Priority No. 1: Free Up Money For New Projects

摘要

Most companies, and especially their IT organizations, have been living the mantra "do more with less" for the better part of a decade. But for those who still don't get it, last week's financial industry news was a wake-up call. On a macro scale at least, money s as tight as the Merrill Lynch bull's backside in fly season, as more global financial icons head for bankruptcy or government bailout. Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Love-man, speaking at the InformationWeek 500 Conference in Monarch Beach, Calif., last week, framed the spending challenge for his casino industry in these terms: "In a business that loves to consume capital, we need to find ways to make our businesses more profitable without building multibillion-dollar properties." For Harrah's, that means taking fuller advantage of existing infrastructure-for instance, by extending the company's Total Rewards customer-loyalty program beyond gambling to shopping, dining, and other services, and by licensing its gaming expertise to third-party operators such as cruise lines.