Cargo Strategy
SOLUTION: FLEXIBLE CONSULTANCY SERVICES
Sector: AVIATION
Streamlining Cargo Operations with a Unified Technology Strategy
The Client
The customer is one of the world’s busiest international airports, offering comprehensive flight services, including arrivals, departures, and connections. The airport features a wide range of facilities such as shopping, dining, lounges, and parking options. Additionally, it provides various support services, including accessibility assistance and transport links to and from the airport, ensuring a smooth travel experience for passengers.
The Challenge
Primarily known for its passenger services, a major international airport faced a significant challenge in its cargo operations, which handle over £100 billion worth of cargo annually. Despite its substantial contribution, the cargo division had not been an investment focus, leading to fragmented and uncoordinated technology projects. Multiple initiatives were launched within Cargo, but without a cohesive strategy, these efforts lacked a unified direction. The primary challenge was the absence of business and technology alignment, resulting in inefficiencies and missed opportunities for optimisation.
Platform Smart’s task was to develop a comprehensive, focused cargo technology strategy, ensuring all projects aligned with a common goal and were effectively communicated and understood across the organisation, transforming the airport’s cargo operations into a streamlined and efficient system.
Platform Smart’s Solution Overview
Platform Smart approached the challenge with a tailored consultancy exercise. Over three months, the team, led by a highly experienced Enterprise Architect and a specialist cargo SME, employed a classic
consultancy lifecycle methodology. They initiated the process by identifying and interviewing key stakeholders to uncover both explicit and implicit business strategies. This iterative approach involved detailed discovery, brainstorming, and analytical phases to align business goals with technological capabilities.
By incorporating market trends and comprehensive feedback, Platform Smart delivered a strategic roadmap, ensuring all cargo technology initiatives were cohesive, targeted, and aligned with the airport’s overall business objectives.
The Outcome
Platform Smart’s engagement with the customer resulted in a cohesive cargo strategy and roadmap, encapsulated in a document and a flexible, audience-specific slide deck. This strategic framework was well-received internally and endorsed by key steering groups and committees. The critical achievement was the successful communication of the strategy to various stakeholders, ensuring everyone understood and aligned with the new direction.
Although the subsequent implementation faced challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategic groundwork laid by Platform Smart provided a clear direction and a basis for future technology and business alignment in the airport’s cargo operations.