Is Your Technology Strategic or Scattered?

America's Most Profitable Airline Selects Kyndryl and AWS!

By: David W. Glenn, Ph.D. Director, Professional Services Consulting Partner CIO Advisor with Kyndryl Consult

When I talk to business leaders within the Travel and Hospitality Industry who need help with their company’s technology challenges, there’s a question I hear frequently: “What’s the difference between the companies that struggle with their technology and the companies that have a high-performing technology organization?”? Of course, for an issue this complex, there can be many contributing factors to consider. However, one of the most crucial things for business leaders to examine about their organizations is whether they are strategic or scattered with their technology. Most leaders don’t intend to be scattered, but it’s unfortunately common in today’s business environment, and the impact can be severe.

What causes a company to become scattered?

With so many cloud technology offerings available these days, it’s easy for silo-focused leaders within Travel and Hospitality to sign up for cloud software without coordinating with their IT organization or other technology initiatives. While that offering may be a fit for their department and seem okay within their “silo,” it may not integrate well with the other technology systems and investments within the company, and it may not be the right fit for the overall company. This issue is compounded when other departments also take this silo approach. Over time, the company’s technologies become more and more scattered.

Cloud solutions can be a great option, but they should fit within the company’s overall strategic technology plan and architecture. The organization must have a strategic master technology plan and know in advance how the pieces will fit together. Attempting to retrofit a bunch of disparate technologies after adoption can be very expensive and chaotic.

What are some common signs of a scattered technological organization?

• IT costs continue to increase, but IT service and satisfaction decline.?
• There is a lack of a comprehensive technology strategy and roadmap.?
• The IT organization is not agile and can’t keep up with the pace of the company.?
• IT organizations are reactive and tend to be “order-takers” instead of strategic leaders and enablers.
• Data silos: The reports that executives see don’t paint an accurate, unified picture.
• Cybersecurity issues and other potential technology risks: Scattered technologies often inadvertently cause cybersecurity gaps and other lurking threats to the business.

?How do you fix it?

?Leadership needs to undergo a fundamental shift, a focused effort across the organization about how to service the customer and to meet a complete strategic vision.?

The following are some tips for getting things back on the right track:

?An unbiased catalyst

?The same people that created the scattered environment aren’t the right ones to diagnose and fix it. You need an independent, unbiased expert to help your company properly assess the current state, help you plan the proper target state, and serve as a catalyst to help your organization execute the proper actions for a timely transformation.

?The right expert

?Don’t engage a career consultant; engage an expert that has hands-on working experience and proven results. You don’t need consulting theories. You need results.

?The right relationship

?The expertise and relationship are far more important than the firm’s size. While big firms may have a lot of people, you probably don’t need an army, nor does your budget. Instead, look for the best proven expert for your specific needs that has a track record of successfully helping companies like yours.

?Have an independent technology review performed. It will help assess your current state, opportunities for improvement, and the right roadmap to achieve success.

?Why did Delta Select Kyndryl and AWS?

?The resilience and reliability of aviation industry IT came under scrutiny in December, when a winter storm created a nearly two-week?crisis for another , leaving tens of thousands of holiday travelers stranded and costing the company approximately $800 million.

A January failure in the Federal Aviation Administration’s NOTAM system intensified concerns, leading five of the six largest domestic carriers, including Delta and Southwest, to emphasize?prioritization of tech investments?during quarterly earnings calls.

Kyndryl, the world’s largest infrastructure company signed a multi-year deal with Delta and will continue to maintain and update operational systems for Delta — including crew rostering and scheduling, maintenance documentation and passenger rebooking software.

Delta’s IT infrastructure manages more than 4,000 daily global flights. Kyndryl supports the infrastructure, as well as a CRM platform for more than 23 million SkyMiles members and a technical operations platform that handles maintenance records for nearly 900 aircraft.

Amazon Web Services?(AWS) also announced a multi-year agreement to serve as?Delta Air Lines’s?preferred cloud provider as part of its latest digital business transformation.

?AWS and Kyndryl will help?Delta?unlock technologies and streamline processes that will make the end-to-end customer experience faster, smoother, and more secure.

Delta?is building on AWS’s broad portfolio of cloud technologies and solutions to meet unique industry and regulatory requirements, as well as the company’s continuous drive for efficiency, reliability, and exceptional customer service. With AWS,?Delta?is providing a secure IT for timely data-driven insights. In addition,?Delta?is providing its employees with the opportunity to take part in training with the AWS Designated Virtual Trainer (DVT) program to increase cloud adoption and develop new client-facing and internal capabilities.?Delta?plans to scale the program across its global hubs to ensure employees around the world have access to in-person and online cloud skills training.

The airline is also working with AWS to modernize the core technology platforms that support its customer engagement center operations. Thanks to?Amazon?Connect?(a fully managed, easy-to-use, omnichannel cloud contact center service), customers who call Delta’s reservations and customer care specialists will have a more streamlined experience.?Delta?customer care specialists can respond in real time to customers with new online and text support.

Kyndryl provides Delta with the mainframe expertise to bridge the gap between on-prem and cloud, and helps AWS grow its business by easing the carrier’s path to a hybrid ecosystem.?

Ongoing modernization allows Delta to mitigate the disruption caused by storms and other operational challenges, keep its planes in the air and add new sustainability and passenger personalization technologies.

Driving down IT costs while pushing innovation will remain key planks in the relationships, and Kyndryl is thrilled to be part of their journey.?