Overview

Toyota IT realised that to deliver the value business stakeholders expected, they would need to change from a traditional back-office IT function that delivered solutions slowly, to a revenue-generating business partner that delivered strategic results quickly using an agile approach.

Toyota’s Information Systems Division (ISD) is a group of 150 people that develops and manages IT systems for Toyota’s manufacturing, design, sales, marketing and administrative functions across Australia. Toyota’s vision is to engage customers by providing a high-quality digital experience that connects customers with Toyota and Dealers from beginning to the end of their guests’ journey.

Challenge

“The team at IE have provided a significant boost to the Agile & Digital Delivery capability of Toyota’s IT team, which has been one of the key enablers of Toyota IT’s transformation from back-office IT to revenue-generating business partner; as a result of this transformation IT is now jointly leading strategic key company-wide programs, with a much more significant role within Toyota than was previously possible.”
Dimitri Colebatch - Senior Manager, Solutions

Approach

IE helped the Toyota team build their internal capability to deliver major improvements to their digital platforms.

During a long term partnership the following was delivered:

  • Trained business, marketing and digital teams in agile ways of working
  • Provided ongoing coaching to support product owners, project sponsors, project managers and developers in their new roles
  • Provided experts in agile, design thinking and digital development to lead Toyota’s digital teams
  • Set up Toyota’s scrum boards and management reports
  • Demonstrated how to plan sprints, showcase the results and run retrospectives
  • Demonstrated how to include design thinking and customer testing during every sprint
  • Enabled a seamless transition for the Toyota team to work effectively on their own

Toyota and IE continue to work closely together across ISD and other divisions.

Solution

The formal and informal training and ongoing coaching have helped to uplift agile capabilities inside Toyota and deliver results more quickly for IS and its enabling and adjacent teams, including marketing. In addition to training and coaching, IE assembled a continuous delivery team who co-located alongside Toyota staff and business partners to transform the online guest experience and support Toyota’s agile transformation.

Collaboratively, they formulated a backlog of enhancements, which are tackled in two-week sprints and displayed on screen with frequent business showcases for input and transparency. For the past two years, this team continues to work on an ever-evolving backlog, which is frequently re-prioritised based on real data, ensuring the team is focused on delivering the features which provide the greatest value to the business.

The profound impact of this training and IE’s embedded experts on the Toyota.com.au experience - both on screen and behind the scenes in the CMS - has seen their agile way of working adopted widely in the organisation.

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