Regional e-Newsletter ECE H1 2009
H1 | March 2009 |
East and Central Europe |
Community, Innovation and Environment
SITA Global Services - A working field description
Introduction by Rainer Berger
Regional Vice President for SITA Global Services, East and Central Europe
Welcome to the new edition of our regional e-newsletter, the first issue this year - the year in which SITA celebrates its 60th anniversary.
As the person responsible for SITA Global Services (SGS) for the ECE Region I would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to this organization, formerly known as Customer Services & Operations.
Over the last couple of years the IT environment for the air transport industry has been through significant changes. It has now become business critical for all our customers to achieve Zero system downtime. In addition, we know that "right the first time" change management and end-to-end Service Level Agreements (SLA) are key to the success of our customers, to ensure best-in-class services for millions of passengers.
The new SGS structure provides a multi-vendor customer service and operations capability with integrated SLA (end-to-end monitoring) to reach zero downtime performance. It is indeed our goal to champion the needs of the customer within SITA, and to provide world-class service management seamlessly across SITA products and services around the globe, combining our global capabilities and knowledge with local presence.
Operational excellence is achieved through skilled and knowledgeable people, supported by strong tools and best practices.
Our service managers understand not only the "IT" of their customers, but also their business needs and the surrounding complexity of their environment. Customers acknowledge that they have more time to concentrate on their core business when they have an agent working for them who understands all the processes within a large organization like SITA, and most important knows their company as well.
In this edition of the newsletter we have included an interview with Birgit Galler, one of our Service Managers, to show you how we "walk the talk".
There are many more examples, and I am more than happy to discuss them in person with you.
I wish you a happy reading!
East and Central Europe Focus
Swissport and SITA launch world's first common-use bag drop solution for airlines at Zurich Airport
Swissport International and SITA have deployed the world's first passenger bag-drop solution which allows a single bag-drop counter to be used to service passengers from several airlines in the same queue. The solution is a major innovation for a smarter process flow. Ten counters have been created and successfully tested at Zurich Airport for the benefit of eleven airlines - including most of the Star Alliance. Their host departure control system is recognized by SITA's new software solution, known as PassengerBagdrop, which eliminates a potential bottleneck in the passenger management process.
New SITA solution allows Russian airline S7 to book with 530 airlines and boost revenues
Russia's largest domestic airline S7 is the first to implement SITA Marketplace-Air, enabling its sales agents, partner travel agents and customers booking on their website, to access and book last seat availability on 530 airlines through SITA Reservations. SITA partnered with Travelport GDS to provide S7 with the solution, which is now being made available to other carriers hosted on SITA Reservations and which, within SITA Reservations, provides real-time access to the inventory of an additional 400 airlines through a single booking solution.
Strategic Insight
Listen to our latest Webcasts and Webinars
How IT can help airlines meet the environmental regulatory burden
This Webcast addresses the impact of new environmental regulations on airlines' operations, with a focus on the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), and presents how information technology systems can help airlines demonstrate their compliance and control their environmental data - without suffering economically from this new burden. The webcast includes presentations from SITA and invited industry experts from the European Commission and EUROCONTROL.
Baggage: the past, the present and the future (UPCOMING)
Scheduled 22 April, this Webcast will cover today's baggage trends and initiatives, presenting IATA's Baggage Improvement Program and providing a view of the future, demonstrating how technology can help address the business challenges.
> Learn more about SITA Webcasts
Airline IT Trends Survey 2009
The 11th edition of the Airline IT Trend Survey is closing soon, and if you have not yet had a chance to complete the survey, we would very much appreciate your responses now.
As usual, the survey is being conducted by an independent research agency and your answers will be treated in total confidentiality. The findings will be analyzed and presented in aggregate form only, so that the data will not be attributable to specific respondents.
In return for taking part in the survey, you will be offered a free annual subscription to Airline Business magazine, as well as a copy of the full report on CD. The Airline IT Trend Survey is organized jointly by Airline Business and SITA.
If you have not received the questionnaire to fill in for this survey, please contact Sophie Schell or Alexandra Kuptsova.
Thank you very much.
Community, Innovation and Environment
SITA ATI Messaging Journal
The SITA Air Transport Industry Messaging Journal aims to provide a perspective on the global market, based on our unique position at the heart of the industry. Since our Messaging services are affected by any evolution in community processes, we are well-positioned to measure their impact and progress.
Award recognizes SITA's role in the Beijing Olympics and its record in air transport innovation
At the 2009 Asia Pacific Frost & Sullivan Aerospace & Defence Awards ceremony, SITA was named as Airport Support Service Provider of the Year. The award follows extensive research by Frost & Sullivan into airport service providers based in Asia Pacific. SITA's long history of achievement in the region was identified as its core strength and the company's position as market leader has been confirmed by its high profile contribution to the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The award recognizes SITA as a trusted IT services provider working with over 120 airports and 260 airlines in Asia Pacific.
