INDUSTRY WATCH
WE AS TECHNOLOGISTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO KEEP
THE ASSOCIATED COMPLEXITIES AWAY FROM
BUSINESS USERS AND PRESENT TECHNOLOGY TO
THEM IN A MANNER THAT IS SIMPLE TO USE, CAN
PROVIDE CONVENIENCE AND THAT WHICH CAN
DEMONSTRATE TANGIBLE BENEFITS
Flight Dispatch on a regular basis.
It has also helped us in reducing
operational disruption and has
contributed in sustaining our On Time
Performance commitments to our
customers. Moreover, in future when
EFB iPads replace paper manuals
and documents on-board to a great
extent, it would contribute to reducing
weight on aircraft. The EFB solution
continues to help our skilled staff to
do more of something else that adds
value to our operations.
The MRO system has been
implemented recently and considering
the gamut of the system and
processes at an airline engineering
function, its bit too early to report
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INTELLIGENTCIO
on business benefits. However, the
objective of this investment has been
to improve on our efficiency, quality
of service and reducing costs. This
remains the paramount goal and I am
quite certain that we will see tangible
results in the next six to eight months.
How have recent projects
helped Oman Air distinguish
itself from regional
competitors?
I do not believe that deploying these
solutions can distinguish us from our
competitors. Everybody else is not
doing something that is different.
The sole differentiator I believe is
how effectively we use these systems,
how effectively we align systems and
processes and how effectively we
monitor the benefits and if required
proactively tweak systems and/or
process to serve the airline objective.
There is a general perception
among most CIOs that IT is
not adequately heard in top-
level executive management
talks. What do you think
about this school of thought?
In my view, this is more of a
perception than reality. Several
industry surveys, and especially one
of the most recent ones carried out
jointly by Sabre and Forbes Insight,
highlights that over 61% of the
respondents considered technology
as the main driver for achieving
operational excellence. With that, one
really cannot avoid giving adequate
attention to technology initiatives and
investments in any airline of repute.
We as technologists should be able
to keep the associated complexities
away from business users and present
technology to them in a manner
that is simple to use, can provide
convenience and that which can
demonstrate tangible benefits.
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