 hours to 5
consolidation. seconds.
Western Digital cut its
number of cost centers
from over 15,000 to
over 3,000 by utilizing
Oracle Cloud.
Furthermore, Western
Digital reduced the
number of stages in the
purchase approval
procedure from roughly
16 to five or fewer,
cutting down on the
amount of time it takes.
Closing Questions
 Complexity of Processes:
- ERP implementations involve aligning complex business processes.
- Integrating multiple ERPs is challenging due to diverse departmental workflows.

Data Migration Challenges:

- Migrating data from legacy systems can be error-prone.
- Integrating data from multiple ERPs requires careful mapping.
Why do you think so
many ERP Vendor Support Problems:
- Lack of vendor support hinders successful implementation.
implementations fail? - Integrating multiple ERPs involves coordinating with different vendors.
Why is it so difficult to
Budget and Resource Constraints:
integrate multiple
- Budget overruns and resource constraints strain ERP projects.
ERPs? - Integrating multiple ERPs requires additional resources and careful budgeting.

Resistance to Change:
- Resistance from employees affects ERP adoption.
- Integrating multiple ERPs requires managing change across departments.

Integration Complexity:
- Diverse technologies and data structures complicate integration.
- Seamless communication between disparate systems adds to complexity.
What do you see as the major advantages for WD of moving all three companies to
a single platform?

Unified Processes:
- Standardized and streamlined business processes for
increased efficiency. Scalability:
- Improved scalability for easier adaptation to business changes.
Centralized Data Management:
- Consolidation of data for improved accuracy and decision- Consistent User Experience:
making. - Employees experience a consistent interface for better
adoption.
Cost Savings:
- Reduction in costs associated with managing multiple Improved Security and Compliance:
platforms. - Enhanced security measures and streamlined compliance.

Enhanced Collaboration: Efficient Resource Utilization:

- Improved communication and collaboration across entities. - More efficient use of IT resources.

Simplified IT Infrastructure: Vendor Relationship Management:

- Streamlined IT infrastructure for reduced complexity. - Streamlining vendor relationships for better support.

Technology Standardization:
- Standardization to reduce compatibility issues.
 Reference

1. Rainer, Prince., Introduction to Information Systems,

Ninth Edition.
2. Sayer Peter., Inside Western Digital’s Massive Cloud
ERP Migration, CIO (from IDG), November 30, 2018.
3. oracle.com/erp/
4. Thomas G. Rijo., Lai Linus., The Transformation Story of
Western Digital to a Live Enterprise, IDC.