A major Australian airport sought to move beyond a reactive, order-taking approach to technology and create a clear, business-driven digital strategy. Its fragmented systems and tactical project delivery had limited visibility, created inefficiencies, and slowed progress. To address this, the airport required a comprehensive roadmap that linked business intent to capability uplift, clarified current and target states, and established the principles and reference architectures needed to guide both immediate tactical projects and long-term transformation.
What Prompted Change?
The airport recognised that its ICT function had been operating reactively, focused on tactical project delivery without a cohesive long-term vision. This resulted in fragmented systems, inconsistent standards, and limited alignment with broader business goals. With new digital leadership in place, there was a clear opportunity to reset the approach, moving from order-taking to strategy-driven planning. To do this effectively, the airport required a structured assessment of its current state and a business-driven roadmap that could prioritise outcomes, standardise capabilities, and guide both immediate initiatives and longer-term transformation.
Strategy in Action
Fragile to Agile was engaged to deliver the airport’s Technology Roadmap in two stages, following our structured methodology. Stage 1 provided leadership with a clear view of business intent, capabilities, and current-state architecture, along with principles and reference architectures to guide immediate tactical projects. The work offered significant new insight into the technology environment and set the foundation for future transformation.
Two years later, with business conditions altered by the pandemic, Stage 2 refreshed these deliverables and confirmed a business-driven Target State aligned to the airport’s revised priorities. A governance framework was established to ensure that projects undertaken, whether part of the roadmap or tactical responses, consistently moved the organisation closer to the agreed target state. The roadmap was endorsed by leadership, with elements selectively executed as conditions allowed.
Delivering Meaningful Impact
The staged roadmap gave the airport its first clear and comprehensive view of how technology could be structured to enable business outcomes. Even through the disruption of the pandemic, the work provided a stable foundation for decision-making, ensuring leadership had clarity on priorities and options in a highly uncertain environment.
Governance bodies and design principles continue to guide tactical initiatives, preventing further fragmentation and ensuring every project contributes to the longer-term Target State. Select elements of the roadmap have been executed, delivering early improvements in consistency, alignment, and control, while the broader roadmap remains ready to scale once conditions allow.
