Major advances in information technology are giving key global industries reason to reconsider legacy-operating models and review their strategic priorities, in keeping with changing consumer demands. Global travel and aviation is no exception: the industry has been forced to confront radical and wide-reaching changes over the last decade, with companies fighting to survive in what remains a hyper competitive marketplace.
Information Systems Associates FZE (ISA) has been in the business of providing high-performance technology to the global travel and airlines business since 2005. ACCELaero, the company’s core Passenger Service System (PSS), has processed more than 138 million bookings with a high availability of hosting service that boasts a record-breaking performance of 99.999 percent up time, exceeding the industry average of 99.95 percent.
Having picked up the Business Destinations Travel Award for the Best PSS for LCC and Hybrid Airlines Global 2016, along with the award for Best Emerging PSS Provider for the Airline Industry Global 2016, ISA is fast gaining a reputation as a pioneer in the global travel and aviation industry. The company’s CEO, Nader A Shukralla, told Business Destinations: “It is a prestigious honour that serves to recognise the best of the best within our ranks, as the nominations were given to companies globally whose products and services represent a superlative offering to the travel industry.”
ISA has assembled a crack team of 100 innovators in a bid to regularly deliver advanced new technologies
Unique among travel accolades, as the nominees were selected not only by an elite panel of judges, but by a vast and diverse cross-section of primary users and purchasers of corporate travel, the recipients of the Business Destinations Travel Awards offer an insight into the best that the industry has to offer. “Winning the Best PSS provider for LCC and Hybrid and Best Emerging PSS provider will reaffirm our position as global leader in the set domain and will put ISA and its flagship ACCELaero on the world map for many years to come”, said Shukralla.
An extensive portfolio
ISA uses the latest, cutting-edge open source and licensed technologies in the correct mix, in order to provide maximum value for money, as well as robust and uninterrupted services to its clients. A mobile-first design approach and the micro-service application architecture have paved the way for the company’s innovative cloud platform, which provides vertical and horizontal scalability. Headed by an experienced design team of highly skilled UI/UX professionals, with a proven track record on a local and international scale, ISA utilises modern day practices and the latest technology to craft the perfect user experience and optimise usability and cross-browser/platform capabilities.
Being an IT solutions provider for the aviation sector, ISA is quick to understand and adapt to an ever-changing landscape. ISA’s research and development team are always on the lookout for market changes, and regularly develop action plans that will enable the firm to adopt and react to otherwise unforeseen circumstances.
At the company’s research and development centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka, ISA has assembled a crack team of 100 innovators in a bid to regularly deliver advanced new technologies like ACCELaero. The solution in question is a portfolio of three product suites, each distinct and geared towards specific business objectives: retail, operational fulfilment and business productivity. Consisting of core PSS solutions and distribution connectivity options, aeroMART provides consistent operational and service delivery fulfilment, while aeroLINE is a set of business-focused solutions meant to hone productivity and revenue. This ACCELaero portfolio allows airlines to deliver unique customer experiences, increase revenue, lower cost and manage risk effectively.
ACCELaero represents a deep portfolio of powerful technologies and integrated solutions. And while the technology evolves on a daily basis to address the many and multifaceted business problems of today, it is agile enough to respond to the problems of tomorrow. Built using the latest technologies and open architecture, ACCELaero is a future-proof solution set that brings together data from all quarters and a portfolio of innovations to help transform business in the long term.
Another of ISA’s solutions, aeroPORT, is a suite of products with a similarly rich graphical user interface and optimised performance, which helps to manage passengers and aircraft before departure. With aeroPORT FLY (ISA’s departure control solution) and aeroPORT TRIM (the next generation weight and balance solution), the company is no stranger to the latest advances in airline technology.
Perhaps ISA’s most valuable system, aeroPORT FLY is a check-in and departure control solution for airlines and airports that enables airport staff to serve and process passengers and baggage quickly, securely and efficiently through an easy to use interface and logical business flows. Check-in and boarding processes are also made to feel simple and user-friendly, which again reduces the time taken to assist passengers.
Getting better with age
With a wide range of products on offer that are specifically catered to the airline, airport, travel and tourism sectors, ISA takes great pride in the remarkable progress it has made since its inception, having reached many milestones along the way.
Shukralla told Business Destinations: “Our quality assurance (QA) team ensures that software released to market meets end-user needs, is scalable, stable, secure, and high performing. The team of QA specialists at ISA undertake thorough analysis to identify and locate issues or bugs across the whole software life cycle (design, implementation and deployment) using both an automated and manual testing approach to assure the quality.”
Over the course of its 11 years in the aviation industry, the company has maintained standards above and beyond the industry benchmark. Furthermore, ISA’s research and development team not only watch, but thoroughly analyse key changes within the market and create responsive action plans to suit any situation that might arise.
Asked about the company’s plans for the future, ISA’S CEO replied that winning the World’s Leading PSS Provider award at the World Travel Awards 2015 helped to accelerate its global expansion: “Never before have we been this focused on our international foray. We see Europe, Australia and the Americas as new, interesting and untapped markets, so much so that we are now ready for a rapid business expansion as part of our global expansion programme.”
As far as business growth is concerned, the Middle East – and particularly the UAE, where ISA is based – is very much the aviation centre of today. As such, the company has recently seen exponential organic growth, as well as rapid inorganic growth.
ISA has focused primarily on the market in the MENA region for some time; a strategy that has most certainly served the company well over the last 11 years. However, the past two years have seen ISA expand more widely, especially within Southeast Asia, and from this year on, the company’s focus will fall on further global expansion. Already ISA is in advanced negotiations with several airlines in different regions.
According to the CEO, this is an incredibly exciting phase in the company’s history and it is well positioned to bring increased choice to the marketplace. “Through ACCELaero, we are offering a deep portfolio of solutions that are sufficiently broad, in order to reach almost every aspect of the airlines business.”
Provided companies like ISA continue to innovate and keep tabs on the latest advances in IT solutions, the aviation and airlines business looks set to continue developing far into the future
