BSS041-3 Digital Business Management
Business Intelligence/Big Data report
Student Number:
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3
Discussion of the role of Business Intelligence in the decision making of British Airways ..... 3
Assessing how British Airways may achieve competitiveness using business intelligence ..... 5
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 8
References .................................................................................................................................. 9
References ...................................................................... Ошибка! Закладка не определена.
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Introduction
Businesses utilize business intelligence to make informed strategic decisions and gain a
competitive edge by analyzing current and historical data using technologies and methods.
Employing data to answer questions about the company’s history and present, business
intelligence dramatically improves how well a business approaches decision-making
(Puklavec, Oliveira, and Popovič, 2018). Teams throughout a company may use it to keep tabs
on important metrics and plan their efforts. Better business judgments are the whole goal of
Business Intelligence. Organizations benefit from BI because it gives them access to data that
is important to the success of many different departments and areas, such as sales, financing,
and marketing. By effectively employing BI, the company will have access to more actionable
data, better insights into market dynamics, and the ability to make more strategic decisions. As
a result, the following study discusses British Airways’ usage of Business Intelligence and how
it addresses operational difficulties using Business intelligence technologies.
Discussion of the role of Business Intelligence in the decision making of
British Airways
British Airways is the biggest premium regular airline in the United Kingdom, flying to over
400 destinations worldwide. Its primary function is to provide scheduled international and local
aviation services for the benefit of passengers. It has three hubs in London: “Heathrow,
Gatwick, and London City” (Jackson and Tozer, 2020). There is a long history of British
Airways using information technology. This was the cost of two jumbo planes in 1991 when
British Airways invested approximately £150 million on information technology. With the
newest technology, BA’s key operating tasks include transporting clients throughout the world
in first class cabins while providing world-class service. The Knowledge Strategic Leader at
British Airways feels that this software is largely to blame for the airline’s rise to the top of
Europe’s timeliness rankings. “BusinessObjects assists with long-term planning by evaluating
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the most optimal number of daily flights, routes and aircraft types”. Large companies such as
“IBM Cognos” and “Oracle OBIEE Plus” also created BI tools for the enterprise level which
includes to British Airways and SAP (Farrokhi et al., 2020). With sales cycles spanning one
year and complete implementation taking two to three years by the time of purchase, BI
specialized software for bigger organizations has deterred many smaller customers.
Presently, British Airways ground employees manually examine and record the specifics of
eighteen various tasks that must be completed before the plane may leave for its next journey,
involving complete cleaning of an aircraft interiors, reloading and unloading of food, baggage
and cargo, and refueling, when clients exit an aircraft (Mills, 2017). If there was a problem
with even one of these steps, the whole process might be thrown off and the flight could be
delayed.
Artificial intelligence currently compares live video of the complicated turnaround procedure
with the intended timetable using a network of cameras built-up all-around aircraft stand by
digital start-up Assaia, a graduate of British Airways’ parent firm “IAG’s Hangar 51 start-up
accelerator programme”. As soon as the technology identifies a problem that might cause a
delay, an alert will be sent to the manager in charge of the turn through a smart watch, alerting
them of the problem and giving them the authority, they need to fix it (Karami, 2017).
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Customers who utilize the ‘Know Me’ function on British Airways’ website will get tailored
search results. As a consequence, ‘Know Me’ makes relevant and tailored offers based on indepth data analysis (Hanlon, 2017). British Airways has introduced a new initiative that uses
Google Images to identify customers in an attempt to give VIP guests with an unmatched level
of customer care. About 2,000 airline employees will have iPads with which to view passenger
travel itineraries, complaint histories, and a picture from Google Images, according to the
airline. It is expected that BA workers would be able to recognize and individually welcome
4,500 passengers every day by the end of 2012 due to the recent “Know Me” initiative. When
it came to customer satisfaction, BA received a ton of high marks from happy travelers.
Assessing how British Airways may achieve competitiveness using business
intelligence
There are four key parts to Business Intelligence. A company’s data warehouse information is
stored in conveniently accessible and well-organized places, powering this information.
Business analytics is the term given to data management technology employed in data mining
and analysis (Mariani, Bresciani, and Dagnino, 2021). As per Arumugam and Bhargavi,
businesses use “Business Performance Management” (BPM) to track and evaluate their
progress toward attaining their goals. Last but not least, the user interface makes it simple to
access to the information users want. The dashboard is usually built on a data visualisation and
reporting tool. According to current forecasts, global data size will reach 149 zettabytes in
2024. BI solutions are becoming increasingly vital for companies who seek to benefit from
BI’s competitive advantages as the volume of big data increases. Many BI systems now include
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AI and other advanced technologies as part of their core functionality (Amankwah-Amoah and
Adomako, 2019).
