CIO — Change happens, but managing change to your advantage is another matter. "A capacity to change is indispensable. Equally indispensable is the capacity to hold fast to that which is good," noted cold warrior John Foster Dulles. Since it began operations in 1973, Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx has shown an ability to change without losing touch with its essential mission. External conditions such as technology and competition have shifted enormously during that 28-year period, yet FedEx has been able to accommodate them all, introducing new services and systems alike without the wild fluctuations in growth, profitability, efficiency or employee morale that have afflicted most companies.
At the heart of this ability to manage change is an aggressive, even visionary, approach to IT. "One of the exciting things about FedEx is that people at every level of the organization understand the importance of information," declares Robert B. Carter, the company’s 41-year-old CIO and executive vice president. "IT takes a very prominent place at the strategic business discussion level within the corporation in a way that allows funding, focus and initiative to flow."
Carter’s role at FedEx is evidence of that. Appointed last year to occupy a position first held by James Barksdale?the James Barksdale who went on to become president of Netscape Communications?Carter leads an IT empire that includes 5,000 employees, seven domestic data centers, and a $1.5 billion annual budget for IT infrastructure, capital and expenses.
FedEx founder Fred Smith, arguably the inventor of the express delivery industry, has always viewed IT as the core element of his company’s business formula. As early as 1979, Smith had this to say about the role of IT in his industry’s future: "Information about the package is as important as the package itself." Now that’s vision! Smith’s prophecy was uttered around the same time FedEx introduced COSMOS (Customers, Operations and Services Master Online System), the world’s first global shipment tracking network based on a centralized computer network.
The years since have featured one expectation-shattering IT innovation after another. In 1981, the company inaugurated the use of bar code labeling in ground transportation. In 1984, FedEx rolled out a PC-based automated shipping system for customers moving more than five packages per day. In 1994, the FedEx website, www.fedex.com, became the first to let customers track their packages on the Internet. Two years later, that capability was extended, allowing customers to create shipping labels and order courier pickups.
From Within
The most significant recent change at FedEx was a massive reorganization announced Jan. 19, 2000. The company consolidated four of its five operating subsidiaries under the FedEx brand name and moved most of its IT, sales and marketing staff into a new company, FedEx Corporate. At the same time, FedEx realigned the relationships of these companies to one another, aiming to provide customers with a single point of access to sales, customer service, billing and automation systems.
