For global IT solutions company, NIIT Technologies, the Travel and Transportation vertical contributes almost 37 per cent of revenues. Vinod Pisharoti – head of Travel, Transportation and Logistics vertical, NIIT Technologies talks about their strategic partnership with customers, including 50 airlines globally By Sudipta Dev
A brief backgrounder of your Travel & Transportation vertical and how it has grown over the years.
NIIT Technologies has built a strong presence through years of experience, deep focus and expertise in the travel and transportation domain across airline, travel distribution, surface transport, airports and logistics sectors. Customers today no longer need vendors who can deliver as per pre-defined contracts. They are seeking strategic partners who can align to their business and at the same time demonstrate functional and technical expertise with flexibility and agility to tackle the dynamic market. The long standing relationships that NIIT Technologies holds today with its customers (over a decade for several customers) is a testimony for its ability to be that technology partner. We chose to focus on select verticals and build capabilities in the travel and transportation domain by building a conducive ecosystem that includes customers, industry bodies, partners and people, both in our organisation and our customer organisations. This ecosystem keeps us connected to the existing business pain points and emerging trends in the industry based on which the organisation makes investments to come up with industry based solutions.
We are working in partnership with IATA and some key airlines to drive major initiatives like STB, AGM, eCargo, Passenger Standards, SIS, QOSMOS and New Distribution Capability. Over the years, we have grown significantly. Key highlights and achievements of the company in the domain include an excellent track record of system integration and as a support partner for various large and complex engagements for government programmes; number one ranking in the Datamonitor Black Book of Outsourcing Travel Industry survey, for three years consecutively; over 100 travel industry customers including more than 50 airlines globally.
What is your engagement with the global airline industry?
Airline is one of the strongest sub- vertical at NIIT Technologies with over 50 plus active customers.
What have been your key implementations in airports – both in India and overseas?
Implementation of Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC): NIIT Technologies has signed a multi-year contract with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for implementation of AOCC. This is the first multi airport project in Asia which will benefit AAI, its customer airlines, and its other stakeholders across 10 cities.
COSYS implementation at GRU Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo (Sao Paulo International Airport): We have signed a contract to implement a cargo handling system at Sao Paulo International Airport in Brazil, single-platform system that will cater to all performance and operational needs of the cargo terminal at the largest international airport in Latin America. COSYS product has been developed in strategic partnership with SATS. The product is currently active in a number of airports around the globe including Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Beijing, Indonesia, Delhi, GRU Brazil, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
How do you cater to the needs of the surface transportation sector?
We cater to the needs of the surface transportation sector with point solutions such as: fleet management; train delay monitoring; duty rostering; production planning; ERP implementation. In addition to this we offer our technology services such as managing the IT infrastructure, application development and maintenance, testing, BPO and in emerging areas such as SMAC.
What products and services do you offer to the travel distribution industry?
NIIT Technologies has significant expertise in providing innovative IT solutions and services to travel distribution enterprises, online travel companies and travel management companies across the globe. We enable and support a large share of the travel industry’s transactions and have developed and implemented a suite of custom applications like point of sales, mid and back office, and advisory services for varied needs. In the travel distribution domain these business functions are addressed: E-commerce, distribution, dynamic packaging, back and mid office systems, customer relationship management, corporate booking.
Your focus on innovation in the travel, transportation and logistics vertical.
We continuously keep innovating through new ideas which add more value to our existing and potential customers. Currently we are working on developing a unique digital strategy which is a multi-dimensional consulting service that is used as a framework to assess the current maturity of the enterprise, identify the gaps, and help it plan and implement the required capabilities in a staged manner. The areas which we are currently looking at are: channel maturity, merchandising, personalised interaction, social media and gamification, channel compatibility, distribution and analytics.
What are your future plans?
Currently the travel segment accounts for 37 per cent of our total revenue and we would continue to drive this growth from the front in the future. Our key focus is to continue growing our customer base and growing within existing accounts. In order to focus and differentiate we continue to strengthen our offerings that will enable our customers deliver measurable business impact.