Saudi Arabian Airlines IMCAN customer story

eMbracING IT
Transformation
for a better
future
CUSTOMER STORY
Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) wanted to
build an IT infrastructure which would offer
its passengers an outstanding experience
no matter what their departure point or
destination across the 250 sites in its
55-country network.
“For such a large-scale, advanced and complicated project,
SITA stood out as the obvious choice. SITA is the only company
which can handle projects of this size, not only with limited risks
and high chances of success, but also providing a portfolio of
innovative solutions and services that will enable us to better
meet our future business goals and privatization plans,” said Dr.
Omar Jefri, Executive Vice President, Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Achieving this would necessitate a complete overhaul of
its existing IT infrastructure and a move to a robust IPbased infrastructure. This would enable Saudia to move to
a new passenger management system, a modernized flight
operations and planning application, and the deployment of a
new corporate HR and finance management platform.
In January 2009, Saudia signed a US$76 million, five-year
contract to outsource its entire communications, telephony
and desktop activities to SITA. The motivation was to give the
airline the robust platform needed to implement a wide-range
of business critical applications such as a new passenger
management system. The vast project would involve replacing
over 300 legacy leased lines and 5,000 desktops, printers and
servers at 100 airports and city offices in 55 countries. A project
team was established comprising over 80 staff, drawn from both
SITA and Saudia.
The challenge was to find an IT partner that could provide
accelerated, reliable network optimization to help Saudia
replace its existing silo-based IT infrastructure and lowspeed legacy leased lines. The partner would also need
to create a network architecture which could support new
business-critical applications for passenger reservations,
flight operations, supply chain and maintenance and repair.
Another key consideration underlying the move was the
opportunity to increase productivity and efficiency through
eliminating the need for costly levels of support for legacy
equipment and connectivity.
THE STORY OF IMCAN
And so Project IMCAN was born.
IMCAN (International Managed Converged Advanced Network)
is a strategic partnership between Saudia and SITA which has
overhauled the entire IT activity of the airline’s outstations in
55 countries by outsourcing it to SITA, a strategic partner with
a worldwide connectivity network.
This has provided the airline with the platform and skills for a
transformation of its business processes.
IMCAN provided a unified concept for the IT migration of all
Saudia’s international sites in a coherent manner which allowed
business targets to be translated into realizable time-bound
action plans.
Implementation began in 2009 and was completed on time
for the roll-out of the new business applications in 2010. The
SITA project team, including up to 20 specialists in program
management and five solution designers, worked closely with
their counterparts on the Saudia project team and were in
daily communication on both implementation and operational
issues. Stringent Service Level Agreements governing all
activities were reviewed quarterly.
A VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENT
“Rapid proactive support is vital because the network supports
business critical applications. SITA would know if network
traffic behavior is irregular before the customer experiences
it, and we can fix it before they have a problem,” says Hani ElAssaad, SITA President, Middle East, India & Africa
Because many of Saudia’s business applications are now in a
hosted environment, they do not require as much local support
as previously. But not all are virtualized, some require remote
desktop management which Saudia is also able to carry out
through the SITA managed desktop.
“RAPID PROACTIVE SUPPORT IS VITAL BECAUSE THE NETWORK
SUPPORTS BUSINESS CRITICAL APPLICATIONS.”
HANI EL-ASSAAD
SITA PRESIDENT, MIDDLE EAST, INDIA & AFRICA
2
© SITA 2014
2012
Saudia’s successful IT migration has been taking place in
a context of sweeping modernization as the national flag
carrier moves to becoming a private entity ready to build on
its core business. This includes a major seasonal logistical
exercise, the carrying of two to three million pilgrims every
year to Makkah and Medina for the Hajj. As part of its fleet
modernization, Saudia has recently bought 90 new aircraft
from Airbus and Boeing, bringing its active fleet to 103
aircraft, and is planning to purchase a further 50 new aircraft.
The underlying network is also very flexible. “The network
is very dynamic. It can easily be upgraded to support new
applications so that Saudia can grow at the pace they want.
The network classes of service means it is easy for us to
manage new types of traffic,” adds Hani El -Assaad.
Essentially, IMCAN can be seen as a ‘wagon’ which carries all
the business applications necessary to support the airline’s
mission critical processes including passenger reservations,
departure control, baggage management and flight operations.
IMCAN has also eliminated any issues – including possible
fines – with the European Union authorities which consider the
operation of legacy equipment such as green screens illegal
due to environmental regulations.
