Gulf Air, the National Carrier of Bahrain has been the only airline in the region to have won 35 awards and the first to have unified different disparate systems in one cohesive service through the Hybrid cloud. Behind these achievements is the robust infrastructure of Gulf Air of which Information Technology (IT) is an integral part. BTW speaks to Dr. Jassim Haji, Director, Information Technology, to understand the man whose vision propels Gulf Air to greater heights.
Please share with us briefly about yourself: where you were born and raised, education and professional background.
My name is Dr. Jassim Haji and I work for Gulf Air as Director Information Technology. I was born and raised in Bahrain and I spent a number of years in the UK as a student completing my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. I also completed my PHD from Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK.
What are your hobbies?
I am a big Manchester United supporter since my childhood and usually I don’t miss any of their games. Additionally, I like research and writing articles in both English and Arabic.
When and how did your association with Gulf Air Begin?
I joined Gulf Air in a junior IT position in 1985. I always wanted to work for an airline, and in the IT field of course, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to join the Kingdom of Bahrain’s national carrier – a decision I am proud of until now.
Under your able leadership, tell us about the achievements/implementations of the IT department of Gulf Air.
Gulf Air IT department achieved mobility in every level, for pilots with Electronic-Flight-Bag, tablets for crew check-in agents and technical engineers.
Other achievements include:
-Big Data and Business Intelligence with Arabic Sentiment Analysis to monitor customer feedback.
-Internet of Things for aircraft operational monitoring.
-Building the private cloud and expanding it to the hybrid cloud.
From when had Gulf Air’s digital transformation journey begin? What has your involvement been in this project?
It started less than 2 years ago to renovate all aspects of the business. The project was aimed at automating business processes and eliminating paper by re-engineering business functions and building scalable back-end solutions through the innovation of the internal resources and expertise.
Gulf Air, as we know, is the first airline in the region to unify different disparate systems in one cohesive service through the Hybrid cloud. Please tell us about the company’s internally in-built Hybrid cloud.
Gulf Air’s Hybrid cloud was internally built and it integrated with the other system providers to ensure real time data availability and accessibility. The Hybrid cloud enabled Gulf Air’s internal resources to extend the reach of its services seamlessly and globally as Software as a Service (SaaS), enabling users and passengers to perform their tasks through unified services, eliminating duplicable work previously required in different systems. This facilitated a significant reduction in the capital and operating expenditure and reduced the physical servers count by 35%.
What have been the challenges in the journey of digital transformation? How have you overcome them?
The main challenge faced was educating users to adopt a new way of conducting daily operations that is based on digital IT solutions instead of doing the work manually. Such changes in habits are very difficult. This was overcome by gradually improving the existing business processes to become inherently digital and to show to the users the improvement with the new digital process, increased in productivity and reducing the complexity of the work by eliminating manual intervention.
How has IT contributed to Gulf Air’s success story so far?
IT has led the digital transformation, its implementation and its rollout to all users.
Given the pace at which technology advances today, how is Gulf Air geared up to acquire and adopt these technological advancements?
It is by always being in the lookout for any new development. However, not every new technology is worth it, it is all about the business benefits and return on investment that is achieved. Even existing technologies can be used or harnessed in an innovative way to deliver new unsatisfied requirements and business needs.
Any IT advancements in the pipeline for Gulf Air within the next 5 years?
Gulf Air is planning to adopt Software-Defined Storage (SDS) technology to enhance data resiliency/High-Availability and provide required data growth for the coming 5 years. The solution once implemented will be scalable and independent of Vendor-Storage which will provide Gulf Air with the luxury of choosing the right H/W of storages available in the market and avoid lockout situation.
What is your message to the valued passengers of Gulf Air?
Gulf Air is committed to our passengers and to ensuring the most convenient, enjoyable and seamless travel experience. In terms of IT and how we can enhance the Gulf Air offering, we continue to deliver innovation and technology across all customer touch points, to facilitate your travel needs.