Riyadh Air and IBM has
announced the signing of a strategic agreement in which IBM Consulting will
be the lead systems integrator to support creating, building and orchestrating
the technology foundation that can help the digitally native airline offer
exceptional and seamless travel experiences.
Together, Riyadh Air and IBM Consulting have
already created the airline's digital and technology strategy. Now, Riyadh Air
has selected IBM Consulting to support building the key business and technology
capabilities that underpin the strategy. That includes implementing and
integrating more than 50 airline industry solutions and core technology
capabilities, including security, infrastructure, integration and data
platforms, using a hybrid cloud approach. IBM will also orchestrate the work of
over 40 partners by providing program and technical governance, project
management, quality assurance, change and communications management and
training.
The collaboration is expected to help position
Riyadh Air strategically within the broader ecosystem to offer digital
innovations and exceptional experiences for travelers and guests. Riyadh
Air aims to create a world class airline with personalized and seamless guest
experiences powered by AI and state of the art digital technology, taking
obsessive care for details that create memorable micro-moments across the
traveler journey. It also includes empowering employees with data-driven
insights and new ways of working to help Riyadh Air better serve their guests.
"Our ambition is to launch our
first flight in 2025 and put Riyadh Air at the cutting edge of digital
technology and innovation within the aviation industry, adopting the best
international sustainability and safety practices to deliver an exceptional
travel experience, for our guests locally and internationally," said Adam Boukadida,
Chief Financial Officer, Riyadh Air. "IBM Consulting will be our
principal partner driving us towards our vision with their deep expertise in
managing large complex systems and integration programs as well as their
expertise in the travel industry."
"We're proud to be Riyadh Air's
partner and help them bring this new era of the Kingdom's aviation industry to
life," said John Granger,
Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting. "A technology foundation built with
an open, hybrid cloud approach and AI can help them achieve the flexibility and
agility needed to support their goal of delivering an exceptional travel
experience for their guests."
IBM Consulting will also establish and maintain
Riyadh Air's hybrid cloud integration platform. With IBM CloudPak for
Integration and Red Hat OpenShift, this platform will provide integration tools
to connect applications and data within a unified and simple user experience.
Riyadh Air's digital and technology strategy
supports its mission and is aligned to the Kingdom's Vision 2030 to lead the
aviation industry by transforming Saudi Arabia, given its
unique strategic location, into a global aviation and trade hub.
IBM Consulting helps accelerate business
transformation for our clients through hybrid cloud and AI technologies,
leveraging our open ecosystem of partners. With deep industry and business
expertise spanning strategy, experience design, technology, and operations, we
have become a trusted partner to the world's most innovative and valuable
companies, helping them modernize and secure their most complex systems.
Our
160,000 consultants embrace an open way of working and apply our proven
co-creation method, IBM Garage, to scale ideas into outcomes. As the only major
global systems integrator inside a technology company, we don't just
advise -- we invent and build what's next together with our clients.
