As COVID travel restrictions ease, demands for flights have been gradually recovering. For the first time, there are many optimistic speculations and predictions for travel, with current numbers at 47% percent more passengers flying during 2022. North America is the fastest recovering region followed by the EU region. Asia and the Middle East, though have seen positive changes in air travel demands, are projected to remain lagged compared to Western nations.
Unlike the aviation industry in Asia where enormous state support exists, for the rest of the world, struggling businesses within the aviation supply chain must find ways to restart the dormant share of their operations in order to capitalize on the returning demands and earn back the losses during the past two years. For some players on the edge of insolvency, the early recovery of aviation marks a critical period to determine their chances for both short-term and long-term survival.
However, being able to meet those returning demands can be another story, as many aviation suppliers will likely lack the various logistical means to do so. In an active market, steady customer demand is easy to predict, and the quantity of supply needed can be precisely calculated. In the case of aviation – a relatively dormant market, the returning demand signals have triggered a “bullwhip effect“. These small demand signals on the retail level caused larger fluctuations and disorganization further down the supply chain, resulting in an enormous quantity of orders that cannot be fulfilled on time – or at all.
The record-long period of market inactivity has forced almost all aviation buyers, servicers, and manufacturers within the ecosystem into massive downsizing and even bankruptcy. Falling production of airworthy parts has led to severe scarcity, leading to billions of dollars of aviation backlogs. Numerous employees holding key expertise have left for other jobs and professions, which also has caused a skill and knowledge scarcity. The economic sanctions between the West and Russia have also removed a major customer base from the aviation market, and the mutual airspace bans/closures will possibly contribute to future logistics and ticket pricing issues. The longer distance for international flight routes will impact retail price offering negatively, driving away some of the demands globally and leaving the supply chain even more bewildered about how they should plan to operate in this post-crisis scenario.
Due to this “domino” disruption of the supply chain and logistics, the resurgence rate of various demands across the industry will exceed the recovery of supply. Under part scarcity and complicated logistic bottlenecks, running into unplanned AOG situations can be extremely expensive. Obtaining high-quality OEM parts may be an uphill battle, with many buyers resorting to aftermarket airworthy supplies, especially if they cannot afford to pay premium prices and fight over parts with the bigger players in the industry.
Although to capitalize on the increasing rebound in demand, it’s important to re-expand operations to be as close as possible to a pre-COVID state. This re-expansion can be accompanied by the purchasing of assets and the hiring of people. Nevertheless, similar to survival during the peak of the COVID pandemic, many aviation businesses will have to continue operating under limited resources and tight logistic restrictions, at least for an additional period until production has returned to normal.
Digitalization – digital transformation for the recovery of aviation
The need to work smarter in a tough operating environment has pushed many businesses in aviation to explore new and better digital tools. Digitization of processes is one of the main initiatives businesses take to address COVID-related challenges and reduce the workload on their staff, systems, and different layers of operations. Other than the benefit of allowing them to navigate operations within difficult pandemic mandates and scarcity of resources, some aviation organizations may have found the adoption of digital solutions to have reduced costs, enhanced business capabilities, and elevated operational transparency.
Similar to how businesses must establish a meticulous strategy to survive during COVID, actions must also be taken to operate profitably in a “new normal” post-COVID operation where more and more money is coming back to circulate in an extremely undersupplied market. While no software can provide the magic fix, the digitalization invested in must support the business’s recovery strategy. As technology integration is usually a major part of any enterprise transformation, a long-term rebuild plan should detail which current solutions to keep or discontinue, and which new solutions should be considered for a highly effective post-COVID digitized portfolio.
Technology adoption and change management – ensuring project success
To ensure the inevitable success of the adoption of new technologies, ample financial resources and project management capabilities will be required. Nevertheless, the probability of success can be leveraged at the selection stage. Since introducing new software will disrupt a user’s workflow, this is why ideally, an organization should vet for a solution with the lowest impact on operative disruption or the highest ease of adoption.
In this time where many challenges exist, ease of adoption could matter as much as the actual capabilities of the software towards the success and the eventual return of investment from the initiatives. When choosing the technology implementation to suit the change management strategy, an easy-to-use solution can be much more preferable over a solution that is “legacy” and lacking in innovation – which is often the case in aviation.
Some factors that may enable ease of adoption:
- Modern, holistic designs that are configurable and customizable to the user’s preference
- Transitional and stabilization support and training up to 24/7 hour support
- Option for fast, iterative cloud deployment (along with on-premises)
Other than the key factors listed above, post go-live service can also be a long-term addition to assist with the transition. Aviation systems are complex involving thousands of users, and the conclusion of deployment hardly leads to complete integration and adoption. With the prudent assessment of organizational needs and alignment of corporate vision, post-implementation support can help refine your operation further down the road.
In fact, including a post-deployment SLA is often crucial for certain groups of aviation enterprise solutions, such as software that assists with the internal/external transference and maintenance of mission-critical IETM/IETP data.
For example, with the NIVOMAX Suite of applications for IETM/IETP, change management can come easily. To accommodate the final consumers of technical data, NIVOMAX is designed to be highly user-centric, with intuitive UX/UI resembling a common modern application. Support and training are provided at every stage of the deployment, while users receive early hands-on experience of the solution for feedback-based improvement and to help with familiarization. By the time deployment has concluded, end-users should have a good idea of how to navigate the different components of the suite, as well as how to utilize the various useful features into their workflow. Post go-live services and support can be discussed early in the project to ensure the most fitting service level package, accommodating the long-term needs of the customer organization.
As the unofficial “deadline” for the return of air travel, 2022 is a good year for aviation businesses to start making preparations and stay ahead of the curve. Even though the supply chain will remain inefficient for some time, adjustments will be gradually made to bring supply closer to demand as more mandates and restrictions are lifted. Just like how digital transformation has helped many businesses address COVID-related challenges, it remains one of the key initiatives to rebuild and restart operations in this monumental transitional period. As one of the technology adoption goals is to onboard users as quickly while not spending too much time and internal financial resources, a question that should be always asked in advance is “will change management be easy with the software I am going to adopt?”
Looking for an IETM/IETP solution?
NIVOMAX by SYNAXIOM is one of the first user-centric IETM/IETP solutions engineered with intuitive modern designs and features. Catering to both next-generation S1000D and legacy standards (ATA), NIVOMAX is promised to bring unparalleled efficiency to the data collaboration between the partners of the aviation vertical supply chain.
With over a decade of technology implementation for long-term aviation partners including one of the world’s top three commercial aerospace manufacturers, SYNAXIOM is an expert who can help you address any concerns regarding interactive electronic technical publications and manuals, and affordable management solutions specific to your requirements and mission-critical systems.