IBS Software:
Digital transformation in aviation and travel
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How IBS Software is helping airlines with their digital transformation WRIT TEN BY
SOPHIE CHAPM AN PRODUCED BY
M ANUEL NAVARRO
MARCH 2019
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Leading airlines and travel providers are partnering with IBS Software for transforming their business operations and Daniel Stecher,IBS’ Vice President of Airline Operations, tells us why...
I
BS Software is a leading provider of software products and services for mission critical and key business operations for the global travel,
transportation and logistics industry. The firm powers some of the world’s best airlines, busiest airports, leading cruise lines, major hotels, travel distributors, and top oil 04
and gas companies. Established in 1997 in India, the company has since established a global presence with 10 offices across the Asia-Pacific (including Japan), the Middle East, Europe, and North America, with its global headquarters in Singapore. “As our chairman, V K Mathews puts it, the key word that is core to our story is ‘focus’. Domain focus has been key to our success within travel, transportation and logistics. We are also technology-focused – as we choose only to work with modern technology and are determined to take the industry out of the clutches of legacy systems,” reveals Daniel Stecher, Vice President, Airline Operations at IBS. The company’s products and services are designed to leverage modern technologies to enable its customers to benefit from evolving technology trends such as mobility, big data, blockchain, analytics and cloud computing. “Our vision is centered around building next generation
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“ Our vision is centered around building next generation platforms and products to help our customers on their business transformation journeys”
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— Daniel Stecher Vice President of Airline Operation, IBS Software
platforms and products to help our customers on their business transformation journeys. Our core values help us translate that vision into reality,” says Stecher. The core values of precision, passion, commitment, integrity and respect for the individual are guiding principles for the organisation. For an industry that has been resistant to incorporating evolving technology, travel and tourism is ripe for disruption that will touch on every phase of the customer experience. With significant digital disruptions in the market place, consumer behaviour is changing and new business models are evolving. Digital trends that simplify decision making in travel like big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help personalise travel services. IBS claims the desire for unique experiences has been the most crucial customer demand this year. “To address the shifting industry landscape, digital business strategies are what travel service providers are looking at. Over time, the value of their enterprise is going to shift more towards digital assets than physical. Travel companies are becoming increasingly
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘IBS SOFTWARE - SHOWCASE’ 07 aware of the need to build their digital
do we facilitate ‘Collaborative Disrup-
capabilities and to fulfil these require-
tion Management’ and help airlines
ments, they will want digital ready
avoid burning money? The key to
infrastructure. IBS is well positioned to
digital transformation lies in answering
help our customers on this journey and
such questions”.
serve them as digital enterprises,”
IBS’ core technology strategies are
Stecher reveals. “In operations control,
based on robust technology selection,
for example, when it comes to digital
scalable and flexible product architec-
Operation Control Centres we like to
ture, and reusable components, with
ask our customers how concepts like
solutions for the travel marketplace, air
big data, IoT, predictive analytics, and
cargo operations, upstream oil and gas
the cloud translate to real value in
logistics, airline passenger services,
airline operations? How do we effec-
loyalty management, and flight and
tively conduct the evolution of the
airport operations. The firm also offers
digital OCC from legacy systems? How
services featuring industry-specific, w w w.i bsp lc. com
“With iFlight NEO, we enable carriers to better work on disruptions, as the system makes use of real time data for proactive disruption management” — Daniel Stecher Vice President of Airline Operation, IBS Software 08
specialized information technology.
to extract the multidimensional value of
“We have adopted a unique collabora-
cloud services: “The benefit is that you
tive approach to developing a product
can really harmonise data much easier
roadmap wherein we gather insights
if you have everything in the cloud. Of
into the future direction and next
course, security plays an important
generation technology needs of the
role, especially considering GDPR and
sectors. Our differentiated approach to
as a digital company we consider data
product development allows us to
protection and personal privacy,” adds
deepen our industry knowledge, align
Stecher. The company’s products are
our software products to our custom-
delivered as Software as a Service
er’s evolving business needs and
(SaaS) which is made possible through
identify early adopters for our new
global custom data centres being
software products,” Stecher notes.
