CIOInsider India Magazine
TCS to Lead in Overhauling Air India
According to reports, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is expected to play a pivotal role in overhauling Tata group-owned Air India, to bring the latter on par with private counterparts through tech-led reforms and cost efficiencies.
Some key TCS executives are also expected to move to Air India to oversee how the airline's systems can be overhauled across operations, supply chain and customer experience. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and TCS chief executive Rajesh Gopinathan are personally involved in analyzing Air India’s cost optimization and tech-led transformation needs.
TCS has deep experience of providing technology for Tata’s JV with SIA - Vistara - as well as for AirAsia that the Tatas have a majority stake.
TCS also provides a range of IT solutions for global airlines like Lufthansa Group, Virgin Atlantic, Star Alliance, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
According to reports, Gopinathan and Chandrasekaran are planning and assessing the flight operations, overall reliability, growth and transformation activities and they are also closely involved in the assessment process. It will be an end-to-end digital transformation from an operational, supply chain, and customer experience perspective.
whatever may be digital reach that we will have to provide for consumers to access Air India, or in our front office systems or back-office systems
TCS already has an aviation line. Therefore, all the best practices including some talent will get injected into Air India. There will be an exhaustive review of existing processes first, as per reports.
Chandrasekaran says, “we will do that by ensuring that we bring in the best of technology in every aspect of Air India - be it in terms of apps, website, mobile channel, social media, Tata NEU app, whatever may be digital reach that we will have to provide for consumers to access Air India, or in our front office systems or back-office systems.”