SITA's Environmental Working Group is full-steam ahead on the EU ETS implementation
With the broad range of regulatory initiatives and recommendations that have recently been introduced to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment, the industry has a collective interest in understanding the implications of these changes and in ensuring their enforcement does not lead to competitive distortion.
In this spirit SITA created a Working Group for Environmental Regulations Implementation in 2008, and its members now represent 24 airlines and one regional airline association.
The Working Group aims to:
- Reduce industry costs related to implementation of new national or regional environmental regulations; and to share understanding, experience and know-how about environmental regulations.
- Maintain operational and regulatory effectiveness for all stakeholders while adhering to environmental regulations.
- Reduce the costs of verification and the frequency of litigation between airlines and regulators, thereby ensuring competitive fairness amongst stakeholders.
The Working Group does not lobby policy makers on regulation content or principles, and takes no political position on environmental matters.
One of the research streams is geared to understanding how information technology systems can help airlines demonstrate their compliance and control their environmental data - without suffering undue economic consequences from this new burden.
SITA Web site Awarded
Following the launch of our new Website, the Flight Global Webbies Aviation Web Awards have awarded SITA the Bronze Price - Best New Aviation Website.
Judges liked the wide range of SITA's capabilities, including the presentation of complex information in an easily digestible form, accessible navigation, and the interactive graphic display for the Products and Solutions section.
And you, what do you like most? Fill out our survey or drop us a line to let us know.
SITA Global Services - A working field description
Interview with Birgit Galler, SITA Service Manager
You are working as a Service Manager for SITA. So to start with a simple question, how long have you been doing this activity and what is your background?
Thanks for welcoming me... I have been doing this job now for almost 5 years. My background is IT related. Before working for SITA I was working in the IT department of Daimler in Rome, Italy, taking care of special IT projects, reporting to headquarters and managing the suppliers from an IT perspective. Before this I worked in the air transport industry.
With how many customers do you work with?
Well, I am currently dealing with four customers, all of which are flag carriers in their country.
Do all Service Managers work for four customers?
No, no. How many customers a Service Manager deals with depends on the overall type of services a customer is expecting - including for example the number of network connections. Based on the requirements and service topology/inventory of our customers, SITA tailors the best appropriate support structure in regards to Service Management. This depends as stated above on the services provided by SITA and as well on individual needs (for example, customized daily/weekly/monthly service reports, SLA reporting).
What does a typical business day look like for you?
A typical business day does not really exist for a Service Manager. In general I don't have a "9 to 5 job". If something urgent comes up (like urgent configuration changes) usually my customers call me directly. This can happen at 7.00 in the morning, 8.00 p.m. or even during the weekend. In these cases you need to react and act immediately, no matter whether you are out of business hours or not! On a normal day I deal with the following tasks: following up all operational issues from the customer side, like programmed configuration changes, routing changes for type messaging, checking invoices and inventory update, tracking orders, planning and preparation of operational meetings and reports requested by the customer, SLA parameter controlling on a daily basis, etc.
Also, internally I do have a certain number of reports and projects (like MCS testing) which need to be followed up on a regular basis to ensure adequate communication.
If you had to summarize in one sentence the scope of your activity, what would you say?
In general the Service Manager acts as our customer's advocate, building the interface between the customer on the one side and SITA's providers on the other side.
And in more details, what does it cover?
I mainly deal with network and messaging-related projects but also with desktop-related questions, requests for Liaison licences and generally all kind of administrative issues: if my customers have questions regarding their invoices or simply do not know whom to contact in SITA for a specific request, I am the entry point.
From time to time I am also asked for advice regarding technical solutions or feasibility of solutions (for example, DSL versus. ISP). In such situations we discuss and work closely with our Solution Designers to make sure we always achieve the best results.
What do you consider the most rewarding in your activity?
When I help my customer to successfully solve a problem or find a solution in a difficult situation. It is often an accumulation of many small things which make the difference in the end.
What are you most proud of? What is most challenging?
The most challenging and at the same time most interesting part of my job is that I am continuously faced with completely different situations and problems which need to be solved. You need to use all your know-how, 'can-do' attitude and sometimes also innovative thinking to move forward! And when I need help from my colleagues to solve something, I can always count on them as we do have a fantastic team spirit in our region.
What kind of relationship do you have with your customers?
The relationship with my customers is a quite straightforward one. On a daily basis I am in contact with the operational people from the IT department in their headquarters - via email or if more urgent by phone. I also get direct requests from the local end-user. Furthermore, we hold regular operational meetings where we discuss projects with the Account Managers, Solutions Designers and their heads of IT.
How important is your role for your customers? How do they express it to you? Would you have an anecdote to tell us, where you "saved" a customer?
