Finnair Adopts iOS Enterprise Apps from IBM to Accelerate Digital Transformation

HELSINKI and ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 30, 2016

Finnair is focused on Asia-Europe traffic, carrying over 10 million customers annually and connecting 70 European destinations with 17 Asian mega-cities and three North-American cities via its Helsinki hub. In preparation for growth, Finnair has recruited more than 500 employees, rolled out new aircraft and launched new routes this year. Now, Finnair seeks to improve its processes and enhance the customer experience through digital transformation.

"Our collaboration with Apple and IBM is an important building block in our digital transformation," says Katri Harra-Salonen, Chief Digital Officer, Finnair. "We want to link our employees with the insights they need to make better decisions. This collaboration enables a user focused, high quality, yet cost effective way of developing digital solutions, helping us to improve the way we operate as an airline."

First applications from the collaboration will be deployed in Finnair Technical Operations in aircraft line maintenance in the beginning of 2017.

"We see a wealth of opportunities for improving productivity as well as adding value to the work flow of our employees, by improving real-time visibility and transparency across the entire maintenance process," says Jari Huhtinen, Head of Finnair Technical Operations. "Our mechanics team participated in the application creation work with Apple and IBM to ensure the best possible design, user experience and fit into our organizational processes."

Finnair is the first organization to take advantage of IBM's new app design and development model for clients that plan to adopt multiple iOS apps, called Mobile at Scale for iOS. This integrated approach, unique to IBM MobileFirst for iOS, increases the speed, efficiency and quality of how iOS apps are designed, developed, deployed, enhanced and maintained over their lifecycle.

The airline has a team in the IBM MobileFirst for iOS Garage dedicated to rapidly executing Finnair projects. The MobileFirst for iOS Garage operates as a global hub for the development of iOS, enabling Finnair to tap into the world's largest concentration of Swift developers, design, integration and iOS device expertise along with consulting services. The Garage team can deliver initial apps in weeks that are tailored to meet Finnair's enterprise needs and the user requirements of its employees This integrated approach brings consistency to the project, saving 25 percent of development effort, cost and time.