Case Study: Southwest Airlines achieves faster, more efficient IT delivery with Agile Velocity

Southwest Airlines saves over $5 million in 2 months with Agile Velocity

Southwest Airlines faced a significant challenge within its Crew IT department, which consisted of 250 people across 25 teams. Despite adopting the SAFe framework, their transformation had stalled, leading to long development cycles where testing took longer than building and ideas languished for months. To address this, they partnered with vendor Agile Velocity to reignite their transformation and achieve true business agility.

Agile Velocity embedded nine coaches who worked with Southwest to co-create a transformation flight plan using their Path to Agility approach. The solution focused on cultural change and measurable outcomes rather than just process. The results were rapid, with teams building and deploying a critical application in just three weeks instead of months, saving over $5 million in the first two months. The successful transformation spread beyond IT to other parts of the organization, including marketing.

Southwest Airlines