USAA, a diversified financial services firm serving the U.S. military, had long been recognized for outstanding customer service. The company had never operated branches, instead providing services through remote channels, such as the telephone, Internet (USAA.com), mail, fax, and any bank’s...

In 2009 PepsiAmericas was learning how to leverage an information backbone designed to provide information to the firm’s decision makers at all levels of the organization. The firm had built this information backbone — and the business capability to use it effectively — over an 8-year...

Southwest Airlines has grown from upstart to the largest U.S. airline in terms of number of passengers flown while recording 34 consecutive years of profitability. Through most of those 34 years, Southwest management emphasized high touch rather than automation as critical to business success....

In 2007 Campbell Soup Company was implementing Project Harmony: a multi-year effort to implement SAP and create more standardized and integrated business processes across Campbell's North American businesses. Campbell pursued its transformation with an expectation that it would not experience...