ERP Insights >> Magazine >> August - 2015 issue
Flight Of An Aviation Industry - Bridging Business And Technology
Author : Ravinder Pal Singh, Global Chief Information and Technology Officer, Air Works
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Established in 1951, Air Works is the leading EASA certified provider of aviation MRO and painting services, qualified to maintain 50 plus aircraft types across hangars in India, Europe and Middle East. It is a one-stop shop for integrated private aviation services, offering aircraft sales, aircraft management, aircraft charter and aircraft insurance to its customers.
As the visible cultural change is taking place rapidly, companies are left without a choice, having to move into software services. Jack Welch's statement, 'Manufacturing Companies need to sleep as Manufacturing Companies and wake up as Services Companies.', holds true today as many MRO companies are now waking up as software services companies. This is true even in the aviation industry as many companies are changing their outlook and venturing into the world as services to increase the profitability and valuation; SaaS is a core market. The app market concept today is cost-reducing and it is essential to put one's financial assets into connectivity such as networking, middleware and others. The software companies in Aviation industry are yet to mature the way manufacturing or healthcare have in the past years.
CIOs are looked upon as business leaders, and one can actually become an entrepreneur by building a new business altogether, provided it is necessary in the market. It is essential that both parts of the company are looked upon technology, and business. Technologically speaking, I like SaaS, provided I understand the end to end part of it; the delivery and the construction. Between the delivery and construction comes the functionality part. The idea is to use Cloud understanding part of it; the infrastructure, the platform, as well as the real time storage and the archival storage. Pertaining to functionality, one must recognize the capabilities they require. We can find the capabilities already existing in the market and purchase them, or we can handshake with companies who have the required capabilities.
Importance of Aviation as an Industry
A popular notion is that airlines are the backbone of the aviation industry, in terms of visibility. However, the aviation industry is bigger than that. At Air Works, we focus on the leasing companies as well, because airlines depend upon leasing companies. The fundamental problem which leasing companies face today is that they don't understand the technicalities of aviation. As a technologist, to serve that purpose and create software or a service that can cater to their needs is the need of the hour. Secondly, it is difficult for a leasing company to understand what an aircraft has been through. It is not just the aircraft, it is basically the entire experience for the owner of the aircraft; finding the right ecosystem, personnel, certifications and going through the regulatory norms are all part of this experience.
Using Technology and its Resources
We basically live in a world of apps today. In terms of consumer experience, one doesn't think about the banks, hotels, or other locations available in the foreign country that he is traveling to because he knows that he has apps that will do that for him when required. It is essential to create a rich experience for flight management as well. Most people, especially the younger generation, have their own iPads and iPhones to perform different functions. For example, we can create a 'drag and drop' experience in terms of finding a hangar, connecting to different partners of the world, and other processes which are more complex now. Aviation is still not there when it comes to taking the cheap commodity technology which is available and building something remarkable over it.
Even today, most people in India are just talking about Cloud. We at Air Works have not only implemented Cloud, but our fundamental portfolio runs on Cloud. Our digitization is not limited to one or two percent but it has a growth in four digits.
Building and Retaining Relationships
It is not difficult to get quality talent. I mostly hire people who are technologists; their management or communication skills are secondary. If their fundamentals are good, I would actually train them and give them hands on mentorship. Mentoring is not just a word but spending a lot of time teaching them, ensuring that they teach someone else. Very few people leave the organization if we spend enough time training and grooming them.
Growing a Company
It is not fair to compare Indian Aviation with that of western countries. We are an emerging country, and aviation, which generally equates to airlines in India, is slowly and commercially coming up. However, there is a humongous potential that can be seen. A lot of people who could not think of flying on an aircraft are now able to fly. As the fleet size of these commercial airlines grow, so do the investments, as well as the competitors, which are few now. Although, I would like to impress upon the fact that one cannot just think about business alone, they have to seriously think about the technological choices. If people understand the business aspect, and the technology aspect, and are able to converge them, then the magic can really happen. Amazing things can be done with little investment.
