Driven by the changing customer demands & operational processes post covid, Airline Industry is staring at a major digital revolution. In addition to investing in emerging technologies, the industry needs to build flexibilities in the systems to adapt to the changing processes and enable new business models.
However, most airlines today are still running on legacy platforms which are becoming their biggest barrier to transformation. Being very inflexible and resistant to change, Legacy systems are also expensive to operate, support and enhance. The cost and time to implement new functionality and change requirements in legacy systems is quite high. Additionally, from an IT perspective, these systems are difficult to monitor, control, and are susceptible to numerous security issues.
It is, therefore, imperative for airlines to look at modernization of these systems to bring in the agility, flexibility, speed and scale which is needed to run the business and meet the growing industry demands. Lot of airlines have therefore started this journey of migrating to a more modern and advanced PSS (Passenger Sales and Service) system. Most often, this change is driven by technology obsolescence of existing PSS but sometimes the change is also driven by a change in the business strategy.
PSS forms the core of airline operations and therefore a change in PSS is a high-risk change which also has considerable impact in other surrounding IT systems. There are elements of business change, IT system changes, data migration which makes the changes extremely complex and risky. Even minor glitches can lead to considerable revenue loss and adverse impact on the Airline’s brand image.
Since PSS migration constitutes of core systems (RES, DCS and Inventory), the ownership of core system migration remains with the target PSS provider. There are number of changes which need to be made in these surrounding systems because of changes in the core systems (Refer figure 1 below). Today, airlines find themselves in a complex environment and struggle during migration of these surrounding IT systems. To meet these challenges, it is imperative for airlines to have a solution that can provide support during migration of these surrounding IT systems and at the same time ensure that existing operations are not hampered.
Fig 1: Impacted Applications
At Coforge, we have gained deep experience of executing multiple PSS migration programs for leading airlines across the globe and have established a PSS COE with Industry experts and PSS veterans with years of detailed experience in the leading PSS systems like Amadeus, Sabre.
With this COE, we focus on building low risk modernization, migration, cut over strategies and developing toolkits, templates and accelerators to provide Turbulence-free airline PSS deployments and migrations thereby ensuring program success in the given timeframe without hampering the stability of existing operations.
Coforge PSS migration services covers end to end implementation and support. The approach starts with business process re-engineering to redesign and optimize existing business processes to align with the new PSS system being implemented. This involves thorough analysis of existing business processes, identifying inefficiencies, and redesigning processes to make them more efficient and effective. The goal is to streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. This often involves the use of new technology and tools to automate processes and improve communication between different stakeholders. It is crucial for PSS migration for the success of transition.
thorough analysis of existing business processes, identifying inefficiencies, and redesigning processes to make them more efficient and effective. The goal is to streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. This often involves the use of new technology and tools to automate processes and improve communication between different stakeholders. It is crucial for PSS migration for the success of transition.
Fig 2: Coforge SI Services: PSS Migration
At the design, development and integration stage, there is creation of interfaces, protocols, and other software components that enable smooth data exchange between PSS systems so that passenger-related information can be shared accurately and efficiently. This is led by verifying and validating the functionality and performance of the PSS system before it is deployed for use by the airline and its customers. The new PSS system is implemented and tested in parallel with the existing system. At the time of cutover, there is transitioning all of the airline's operational systems, data, and processes to the new PSS system. Post cutover support involves a team of experts who are available to assist the airline with any issues that arise, provide training to staff, and offer ongoing support until the airline is fully comfortable using the new system.
With our COE, we have developed a PSS migration toolkit that templatizes migration imperatives thereby ensuring complete readiness - technical, business readiness planning, New PSS and cut over readiness .
Fig 3: PSS Migration Readiness: Key Imperatives
Through our unique combination of experience of planning and supporting multiple successful migrations supported by a ready PSS migration playbook, we have been de-risking and accelerating PSS programs for leading airlines. Coforge has successfully delivered 10+ PSS migrations and developed unique set of accelerators. We have gained deep experience in PSS Migration covering Development, Integration, Microservices development, Test automation and End-to-End Testing with a focus on Risk based Testing leveraging Coforge’s repository of more than 11,000 regression test scenarios.
Recently Coforge provided system integration services for PSS migration to a leading flag carrier in Middle East working closely with new PSS provider (Amadeus) to ensure smooth migration and cutover in timely manner.
For another leading Australian airline, Coforge successfully completed PSS Migration from two PSS systems (Navitaire for domestic, Amadeus for international) to one PSS system (Sabre) within 13 months.
Coforge’s rich experience in PSS migration and strong airline domain expertise makes it right partner for airlines during PSS migration. Our offerings can provide significant benefits to airlines:
Fig 4: Coforge PSS COE: Business Benefits