In order to monitor and analyse how close a firm is, “business performance
management” (BPM) makes use of technology. Last but not least, the user interface makes it
simple to get the data required. Most of the time, it’s a dashboard with a lot of data visualisation
and reporting tools. According to current forecasts, global data size will reach 149 zettabytes
in 2024. As the volume of big data rises, so does the importance of business intelligence (BI)
solutions for companies looking to gain a competitive advantage by using BI. Many BI
solutions now incorporate AI and other advanced technologies to aid with business analytics
(Brown and Harvey, 2021).
When it comes to the performance of an organisation, experts say it may vary greatly. Any
company’s development and success may be gauged by looking at how much revenue has
grown over time. Firms are adjusting by making strategic and tactical decisions that increase
revenue, decrease risk, cut expenditures, and provide them a competitive advantage. With the
use of business intelligence, firms can predict how upcoming market and economic conditions
will affect their company. Some of the world’s most successful organisations utilize business
intelligence (BI) to improve customer loyalty as well as revenue while also increasing
shareholder value. As a result, British Airways resorted to business intelligence in an effort to
address the problems it was experiencing while simultaneously looking for new business
prospects (Mariani, Bresciani, and Dagnino, 2021).
An extensive data modernization project included Microsoft, which extracted clean real-time
data regarding airline movements, security and immigration lines. Microsoft was employed
across many different projects. This company used a wide range of products including SQL
database from Azure or cloud services from Microsoft. Financial metrics such as revenue,
profit margins, and cost to service may all be used to assess how well a company is doing using
business intelligence (Hanlon, 2017). Employing WiFi and GPS signals throughout the whole
facility, British Airways collects and processes passenger movement data utilizing data
analytics (OLAP). By knowing how many employees are required to be available when, this
data helps the organization’s operational side by supporting rota and break planning to
minimise staff shortage. Long lineups are less of an issue once have more personnel processing
consumers at once since one may place them at busy periods. The benefit of reducing waits is
that consumers have more time at the airport’s commercial sections, which may result in more
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revenue for the business (Mills, 2017). Customers are also processed more quickly through
these checkpoints and are thus happier with the services they have got.
It is essential for an airport to comprehend a client’s journey in order to achieve high customer
satisfaction, from their expectations and previous experiences through their evaluations after
they depart. In order to extend their destinations, airlines seek customer loyalty as a way to
invest in a profitable company that is future-proof. This offers the organization a competitive
advantage in the airline industry. According to Kotler, brand loyalty protects businesses from
the competition by ensuring that consumers keep coming back (Kotler, 2003).
When moving away from paper-based reactive models for daily operations, data warehousing
has already been used. It is necessary to consolidate and standardise data in order to make it
available across an organisation. Customers may view data warehousing-derived information
displayed on huge displays around the airport’s commercial areas. To ensure clients are
updated with flights, this offers information on travel time connecting their present location
and the gate they have to be in. Also, it provides real-time information regarding cancellations
and delays. People would be able to plan when to depart commercial areas so how they can
make it to the gate in time for the aircraft to take off if this information is made available. It
also decreases any lines or delays that plane may have reaching their destination (the gates)
(Brown and Harvey, 2021).
In the event of a delay, management would be able to place additional workers in high-traffic
areas quickly by sharing this information with the traffic controllers and security. Only certain
airlines fly to specific destinations, so airports are considered a niche market. However, by
trying to implement these Business intelligence tools, the stronger foundation an advantage
over its competitors by being able to anticipate and prepare for changing trends as well as highvolume periods at various times throughout the year.” The predictive analysis on marketing,
sales, and manufacturing will allow British Airways to consistently enhance their strategy to
bring more business and consumers to their airport. With Data Mining, it is also feasible to
provide hidden correlations and patterns in massive datasets and infer rules from them to
anticipate future behaviour. This is more effective than OLAP. Managers may use this
information to make predictions about future trends (Jackson and Tozer, 2020).
Superiority is a shifting aim because of changes in the market, environmental influences and
global influences such as a worldwide pandemic. The most successful competitors are always
on the move and have a good sense of what is coming next. Time, according to Stalk (1988),
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is the most important competitive advantage. The ability to manage time on a much greater
scale offers them a competitive edge when using analytics to forecast future trends and collect
information for management (Karami, 2017).
Conclusion
To conclude, it can be stated that by using BI, companies have access to the data that is critical
for many various departments and sectors, such as sales, finance, and marketing. The
organization would be able to acquire more actionable data, have a better understanding of
market dynamics, and make better strategic choices if BI is properly implemented. “Know Me”
is a British Airways initiative that uses Google Images to recognize consumers in an effort to
provide VIP passengers with an unequalled level of customer service. About 2,000 workers of
the airline will be equipped with tablets to check trip schedules, complaints, and a photo from
Google Images. As a result, Business Intelligence is the greatest choice for companies like
British Airways, who are focused on fast expansion and data collection and analysis.
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References
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Hanlon, A., 2017. British Airways: a case study in social media management. The Business &
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Jackson, S. and Tozer, J., 2020. A VISION FOR DATA SCIENCE AT BRITISH
AIRWAYS. Impact, 2020(1), pp.15-19.
Karami, A., 2017. Corporate strategy: evidence from British Airways plc. In The Changing
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