C A SE ST UDY
Hardware Support Services
Services:
Client
Data Center Support
United Airlines
Desktop Support
High Availability Services
IMAC (Install/Move/Add/Change)
Network Support
Professional Services
Specialty Support
Challenge
United Airlines had been a well-established customer of DecisionOne—maintaining over
71,000 pieces of customer-facing equipment, including kiosks, printers, gate ticket scanners,
and computers in airports and offices across the globe.
The merger of United and Continental Airlines in October 2010 caused United to reconsider
what was included in its IT service contract and incorporate Continental’s needs with its
own. Understandably, the equipment needs would be extremely complex. Each airline has an
“underground city” control center that manages everything from tarmac to tower. Systems,
vehicles, and equipment would have to work seamlessly yet be invisible to airline travelers
everywhere.
Solution
DecisionOne Support
For United Airlines:
Employ 570 technicians; 90
dedicated to IT maintenance
Support 425 locations across
North America & Latin America
Handle 9,400 service-related
calls per month
Complete 250 IMAC projects
each month
In order to address the combined needs of United and Continental and to eliminate all other
third-party IT support providers, DecisionOne initially hired and trained 41 technicians to
support the thousands of devices in 421 locations. To quickly and efficiently fulfill this need,
DecisionOne wrote and placed recruiting ads for the new technicians, interviewed, selected,
screened, and hired these employees—adding valuable technical jobs in 10 major metropolitan
areas in just 30 days. In addition to the technical and cultural training, DecisionOne was also
directed to consider and manage all of the security clearance requirements.
DecisionOne next played an important role assisting United with the transition to a new
common network, common IT infrastructure, and common passenger service system—over
a single weekend in March 2012. DecisionOne technicians had already upgraded kiosks in
all United and Continental locations, including switching, modifying, installing and testing
keyboards. On the cutover weekend, DecisionOne was present, from the last flight out under
the old system to the first flight out under the new system. The keyboards were updated
to show everyone where the new buttons were located, and technicians assisted airline
employees at ticket counters to help airline employees learn and understand the system
during the transition. DecisionOne assigned 340 people at 170 locations during the weekend
of March 3rd to ensure expectations were met—which included monitoring more than 20MM
reservations in the United/Continental passenger service system.
Results
United Airlines moved to a global Passenger Service System (PSS) on March 3, 2012.
DecisionOne worked over 4,122 hours and traveled over 18,000 miles to support the PSS
Day 1 project. One of the most complex and important projects that DecisionOne has
undertaken for United, this effort—the largest technology cutover in airline history—was
deemed by United executives to be nearly flawless in execution.
www.decisionone.com
800-767-2876 sales@decisionone.com
OVE RVIE W
Hardware Support Services
Services:
Data Center Support
Desktop Support
High Availability Services
IMAC (Install/Move/Add/Change)
Network Support
Professional Services
Specialty Support
DecisionOne Keeping United
Airlines Flying Smoothly
In addition to all of United’s customer-facing equipment needs, DecisionOne also
spearheaded the implementation of United’s iPad pilot service book program. United has
chosen to convert to paperless flight decks and will deploy 11,000 iPads to all its pilots.
These electronic flight bags replace paper flight manuals and—as a first for any major
carrier—provide pilots with paperless aeronautical navigational charts through an iPad app.
Distribution of iPads has begun, and all pilots will have them by year-end. The iPad units will
be stored, loaded, tested and delivered to all of its pilots. In addition to iPads, DecisionOne
also stores and handles the logistics for more than 62,000 pieces of equipment for United at
its 400,000-square foot warehouse outside of Columbus, Ohio.
DecisionOne also provides these value-added services:
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Hardware Services
By the Numbers:
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t the airport, DecisionOne provides break/fix service on passenger check-in kiosks,
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printers, bag tag printers, gate check-in kiosks and PCs. IT support is also provided at
United’s Houston and Chicago headquarter and reservation facilities
In the field, IMACs (Installs, Moves, Adds, and Changes) for United’s end users
t our depot facility, services include: asset tag receipt management, fulfillment,
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on-demand repair of kiosks, printers, gate readers and work stations, as well as
equipment storage
Project work for system refreshes, software updates, or equipment modification
1,600 technical personnel
15 years average industry
experience
1,100 CompTIA A+ certified
technicians
250 U.S. Federal government
agency-cleared employees
300 airport-cleared personnel
950 domestic, 250 CLA & 250
EMEA/ASPAC airlines-skilled
technicians
Supporting 15,000 hardware
products/1,000 OEMs/150
software applications
Why DecisionOne?
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Hardware Support Expert for More than 50 Years
Service for an Extensive Array of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)
Five Technical Support Centers Throughout North America
Top Secret Facility Clearance
HIPAA, HAZMAT and Material Safety Data Sheets Protocol Training
Unsurpassed Accountability, Scalability, Flexibility and Account Management
F ull Portfolio of Services: Reverse Logistics, Managed Services, Parts Management,
and Forward Stocking Locations
DecisionOne, a Glodyne company, is the largest independent technology support
organization in North America delivering world-class managed infrastructure services,
legacy equipment support and logistics management across all technologies. As a
vendor-agnostic partner, our highly skilled international team enables DecisionOne to
deliver outstanding support services to organizations anywhere, anytime.
www.decisionone.com
800-767-2876 sales@decisionone.com