equipped with the necessary informa-
IBS has been pursuing strategies
tion technology infrastructure to
ensure high levels of security, redun-
through these high maintenance
dancy and uptime. With minimal
legacy mainframe systems not only
investment in technology infrastruc-
becomes difficult for airlines, but also
ture, airline companies and travel
poses an intolerably high level of risk
service providers are able to make use
for the business. In effect, we are not
of volume-based expenditure control.
only replacing this one system; we are
The company is currently working
replacing four others,” Stecher notes.
with a number of the leading airlines in
Overcoming the heavy cost implica-
Europe. According to Stecher, some of
tions of migrating away from legacy
these airlines use decades old legacy
systems begins with looking at a cloud-
systems. “IBS is currently working with
based approach. The company’s new
these airlines on huge digitalisation
digital platforms are not only cloud
projects, because they have been
native, but are also cloud agnostic. The
using the same systems for 3 or 4
recently launched iFlight NEO system
decades. Sustaining operations
is an integrated digital platform, which
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Daniel Stecher As Vice President and Head of Global Sales for Airline Operations Daniel is responsible for global sales and business development of the brand new airline operations digital platform “iFlight NEO”. He created the OPS 2020 industry event which brings together global airlines and is dedicated to the global Airline Operations and Crew Management Community. He has more than 20 years of experience spanning over the logistics industry and has been traveling more than one and a half million miles, in order to meet with industry experts and customers from the air cargo industry and airline business IT solutions industry.
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“ We look at DELL as a strategic supplier, because for us, the first priority for our enterprise requirements is the quality of aftersales support we receive” — Daniel Stecher Vice President of Airline Operation, IBS Software
being an important factor of airlines giving us data to store in the cloud, we rely on Dell to supply us with hardware that will perform well. There is a train of trust – as we trust Dell, this trust is pushed further into the market as we offer our solutions to customers,” says Stecher. More importantly, the firm also provides Chassis and Blade servers and virtualisation technology for IBS’ private cloud. Its EMC VNX, Unity, and SC series meet IBS’ storage requirement for their SaaS DCs and internal private cloud. “We look at DELL as a strategic supplier, because for us,
enable carriers to manage their
the first priority for our enterprise
operations, including fleet, hub and
requirements is the quality of after-
crew. The operations control and core
sales support we receive. Their techni-
management system aims to utilise the
cal know-how and customer service of
firms’ resources and incorporate the
DELL support engineers are best in
latest technologies. “With iFlight NEO,
class and makes all the difference. The
we enable carriers to better work on
DELL-EMC-VMW Technology alliance
disruptions, as the system makes use
also comes to our advantage since DELL
of real time data for proactive disrup-
is able to act as a single point of contact
tion management,” says Stecher.
during any technical issues or failures.”
As the company progresses, IBS
As IBS continues to expand its
turns to DELL as a strategic partner for
services and partners, Stecher reveals
its hardware needs. DELL supplies IBS’
the biggest obstacles the company will
employees’ Enterprise class desktops,
have going forward. He cites the
such as the DELL OptiPlex series, and
largest challenge as the objection to
DELL Latitude laptops. “With liability
change within the airline industry, w w w.i bsp lc. com
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“Very often we have to offer explanations to initiate change. That’s the biggest obstacle to building trust with people when they begin to think about necessity of change.”
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— Daniel Stecher Vice President of Airline Operation, IBS Software
which he says is “very risk averse”. “It’s a very safety and regulation-oriented industry and will never compromise on safety. Technology has not always provided absolute safety, so very often we have to offer explanations to initiate change. That’s the biggest obstacle with building trust with people when they begin to think about necessity of change.” Despite these obstacles, Stecher and the IBS team will move forward introducing new technologies to aging systems in order to make a real difference to the airline industry and beyond.
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IBS Software 5th Floor, Nila, Technopark Thiruvananthapuram Kerala T +91 471 661 4200 www.ibsplc.com