Opportunity?

So obviously the budget situation is difficult, at best, and likely to continue in the current direction for some time. However, we can either view this as a disaster or an opportunity. Given the changing financial landscape, what can we do to reconfigure, re-engineer, re-systematize to create a new and better product? While there are those that would argue such is not possible, I would suggest such a view is limited by the filter of the current system. How could we change/improve the system?