E-BUSINESS STRATEGIES

OF BRITISH AIRWAYS

COMPANY: BRITISH AIRWAYS

SUBMITTED BY: ADITYA PATEL

201 ENROLLMENT NO : ISMS 1120

SUBMITTED TO: PROF.

0 JAYAKRISHNA
SUBJECT : E-BUSINESS
DATE: 05/04/2010
E-Business area: Wireless

Objective: BA wanted to develop a series of mobile Internet services to

make the travel experience easier and smoother for its loyalty
customers.

IBM helped British Airways introduce a facility that allows frequent

Solution:
flyers to use their mobile phones to check in for flights out of the
UK, select their seat and access information on arrivals and
departures.

Results: Time saving benefits for customers and significant cost reductions
at BA call centres and check-ins.

Solution: Results: British Airways is the third largest airline company in the world with
over 64,000 employees and 335 aircraft. In 1998-99, its turnover was $14.3 billion. In
2001, the airline decided to develop a series of mobile Internet services to make the
travel experience easier and smoother for its loyalty customers.

Going mobile

With IBM's help, British Airways has become the first UK airline to allow frequent
flyers to use their mobile phones to check in for flights out of the UK, and the first
airline in the world to enable passengers to select their seat via a graphical seat map
on their handset.

In addition, any mobile phone user is now able to look up flight availability and view
up-to-the-minute flight arrivals and departures information for any British Airways
flight.
Customer benefits

Subscribers to the new service can check in using the pictorial seat selection tool on
the phone, arrive at the airport, collect their boarding pass from a self-service kiosk in
a matter of seconds, leave their luggage at the fast bag drop, and go straight to the
boarding gate.

• Passengers can avoid check-in queues at the airport.

• Customers can check seat availability on flight without the disruption of making a voice call.
• Travellers can check real-time departures of their flights if delayed in traffic - and
meeters and greeters can check flight arrivals from any location.

Unveiling the new package, Pat Gaffey, Head of e-Commerce at British Airways,
said: "This move signals the next phase of the airline's e-commerce strategy
designed to give our customers more choice and control. British Airways is breaking
new ground yet again. By next summer, potentially hundreds of thousands of our
customers will be able to benefit from these revolutionary new WAP services. For the
first time ever, passengers can manage their travel while on the move."

Business benefits

Beyond the improvements in customer service, the development of its mobile Internet
services has brought British Airways a number of other benefits:

 A reduction in call centre charges - by decreasing demand for arrival and departure information.
 A reduction in check-in costs - by keeping customers out of the check-in queues and lowering
desk staffing costs
 A foothold in the mobile computing network
Why IBM?

IBM had already helped British Airways build its e-commerce platform and so was the
obvious choice to develop a wireless e-business strategy. Furthermore, IBM is a
member of the WAP Forum (founded by Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and Unwired
Planet) to define the standard protocols for mobile services via cellular phone.

The project

The e-commerce platform announced in February 2000 integrated British Airways'

Web platform with existing computer systems such as reservations, departure
control, flight information and the customer database.

The addition of WAP services exploited existing data and applications from the Web
channel, and added a presentation layer to allow information to be shown on a
mobile phone. The graphical seat map was based on the seat map used in British
Airways' airport check-in kiosks.

"We were able to build and integrate these first WAP applications very quickly and
cost-effectively because we had already built an e-commerce platform with British
Airways to support multiple contact channels," said Mike Hulley, Vice President, IBM
Global Travel and Transportation Industry.

The new WAP service launch is the first result of a new, two-year strategic innovation
contract worth £12.5 million (US$18 million). This broad ranging contract means that
IBM will play an integral role in developing the airline's e-commerce strategy.

The future

The number of regular mobile internet users in the UK is forecast to rise from
844,000 in 2000 to 4.35 million in 2001 and 7.7 million in 2002. British Airways is
already working with IBM to add new Internet based customer service features and
expand capabilities across multiple digital channels - including mobile phones, self-
service kiosks and interactive television.

Further developments in mobile technology will enable British Airways to deliver an

enhanced personal service. For example, passengers could use their mobile phones
to select their food and drink and a newspaper to read on their flight. And that really
is service.