The United States Air Force and Ibm: Transformation Through Partnership

Abstract

A partner in the public sector operations strategy practice of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) must prepare for a briefing for United States Air Force (USAF) senior leadership proposing ways for the USAF to recognize significant cost savings and continuous process improvements in its Financial Services offices (FSO). Presently, each of the approximately 100 USAF bases around the world has its own local FSO that provides pay and travel processing and customer support. Similar processes are performed at each location. Staffing and quality assurance are managed locally, and legacy systems have been modified over time in response to local preferences. The IBM team has collected a vast amount of base-level process data and conducted focus groups with USAF financial management leadership, FSO personnel, and FSO customers; the partner's team must analyze the Current State and deliver a comprehensive set of cost savings' recommendations to maintain the current level of services proficiency. Excerpt UVA-OM-1447 Rev. Mar. 26, 2018 The United States Air Force and IBM: Transformation through Partnership Scavello's Dilemma Rob Scavello had graduated from the Darden School of Business in 1994 and was now a partner in the public sector operations strategy practice of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Scavello needed to prepare for a briefing with United States Air Force (USAF) senior leadership. His briefing would propose opportunities for the USAF to recognize significant cost savings and continuous process improvements in its financial management (FM) operations. Previously, the USAF had partnered with IBM to guide it through one of the largest transformations in its history. Now the IBM team had just collected a vast amount of data on the USAF's FM organization; Scavello's team had to analyze the data and deliver a comprehensive set of cost savings recommendations. USAF airmen were currently engaged in combat in two major wars. Any cost saving benefits called for changes that would cause potential disruptions. The positions and responsibilities of USAF airmen could also change as new and improved FM processes were implemented. Scavello reasoned that any recommendation his team provided USAF senior leadership must consider and mitigate any unavoidable disruptions resulting from implementing those recommendations. What would be the best course of action? Scavello opened his laptop and began to examine the data collected by the IBM team. . . .