Question

Mode of Transport: Air

Conduct research on your assigned mode of transportation on how Information Technology (IT) has impacted that mode, either positively or negatively. Identify challenges or risks with IT and lastly, describe the best practices in that industry's mode of transportation and how it impacted performance, profits, and/or process efficiencies.

Answer 1

IT has changed almost everything in the modern world, it has shaped how most of the works are done in today’s day.

Air transport has become very swift due to the introduction of IT, the total turnaround time from ticket booking to boarding a flight have become relatively less and people do not even need to leave their home or office to book a ticket. The IT support has come as a boon for this sector, today we see people travelling frequently without being worried how will the get the ticket of new flight, how will they check in if they are late how will the book extra luggage etc.

The major changes which IT has brought in the field of Air transport are:

• Ease of booking and cancellation
• Ease of check-in
• Ease of luggage booking
• Ease of seat selection
• Ease of choosing food menu etc.

The above changes are positive and in my though It has brought a much needed change in the field of how we commute by air.

The challenges of risks with IT are:

• The risk of IT system failure which will halt all the operations of the company.
• The risk of data theft which may bring negative advertisement for the company.
• The high cost of maintenance.
• Too much dependence on IT makes the employees less active.
• The less educated/older generation population who still have not switched to computer is a challenge for the company as the company will have to educate them.
• The disruption in IT systems due to disasters.
• Company's failure to exercise due care and diligence in the implementation and operation of the IT system which will have a negative impact on the system, etc.

The best practices opted by companies operating in the air transport industries and its impact on those companies:

• Use of light paints on the aircraft which reduces the weight of aircraft and therefore consumption of fuel.
• Implementation of state of the art IT solutions which allows a traveller to book tickets, cancel it, reschedule it, book luggage and food etc. online which in turn reduces the requirement of number of employees to serve for the airline and thus the operational costs are reduced.
• The pre booking of food type by the customers permits the airline companies to carry only as much as required and this in turn reduces the burden form them of carrying extra speculating what a customer might ask.
• Feature of carrying tickets and boarding passes in phone.
• Regular training of employees for smooth functioning of the processes which keeps flights on schedule and thus improves the operational efficiency.

The best practices mentioned above are generic and changes from company to company and country to country. A few of the companies are offering excellent in aircraft services while keeping their price high and others are trying to keep the fares as low as possible and surviving the market.

By applying the above practices the overall profit and performance has increased.