Despite the lack of acceptance to date, there is in fact much that financial services companies can learn from Lean methodologies and more specifically Lean IT.

With Lean IT, technology can lead the way in providing value across the enterprise, but it is the alignment with business strategy and the proper governance model that will ensure success and achieve measurable results. Forward-thinking organizations are already well along this path. For others, economic conditions should be driving them to look at the benefits of Lean IT, which begins, proceeds, and ends with a foundation built on a disciplined approach to enterprise IT management (EITM).

While most financial services IT environments are destined to remain multivendor and heterogeneous for the foreseeable future, selecting an IT management partner with a broad solution base and proven history of integrated EITM solution implementations will be critical for Lean IT success.