It doesn't require a large company to bring changes. Usually, changes are brought by smaller companies as larger companies become very rigid after a point of time. We at Air Works are willing to take risks and make mistakes, while correcting them. It doesn't have to be a large company to make an impact; even smaller companies can do it.
Flight Of An Aviation Industry - Bridging Business And Technology
Author : Ravinder Pal Singh, Global Chief Information and Technology Officer, Air Works
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Established in 1951, Air Works is the leading EASA certified provider of aviation MRO and painting services, qualified to maintain 50 plus aircraft types across hangars in India, Europe and Middle East. It is a one-stop shop for integrated private aviation services, offering aircraft sales, aircraft management, aircraft charter and aircraft insurance to its customers.
As the visible cultural change is taking place rapidly, companies are left without a choice, having to move into software services. Jack Welch's statement, 'Manufacturing Companies need to sleep as Manufacturing Companies and wake up as Services Companies.', holds true today as many MRO companies are now waking up as software services companies. This is true even in the aviation industry as many companies are changing their outlook and venturing into the world as services to increase the profitability and valuation; SaaS is a core market. The app market concept today is cost-reducing and it is essential to put one's financial assets into connectivity such as networking, middleware and others. The software companies in Aviation industry are yet to mature the way manufacturing or healthcare have in the past years.
CIOs are looked upon as business leaders, and one can actually become an entrepreneur by building a new business altogether, provided it is necessary in the market. It is essential that both parts of the company are looked upon technology, and business. Technologically speaking, I like SaaS, provided I understand the end to end part of it; the delivery and the construction. Between the delivery and construction comes the functionality part. The idea is to use Cloud understanding part of it; the infrastructure, the platform, as well as the real time storage and the archival storage. Pertaining to functionality, one must recognize the capabilities they require. We can find the capabilities already existing in the market and purchase them, or we can handshake with companies who have the required capabilities.
Importance of Aviation as an Industry
A popular notion is that airlines are the backbone of the aviation industry, in terms of visibility. However, the aviation industry is bigger than that. At Air Works, we focus on the leasing companies as well, because airlines depend upon leasing companies. The fundamental problem which leasing companies face today is that they don't understand the technicalities of aviation. As a technologist, to serve that purpose and create software or a service that can cater to their needs is the need of the hour. Secondly, it is difficult for a leasing company to understand what an aircraft has been through. It is not just the aircraft, it is basically the entire experience for the owner of the aircraft; finding the right ecosystem, personnel, certifications and going through the regulatory norms are all part of this experience.
Using Technology and its Resources
We basically live in a world of apps today. In terms of consumer experience, one doesn't think about the banks, hotels, or other locations available in the foreign country that he is traveling to because he knows that he has apps that will do that for him when required. It is essential to create a rich experience for flight management as well. Most people, especially the younger generation, have their own iPads and iPhones to perform different functions. For example, we can create a 'drag and drop' experience in terms of finding a hangar, connecting to different partners of the world, and other processes which are more complex now. Aviation is still not there when it comes to taking the cheap commodity technology which is available and building something remarkable over it.
Even today, most people in India are just talking about Cloud. We at Air Works have not only implemented Cloud, but our fundamental portfolio runs on Cloud. Our digitization is not limited to one or two percent but it has a growth in four digits.
Building and Retaining Relationships
It is not difficult to get quality talent. I mostly hire people who are technologists; their management or communication skills are secondary. If their fundamentals are good, I would actually train them and give them hands on mentorship. Mentoring is not just a word but spending a lot of time teaching them, ensuring that they teach someone else. Very few people leave the organization if we spend enough time training and grooming them.
Growing a Company
It is not fair to compare Indian Aviation with that of western countries. We are an emerging country, and aviation, which generally equates to airlines in India, is slowly and commercially coming up. However, there is a humongous potential that can be seen. A lot of people who could not think of flying on an aircraft are now able to fly. As the fleet size of these commercial airlines grow, so do the investments, as well as the competitors, which are few now. Although, I would like to impress upon the fact that one cannot just think about business alone, they have to seriously think about the technological choices. If people understand the business aspect, and the technology aspect, and are able to converge them, then the magic can really happen. Amazing things can be done with little investment.
