SIA, IBM develop airlines e-commerce strategy

SINGAPORE - Singapore Airlines (SIA) and International Business Machines (IBM) today announced that they have developed an e-commerce strategy to spearhead the airline's efforts to gain competitive advantage, maintain service leadership and provide benefits to its customers and business partners.

A joint team of SIA executives and global travel industry and e-business personnel from IBM's Business Innovation Services organization has conducted research with customers, business partners, employees and management at SIA, focusing on areas such as the mobile Internet and customer service.

Said Walter Lee, SIA's vice president, e-commerce, "SIA's e-commerce strategy will help us reinforce our service leadership, reach new markets and foster stronger ties with customers and business partners. Customers expect the same recognition and service quality no matter which channel they use to contact us, so we need to provide consistent service at all customer contact points."

Riz Rizavi, vice president of travel and transportation, IBM Global Services, said, "The airline industry is now at a critical point in its evolution, where e-commerce is fast becoming a core business priority. Leading airlines like SIA recognise the need to develop a strategic e-business vision, the appropriate initiatives and a flexible infrastructure to support the journey."

This is not the first time that SIA is collaborating with IBM. In July this year, SIA, together with IBM, launched a 24-hr auto ticketing facility for services to Kuala Lumpur.

The SIA Auto Ticketing machine, costing about S$1 million, allows customers traveling to Kuala Lumpur to buy their tickets from the machine using their credit cards.

SIA has also announced that it will commit S$700 million over the next three years to roll out its e-business plans to service customers "anytime, anywhere and on any device".