Does your organisation purchase technology and then think what to do with it?
I am currently reading for the second time a great book by Microsoft Vice-President Bob McDowell, and William L. Simon called "In Search Of Business Value". It is based on dozens of interviews with CIO's ranging from small business through to multinationals, the public service, and even the military. Lots of practical advice, best practice and experience to learn from!
One of the examples in the book is that of US airline JetBlue. JetBlue started operations in 2000 (pretty bad timing... actually I would say the worst time to start an airline EVER! (not really their fault BTW)) and are now topping industry customer satisfaction and profitability measurements.
The interesting point is that JetBlue also boast a technology budget of only 1.4% of total revenues. Why is that interesting? Because the industry standard is 5%. The book moves onto another example at that point, but I would like to add my interpretation as to why JetBlue can get away with it!
Guy Kawasaki (venture capitalist, blogger, and ex-Apple Evangelist) regularly talks about entrepreneurship and innovation. One of his 'top ten' in the article "the Art of Innovation" is to "Jump the next curve". Guy explains it best in his post:
"Jump to the next curve. Too many companies duke it out on the same curve. If they were daisy wheel printer companies, they think innovation means adding Helvetica in 24 points. Instead, they should invent laser printing. True innovation happens when a company jumps to the next curve--or better still, invents the next curve, so set your goals high."
What does this have to do with JetBlue and how they achieve superior business value with a lower investment in technology than their competitors? Simple. JetBlue jumps the next curve when it comes to what they invest their technology dollars in. Whilst their competitors continued to rely on paper based maintenance documentation, JetBlue jumped the next curve and invested in electronic reporting for their engineers. Whilst their competitors pilots relied on ever updating paper based manuals and paperwork submissions, JetBlue gave every pilot a laptop, which automatically updates their flight manuals every morning.
The point I am trying to make is this. Technology investment should not be made to 'keep up with the Jones' and therefore continue mediocrity. Technology investment should be made to enable your people and processes to 'Jump to the next curve'.
Further more... in this day and age your customers (and shareholders) are expecting this.
Comments