Published: July 03 2009, 04:26 PM
by Pradeep Bhanot

Today I came across an article at itpro.co.uk that discusses the severe impact on the airline industry of the current recession. This is a good example of balancing the business portfolio to better address the margin pressure being imposed by the current business climate. British Airways is not alone in this situation; many industries are deferring cash hungry projects with long lead times to value in favor of projects that promise faster returns that are needed now, as that can help carry them through the current economic turbulence. In this case BA cut an ERP project with returns expected in 2011 in order to favor a customer facing in-flight wireless communications project that will provide payback in a much shorter time.

 It is interesting to compare the case above to a more optimistic view, featuring Lean IT, expressed in the a recently published paper on preparing for the upturn from this recession, which you can download by clicking here. It does resonate with the ITPro article in that does underline the need for companies to set frivolous projects aside and focus only on those that clearly produce value for customers and shareholders.

The customer centricity and eliminating wasted effort are central elements of Lean thinking which both the paper and article are touch upon and are worth a read.  

Share this post:  Email

Share