Boeing exec details 6 steps that transformed its business
To stay organized, I've settled on a purpose-driven model to inspire my group and keep everyone moving in the same direction. Our IT unit supports many custom-developed internal applications and even more consumer products that require multiple petabytes of big data storage, including commercial and military contracts with revenue in the billions per year. Managing such a vast, globally-dispersed team presents many challenges and opportunities, so I've settled on a useful framework.
Creating purpose to drive IT value and build staff cohesion
First of all, a business should be guided by three simple directives -- to grow the business by expanding topline revenue; to grow bottom-line profits by cutting operational and sales costs; and to mitigate liabilities by reducing business risks to the brand. These are the cornerstones.
I believe the starting point for any business manager is to establish the group's identity by defining its essential purpose and how it will drive the three cornerstones. This process may seem obvious, but it's actually quite subtle. For instance, one's job should involve more than just earning a paycheck -- it should reflect a sense of belonging to something larger than one's self.
This kind of shared purpose is crucial for creating buy-in from team members. Our IT team defines our central mission as "business technology enablement." To us, this is why IT exists -- business technology enablement is our core function, or even our calling if you will. Everything we do ties back to this specialized purpose of enabling business technology across our company.
To increase our effectiveness, we've adopted several management goals which I call the Six Levers of Business Transformation. These levers serve as shorthand tools to guide the actions of our team:
Sometimes the little things make a big difference in IT, just as in life. For example, Digital Aviation consists of four separate, wholly owned, but non-integrated subsidiaries and a small portion of Boeing employees assigned through Commercial Aviation Services. Each has their own security, their own firewalls and their own RAA (Responsibility, Accountability and Authority) to protect their entities' personally identifiable information, even from each other. Providing access by each group using their own security models and yet having a common capability was a major challenge for IT.
We successfully implemented a new security identity management platform that allowed each entity's users to leverage their existing single sign-on for authorization, thus securing access for any employee from any device. It was a relatively easy fix, but it provided a big lift for our staff morale and satisfaction.
In addition, we are exploring a new security clearance technology that uses an employee's mobile phone for a second authentication method, an alternative to security badges and other cumbersome entry systems. This basic step will allow us to take full advantage of the mobile smartphone experience, which is highly embraced by our employees.
Information technology has become an essential business enabler, but when deployed strategically, it can also create a big competitive advantage. That's why IT managers need to continually assess how well their team is pulling on the Six Levers of Business Transformation, and what they can do differently to become more efficient.
Paul Duchouquette is Director of Information Technology for CDG, a Boeing company and part of the Digital Aviation business unit within Boeing Commercial Aviation Services (CAS). Duchouquette is responsible for optimizing and transforming IT across four Boeing subsidiaries, including CDG, Jeppesen, ILS and AeroInfo. He is one of seven members of the senior leadership team at CDG.