What Vendor Strategists Need To Know About Lean — The Hot Topic For CIOs Right Now

As smart executives delve into the core of Lean Thinking, the role of technology in Lean-based performance improvements becomes abundantly clear. Senior executives expect their chief information officers (CIOs) to drive improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of technology usage as well as core business processes. When applying Lean as a performance improvement strategy, CIOs increasingly hone in on four essential practices: 1) specifying value from a business perspective using five principles; 2) defining improvement goals top-down in terms of delivery, costs, and quality; 3) implementing improvements bottom-up by eliminating waste from processes; and 4) synchronizing the top-down and bottom-up levels. Smart product and services vendors will react now and tune their product and service offerings to these new client requirements.