Source: ALTA
Dear readers,
I am pleased to share with you an interview with Jim Davidson, CEO of Accelya, ALTA affiliate member since 2015, which allowed me to reflect on how many times we talk about the industry in numerical, statistical, operational terms… we talk about companies and, sometimes, not so much about the people.
But it is not possible to separate aviation from people and Jim highlighted it from the beginning of this conversation: “aviation has an important impact on human nature and happiness”. Air transport is an essential service for daily life in a region like ours where there are not as safe and efficient transport alternatives. It is a service that generates opportunities through jobs creation – each job in aviation can create additional 14 or 18 jobs and boost additional 50+ industries -, bringing people together, getting products and essential goods closer. It is a service that allows freedom, especially with the increasing emergence of a wide variety of options designed for the people and with an increasingly more and better-informed user.
I was very pleased to conduct this interview with the CEO of a technological company that starts by valuing the needs of the users, putting customer as the center, and demonstrating that technology is certainly the key enabler for the development of the industry. I invite you to read this interview, share with us what do you think and how your companies are putting people at the center of the equation.
Until a next flight,
Jose Ricardo Botelho
- How does Accelya see the future of aviation?
Accelya’s lens towards the future of aviation is wide. The last few years have again proven to us the necessity for air travel and the important impact it has on human nature and happiness. How does the saying go, “I never thought I would miss it (air travel) until it wasn’t there?”.
As a global society, we value travel for many reasons: human connection, curiosity, adventure, and fun. And let’s not forget about the need to travel for business. I emphasize the word need as Zoom and Teams can only go so far in cultivating business relationships.
When you think about air travel in those terms, one can’t help but see not just a rebound but sustained growth driven by the need for human connection, curiosity, fun, adventure, and of course, doing business.
- What are the priorities of Accelya in Latin America and the Caribbean?
What can this region offer to aviation globally? The priorities for Accelya in the Latin American and the Caribbean regions are similar priorities Accelya has for its airline customers around the world. To help airlines, through Accelya technology solutions, embrace and benefit from their digital transformation journey.
This journey, now essential for any airline to grow, focuses on technology solutions to dramatically improve customer centricity, simplicity, and engagement. COVID taught us two main lessons.
First, we need to look at airline customers as consumers of products rather than just passengers. That puts a big red target on much of today’s airline technology, especially when it comes to how airlines create, control, and distribute their product offers. For the most part, airline customers are more savvy than ever and expect airlines to pay better attention to them. That means offering choices and bundles of services relevant to them and the ones they are willing to pay for. A win/win if you will.
The second lesson is about simplification. Our systems are generally overly complex to operate and maintain, costing the airlines millions of dollars they do not need to spend. Now, this is a big lift, but we have a path to follow here. It starts with NDC as a foundation and One Order as an outcome. That means simplified customer-centric offer and order management. The kind that comes from cloud-based, flexible, and future-proof airline engagement systems.
- What technologies will lead to the sustainability of the industry?
As I discussed, it does start with an airline adopting NDC, the better way to engage with a customer. We need to make NDC available to all airlines. We need to simplify it, scale it, and mainstream it. “NDC for all,” some have heard me say. Once an airline has full control over creating and distributing their offers, managing those offers with their customers is not rocket science. It’s different from what we do today, but we have a lot of consumer-based leaders that have already paved the way. I am not saying it is easy, but it is obvious. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel; we have to look at the challenge with a fresh lens.
We have been trying to tweak our legacy systems for too long to accomplish things that were never designed to do, and they never will. And frankly, this is the new value creation proposition for the airline industry, which Accelya, with the backing of Vista Equity Partners, is taking head-on. Taking it head-on means investing, and one significant investment Accelya is making is creating a Center of Excellence dedicated to delivering on our vision of enabling airline digital transformation through new Offer and Order management solutions.
Our COE will incubate and accelerate this vision. https://w3.accelya.com/news-views/news/accelya-establishes-a-new-center-of-excellence/
- How is the recovery going for Accelya, and what factors will determine it?
It’s good news as we see the transaction level coming back strong. Our NDC transactions alone have surpassed the pre-COVID level by approximately 150%, and our financial and settlement services are only about 17% away from pre-COVID levels. A promising sign indeed. For Accelya, it is not just about returning to a pre-COVID situation. It is about looking ahead and putting our customers and Accelya in the best position for growth.