International Airline Boosts Productivity with a Smarter Mobile Technology Program

Effective mobile blueprinting led to a strategy to empower the workforce and control costs

The Challenge

Taking a hybrid approach to mobile left this international airline with decentralized acquisition and support efforts tied to multiple operating systems, applications and device types. The lack of standardization complicated contracting for third party-provided mobile hardware, software and support, driving up costs. Without an overarching program to support the various mobile implementations, user support for mobile lagged. Internal IT staff had its hands full handling desktop/laptop issues from the enterprise.

The airline also lacked visibility into knowing how well, or how poorly, its deployed mobile assets were performing. The airline’s pilots, flight attendants, gate agents, cargo/baggage handling teams and aircraft maintenance and engineering operations, depended on mobile to get their jobs done. Because of this opportunistic approach to mobile, the airline’s operational efficiency was at risk and mobile’s total cost of ownership was climbing.

The Ask 

The airline wanted Stratix to create a standardized way to acquire, deploy, manage and support mobile assets from acquisition through deployment for 100,000 associates.

• User support needed to be tailored to job role  
• Real-time visibility into every mobile asset’s performance was a must  
• Bring down mobile’s total cost of ownership 

The Solution  

Stratix implemented a Managed Mobile Services approach enterprise-wide to address the airline’s infrastructure which ultimately included 10,000 users of ruggedized mobile devices and 90,000 employees with consumer devices running Android and iOS.

• An overarching mobile device warranty/repair program centralized forward and reverse logistics  
• Level 1 and Level 2 mobile help desk support operation handled issues from a mobile ecosystem powered by four operating systems, more than 100 applications and 10 device types  
• A mobile asset portal, itrac360™, reported performance data on every device in the enterprise 

The Result 

Operationally, the new mobile infrastructure from Stratix achieved the airline’s vision of using a consistent, proven approach to roll out and support mobile solutions over their lifetime. In addition, the strategic approach Stratix used delivered:

• Rapid, seamless deployment: Mobile users were able to quickly get up to speed on their ruggedized and consumer devices, and adoption in all mobile-empowered operations increased. User support, tailored to the device, configuration and job function, became consistent across the enterprise – without adding headcount.   
• Workforce productivity: Electronic flight records, automated attendant scheduling, electronic flight bags and baggage tracking applications lowered fuel costs by an estimated $1.5 million per year, while reducing baggage mis-load rates by 65%.  
• Operational consistency: The new mobile approach demonstrated scalability, lowered business risk, powered an on-demand view into mobile assets’ performance and achieved mobile gains cost-effectively.