Brussels Airlines

Brussels Airlines’ Digital Transformation Takes Off

Brussels Airlines delivers next-level customer and employee experiences thanks to data integration.

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Executive summary

Brussels Airlines wanted to offer exceptional customer and employee experiences by integrating the multiple back-end systems that made up their passenger service system. The new integrated system keeps customers and employees updated with important information such as flight delays.

  • Challenge
  • Approach
  • Results

Challenge

The Brussels Airlines passenger service system was in desperate need of an overhaul. Its collection of siloed systems were unable to keep customers, crew, and employees up to date with pertinent information such as flight planning or system statuses. Brussels Airlines knew that if things didn’t change their customers would be flying off to the airline with better service. They decided to take action. Back-end integration, which allows data to seamlessly flow from one app to another, was the only way to go.

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Complex back-end systems

The passenger service system (PSS) is the very heart of operations for Brussels Airlines, managing reservations, flight planning, and inventory. The challenge for the Brussels Airlines team was the complexity of integrating their back-end systems to work in sync.

The old PSS was a jumble of disparate back-end systems, making it difficult to have a central security environment. Versioning their different implementations was a nightmare. It was also impossible to monitor key metrics, such as KPIs and SLAs.

They had already been using Microsoft BizTalk, so it was a natural choice to look for an integration solution within the Microsoft ecosystem. They decided to partner with Codit to help them with the integration project.

Integration is central to our digital transformation.

Simon Lamkin CIO, Brussel Airlines

Approach

The Codit and Brussels Airlines teams decided to use APIs in conjunction with BizTalk servers to integrate the back-end systems. This solution drastically improves the customer and employee experience by making sure they have access to the right information at the right time. The flexibility of the new system also future-proofs their technology stack

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Integration is the key to customer satisfaction

For Brussels Airlines, the BizTalk platform was the undisputed choice for integrating their back-end. Not only have the Brussels Airlines team been using BizTalk for many years, they also know that it’s a reliable and secure platform which provides them with clear documentation of all the integrations between the apps.

Codit then used an API Management system called Sentinet to send and receive data between the apps and BizTalk. API Management was selected above point-to-point integrations because it’s secure and easier to control and manage on one central platform.

Sentinet was chosen as the API Management system because it’s Microsoft based, has high availability, and is cost effective. The Sentinet platform also includes security monitoring, tracing, version control, and analytics. These features make it easy for the Brussels Airlines team to monitor system health, pull statistics, and manage system updates – all in a secure environment.

It took Codit ten months to get the new passenger system up and running. The team at Brussels Airlines has truly put the new passenger service system to the test, with BizTalk and Sentinet processing more than 275,000 requests each day.

Results

The new integration exponentially improved communications between Brussels Airlines and its customers. Their employees can now offer customers a high-quality experience. The results of the Codit – Brussels Airlines project has cemented the airline’s position as market leader in a fiercely competitive industry.

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A future-proof solution

The new passenger service system has far-reaching implications for all stakeholders. The fast data transfer between the apps gives each stakeholder the same accurate information via every channel.

The 8 million customers who fly with the airline each year are using this new API stack without knowing it, by accessing it through the Brussels Airlines app or website. Thanks to the fully integrated system, customers are able to access up to date information about their journey.

Internal staff now have a fast and efficient technology stack that allows all of their core systems to work together. This means staff can have a bird’s eye view on operations, and pull statistics to further enhance the Brussels Airlines’ customer offerings.

The implementation of Sentinet was so successful that the Brussels Airlines team have decided to replicate the nodes and integrate more back-end systems.

Codit is also supporting Brussels Airlines in the long term with Customer Care. The Customer Care team monitor the BizTalk Server and Sentinet environment 24/7, resolve issues as they arise, schedule regular audits and provide system health reports to Brussels Airlines.

A mutually beneficial collaboration

“The collaboration with Codit was excellent and we look forward to working with them again.”

Olivier Plaitin Head of IT Development, Brussels Airlines

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