“We have already privatized the catering, cargo and ground
services sectors. Prince Sultan Aviation Academy and the
Technical & Maintenance Services Division.are in the process
of being privatized. We are making intensive preparations
for the privatization of the core airline unit by modernizing
its fleet and developing its technical infrastructure and are
presenting a proposal to the Supreme Economic Council (SEC)
to complete the privatization process,” Abdullah Al-Ajhar,
Vice President of Public Relations told Arab News prior to the
airline reaching agreement with SITA on Project IMCAN.
As Saudia moved to privatize the main airline operations,
it embodied analyst company Gartner’s observation that
“Companies will continue to see growth in communications
needs, with more network technology and more convergence
between voice, data, and mobile. Increasingly, IT and
networking are becoming the dominant components of
business process innovation and process fusion.”
TOTAL SCALABILITY
Thanks to IP-based solutions, Saudia can now take advantage
of total scalability and network integration to meet business
requirements at any one of its locations for data, voice and,
possibly, video while avoiding the ‘per use’ charges which
prevailed under the mix of legacy and IP links and replacing
them with a flat fee.
Previously the airline’s IT profile included an unwieldy mix
of legacy and IP links including some 400 legacy low-speed
connections and another 50 IPVPN connections. Optimization
is now assured through unifying the virtual links in one
physical connection with traffic engineering.
Major savings are being made on international telephone
charges thanks to IP Telephony and the Saudia connection to
the SITA network.
© SITA 2014
2012
PROJECT IMCAN
Project IMCAN has not only provided full IT migration for
all Saudia out-stations but a complete managed solution:
•
Telecommunications lines via state-of-the-art IPVPN
connections
•
Customized desktop PCs and printers that are built
based on the applications’ requirements
• IP Telephony for all the applicable sites
• Security Management
• Mobility solution for Saudia travelers
• Complete operations and support plan
3
“We are delighted with the new ICT infrastructure
provided by SITA. It allows us to roll out our new business
critical applications on a consistent, global basis,” said
Mr. Muhammad Ali AlBakri, Vice President IT Saudi Arabian
Airlines. “We can now also improve our customer-facing
operations such as the call center and online booking.
This will give our customers more options when they want
to fly with us.”
The future does not stop there. The airline is now wellpositioned to take advantage of the full-range of passenger
self-service functionality which requires an IMCAN-level
of investment in IT infrastructure.
Worldwide trends such as the growing adoption of the
smartphone, particularly by premium passengers and
frequent flyers, justify the level of Saudia’s investment
which will allow it to cater to a passenger base increasingly
used to remote check-in, mobile boarding passes,
self-tagging and bag drop.
SAUDIA NOW STANDS PROUDLY
ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE NEW
AGE OF INTELLIGENT DIGITAL
TRAVEL.
“WE CAN NOW ALSO IMPROVE
OUR CUSTOMER-FACING
OPERATIONS SUCH AS THE CALL
CENTER AND ONLINE BOOKING.
THIS WILL GIVE OUR CUSTOMERS
MORE OPTIONS WHEN THEY
WANT TO FLY WITH US.”
MR. MUHAMMAD ALI ALBAKRI
VP IT SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES
SITA AT A GLANCE
We
are
world’s leading specialists in air transport
SITA
ATthe
A GLANCE
communications and IT solutions.
We are the world’s leading specialists in air transport
We
deliver and manage
business solutions for airline,
communications
and IT solutions.
airport, GDS, government and other customers over
We deliver
manage
business
solutions
for airline,
the
world’s and
most
extensive
network,
which forms
airport,
GDS, government
and other
the
communications
backbone
of thecustomers
global air over
the world’s
most extensive network, which forms
transport
industry.
the communications backbone of the global air
transport industry.
For further information, please visit www.sita.aero
For further information, please visit www.sita.aero
Follow us on www.sita.aero/socialhub
For more information on XXXXXXXXX
visit xxxxxxxxxxxxx
©
© SITA
SITA 14-END-059-2
XXXXXXXX
All
All trademarks
trademarks acknowledged.
acknowledged. Specifications
Specifications subject to change without prior notice.
notice.
This
This literature
literature provides
provides outline
outline information
information only
only and
and (unless
(unless specifically
specifically agreed
agreed
to
to the
the contrary
contrary by
by SITA
SITA in
in writing)
writing) is
is not
not part
part of
of any
any order
order or
or contract.
contract.