It doesn't require a large company to bring changes. Usually, changes are brought by smaller companies as larger companies become very rigid after a point of time. We at Air Works are willing to take risks and make mistakes, while correcting them. It doesn't have to be a large company to make an impact; even smaller companies can do it.
As the visible cultural change is taking place rapidly, companies are left without a choice, having to move into software services. Jack Welch's statement, 'Manufacturing Companies need to sleep as Manufacturing Companies and wake up as Services Companies.', holds true today as many MRO companies are now waking up as software services companies. This is true even in the aviation industry as many companies are changing their outlook and venturing into the world as services to increase the profitability and valuation; SaaS is a core market. The app market concept today is cost-reducing and it is essential to put one's financial assets into connectivity such as networking, middleware and others. The software companies in Aviation industry are yet to mature the way manufacturing or healthcare have in the past years.
CIOs are looked upon as business leaders, and one can actually become an entrepreneur by building a new business altogether, provided it is necessary in the market. It is essential that both parts of the company are looked upon technology, and business. Technologically speaking, I like SaaS, provided I understand the end to end part of it; the delivery and the construction. Between the delivery and construction comes the functionality part. The idea is to use Cloud understanding part of it; the infrastructure, the platform, as well as the real time storage and the archival storage. Pertaining to functionality, one must recognize the capabilities they require. We can find the capabilities already existing in the market and purchase them, or we can handshake with companies who have the required capabilities.
Importance of Aviation as an Industry
A popular notion is that airlines are the backbone of the aviation industry, in terms of visibility. However, the aviation industry is bigger than that. At Air Works, we focus on the leasing companies as well, because airlines depend upon leasing companies. The fundamental problem which leasing companies face today is that they don't understand the technicalities of aviation. As a technologist, to serve that purpose and create software or a service that can cater to their needs is the need of the hour. Secondly, it is difficult for a leasing company to understand what an aircraft has been through. It is not just the aircraft, it is basically the entire experience for the owner of the aircraft; finding the right ecosystem, personnel, certifications and going through the regulatory norms are all part of this experience.
Using Technology and its Resources
We basically live in a world of apps today. In terms of consumer experience, one doesn't think about the banks, hotels, or other locations available in the foreign country that he is traveling to because he knows that he has apps that will do that for him when required. It is essential to create a rich experience for flight management as well. Most people, especially the younger generation, have their own iPads and iPhones to perform different functions. For example, we can create a 'drag and drop' experience in terms of finding a hangar, connecting to different partners of the world, and other processes which are more complex now. Aviation is still not there when it comes to taking the cheap commodity technology which is available and building something remarkable over it.
Even today, most people in India are just talking about Cloud. We at Air Works have not only implemented Cloud, but our fundamental portfolio runs on Cloud. Our digitization is not limited to one or two percent but it has a growth in four digits.
Building and Retaining Relationships
It is not difficult to get quality talent. I mostly hire people who are technologists; their management or communication skills are secondary. If their fundamentals are good, I would actually train them and give them hands on mentorship. Mentoring is not just a word but spending a lot of time teaching them, ensuring that they teach someone else. Very few people leave the organization if we spend enough time training and grooming them.
Growing a Company
It is not fair to compare Indian Aviation with that of western countries. We are an emerging country, and aviation, which generally equates to airlines in India, is slowly and commercially coming up. However, there is a humongous potential that can be seen. A lot of people who could not think of flying on an aircraft are now able to fly. As the fleet size of these commercial airlines grow, so do the investments, as well as the competitors, which are few now. Although, I would like to impress upon the fact that one cannot just think about business alone, they have to seriously think about the technological choices. If people understand the business aspect, and the technology aspect, and are able to converge them, then the magic can really happen. Amazing things can be done with little investment.
It doesn't require a large company to bring changes. Usually, changes are brought by smaller companies as larger companies become very rigid after a point of time. We at Air Works are willing to take risks and make mistakes, while correcting them. It doesn't have to be a large company to make an impact; even smaller companies can do it.
