Interview: easyJet, Digital Technology Leaders Awards finalist
"easyJet's background is a breakaway in the airline industry from the previous legacy carriers."
We're in an age where technology is far more than just a productivity tool: it's absolutely critical to business survival. In a time when the world has undergone many changes to 'regular' practices, tech has taken the spotlight in providing efficient and comprehensive solutions to many problems.
The Digital Technology Leaders Awards occupy a special place among Computing events. Rather than the platforms and tools, this event is dedicated to the companies and workers driving technology forwards at the leading edge of IT.
Our finalists this year - to be announced at a live ceremony on the 6th July in London - have done incredible work at a crucial time for the tech industry, and deserve recognition.
One of those finalists is easyJet, in the running for Development Team of the Year.
We talked to Dweeti Fanshawe, head of digital engineering at easyJet, about what makes her company stand out from the crowd.
Dweeti has more than 20 years' experience in the tech sector. In her role at easyJet, she leads multi-disciplined teams driving business value and optimisation of technology, process and practice on a combination of our customer facing channels. She is passionate about building strong self-organising teams aligned to a common vision.
Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers.
Dweeti Fanshawe: easyJet is Europe's leading airline, offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe's primary airports, with great value fares and friendly service. easyJet flies on more of Europe's most popular routes than any other airline and carried more than 96 million passengers in 2019 - more than 16 million travelling for business. The airline has over 300 aircraft on nearly 1000 routes to more than 150 airports across 35 countries. Over 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport. Innovation is in easyJet's DNA - since launching over 25 years ago, easyJet changed the way people fly to the present day where the airline leads the industry in digital, web, engineering and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for its passengers.
CTG: What makes you different from other technology companies?
DF: easyJet's background is a breakaway in the airline industry from the previous legacy carriers (first low-cost airline to market in the industry: offering flights for the price of a pair of jeans). The technology teams have grown from the organisations' ethos of innovation and differentiation, resulting in forward-looking teams that are focused on delivering value at pace, while continuously driving leading edge technology changes.
CTG: What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
DF: There are many achievements over the last 12 months we are proud of; however, the one that stands out most is the significant step change we've made to align our product and delivery teams under a unified digital function. The change has unlocked our ability to drive forward a fully aligned commercial and technical strategy for our customer channels.
CTG: What are you working on this year?
DF: We have a robust pipeline of prioritised work in our backlog focusing on continuous improvement. There is a strong emphasis on improving our customer offering while simplifying and strengthening our technical landscape.
CTG: Why are events like the Digital Technology Leaders Awards important to the IT Industry?
DF: These awards events are incredibly important to us as it's a great opportunity to share our achievements as an organisation while recognising our people's contribution in our success. There are historically very few airlines represented at digital awards and we take pride in being short-listed within the Development Team of the Year category at these awards.