A customer once asked me to process a cancellation order for a network connection, two days before the due date. On the final disconnection date the customer discovered that their new solution with a different supplier was technically not feasible. So they asked me if there is any chance to stop the cancellation at last minute's notice. We succeeded in not cancelling the connection which was business critical to the customer.
Our customers value the role of Service Manager as very important. Customers know that we are a reliable resource on which they can always count. We are there to take care of them, understand their business and work on value-added solutions. Most of my colleagues, like myself, do work for the same customers for many years, so we have an in-depth view of their typical business needs, we know their topology, their setup and so on.
Where do you still see opportunities to optimize the relationship and the work with your customers?
There are always areas for improvement, of course. My personal wish is to be in more direct contact with my customers. My experience shows me that a personal two hour meeting offers more value for both parties than 10 hours of conference calls. Since the Service Manager is very familiar with our customer's services our goal is to identify and implement new technologies/services and achieve cost savings, together with our customers and their SITA support team (including the Account Manager and Solution Designers).
What happens when you are on holiday? Is there someone who replaces you during your absence?
Our line manager Florian Bodenschatz coordinates the holidays for the whole regional Service Manager team and he ensures that there is always backup during the absence of colleagues. Our customers get support from SITA every single day all year through.
Within ECE 12 Service Managers in 8 locations offer support to our customers. Over the whole world almost 100 Service Managers are there to support and take care of them! It is worth mentioning that besides Service Management, SITA offers additional customized operational support to our customers, for example dedicated customer service desks, life cycle management and more.
Thank you very much for this considerable insight Birgit. We can see that your job includes many interesting and important activities. To finish with a last question, what do you like most in your job?
I like the direct relationship with my customers - the ability to work with people who speak the "same language" and even though this job is quite stressful from time to time, it is a really exciting and demanding one which I do not want to miss!
This interview was carried out by Helge Stein, Regional Marketing, SITA.
Your opinion counts
We are very much interested in your opinion!
Let us know what you think of our East and Central Europe e-Newsletter by answering to short poll. Just 30 seconds of your time will help us improve future issues by better understanding what you expect.
If you would like to transmit any additional comments, please contact Sophie Schell.
Events - Come and meet us
We look forward to meeting you at the upcoming events in our region
4th Aviation & Environment Summit 2009
31 March - 1 April
Geneva, Switzerland
The 4th edition of the Aviation & Environment Summit organized by ATAG is taking place in Geneva on 31 March and 1 April to review the latest status on environmental projects initiated by ATI (e.g. how airlines can reduce fuel consumption and therefore their CO2 emissions, when biofuels can replace fossil fuel to power aircraft). Another part of the conference is devoted to the post-Kyoto negotiations on green house gas (GHG) emissions, which are planned in Copenhagen at the end of the year. The ATI community expects aviation to be included in this new GHG emission reduction scheme.
Don't forget to stop at our booth and collect our new white paper: The Air Transport Industry and the Environment.
Regional Airline Conference 2009
1-2 April
Warsaw, Poland
The Regional Airline Conference is taking place in Warsaw on 1-2 April 2009, with 4 main conference streams addressing the change of the industry, its sustainability, and debating the possible new business and revenue opportunities.
Air Transport Infrastructure
22 April
Moscow, Russia
The conference is a unique event, which provides a place for specialists' regular meetings to discuss problems and issues of air transport complex development. The conference draws over 150 representatives of airports, airlines, suppliers and aviation officials. SITA will present its 'Airport know-how' approach for running efficient airports and airlines.
Aviation IT Forum
4 June
Moscow, Russia
Participants of the forum will be able to have a professional dialogue about IT challenges, needs, novelties and prospects in aviation industry.
Air Transport IT Summit
30 June - 1 July
Cannes, France
This year's prestigious Air Transport IT Summit will focus on IT as a force for change. To be held in Cannes, France on July 1, the Summit will attract over 200 delegates and already features an impressive speaker line up of CEOs, CIOs and other industry leaders. Once again, we will run our highly popular Industry Insight Sessions for all delegates, on 30 June.
Passenger Terminal Expo
24-26 March
London, UK
Europe's biggest international airport terminal conference took place in London and brought together senior airport and airline executives, CEOs, architects, engineers, key decision makers, suppliers and buyers from all over the world, for an intensive three days where attendees could gather information, exchange ideas and network with existing and new partners and customers.
For more information about SITA events, please contact Sophie Schell or Alexandra Kuptsova.
Don't forget
Baggage Report 2009
The annual report analyzes the latest statistics, trends and challenges in baggage management, and offers innovative solutions to how all airports and airlines can improve baggage handling.
SITA
Contact us for enquiries related to this publication.
Information is subject to change without notice. All trademarks ackowledged SITA 2012.
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