Jetstar extends project management outsourcing deal

Jetstar’s CIO Stephen Tame has espoused the need for businesses to run leaner in order to keep IT projects on-track, as the low-budget carrier extended an outsourced project management deal for a further two years.

The carrier, which Tame claimed ‘has been running the leanest of shops since its inception in 2004’, has signed a new agreement with project services firm PM Partners Group.

PM Partners are understood to run the Project Management Office (PMO) and project management for a range of internal business projects at Jetstar.

Tame said that while Jetstar ‘is in a strong position with respect to facing existing and emerging external and financial challenges’, it is still seeking flexibility in both cost and delivery of business projects.

"A significant loss of world capital will challenge many business and IT projects and hit capital-intensive businesses, potentially including airlines," said Tame.

"We need to ensure the IT group can continue to deliver first-class services to the business without us having to maintain huge teams."

Tame said that PM Partners would supply ‘somewhere between two and two-and-a-half project managers over the term’ of the revised agreement, but that number could be scaled up on demand.

"The agreement means we are able to build delivery capability as and when required and can therefore manage a large number of virtual teams,” said Tame.

Virtual teams are understood to have been involved in a number of projects, including the launch of the domestic and international businesses, the introduction of an engineering systems solution, the rollout of web check-in and airport kiosks, and the current introduction of new operations control and crewing systems.

All projects were delivered on time and within budget, Tame said.

"When it comes to projects, the IT team's primary function is to act as a steering group over the delivery, and then to receive the project into the business-as-usual functions," said Tame.

"PM Partners runs not just the PMO, but the project management itself. So my small team is 95 per cent focused on running the business.

“The five per cent that we have left we like to use for R&D or looking at how we can innovate the business."