Southwest Case Questions

Southwest Airlines has always been known for its innovation but for the first decade of its operations, IT innovation was not part of the plan. Starting in the 1980’s this began to change. What innovations did IT enable at Southwest in the 1980’s, 1990’s, and into the early 2000’s; and what were the business drivers behind these innovations?

|IT-enabled Innovation: |Business Drivers: |

|Redesigned reservation system |To continue to compete with the major air carriers, while still keeping costs lower |

| |Reservation system became industry’s first ticketless system, eliminating need to print & process|

| |paper tickets & as a result, keep costs low |

| |Allow for future expansion with existing IT infrastructure |

| |Reservation system includes options that would support seat assignments, codeshare agreements & |

| |international travel, should SWA choose to expand its operations |

|Southwest.com website |Provide customers with increased access to flight information & ticketing options |

| |Remain competitive in rapidly changing airline industry |

| |Southwest.com was first airline to sell tickets on its website |

|Airport Kiosks |Ease flow of passengers through airport & improve overall customer experience |

|...