Singapore Airlines reaps the benefits of its new cargo management system
Singapore Airlines (SIA) went live with its new Integrated Cargo Management System (ICMS) on August 1.
It is powered by IBS Software’s iCargo freight management platform and, according to the software-as-a-service specialist, since SIA went live with the ICMS it has benefited “approximately 1,500 users across sales, operations, and finance industries…with iCargo enabling more than 24,000 flights, creating 202,000 bookings and 192,000 airway bills, as well as processing and responding to 8.5 million incoming messages”.
The ICMS is designed to be a “strategic initiative to future-proof SIA’s core cargo platform by eliminating disparate cargo systems and bringing in the latest cloud technology to transform cargo operations and customer delivery”, an IBS statement noted.
With iCargo supporting SIA across its various airfreight business processes, the ICMS provides a single integrated cargo application for business users in Singapore and overseas, as well as offering an interface with SIA Cargo partners including general sales and services agents, ground handling agents and freight forwarders.
It aims to simplify end-to-end cargo operations, while enhanced data quality and insights enable SIA to make more effective real-time, data-driven decisions across its sales, operations and finance processes, while also ensuring that the freight carrier is compliant with relevant international regulations.
IBS Software’s Consulting and Digital Transformation (CDx) business provided user acceptance testing (UAT) support to SIA. According to IBS, the UAT focused on business process transformation and change management efficiency, and involved the input of more than 100 end users around the world.
End-to-end testing took in more than 20 upstream and downstream messaging systems.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated the need for digital transformation, especially given the important role that air freight plays in critical supply chains, as well as the need for greater supply chain visibility to improve resilience,” said Chin Yau Seng, senior vice president cargo at SIA.
“IBS Software’s iCargo platform is a key element in SIA’s digitalisation efforts to enable it to serve its customers even better, respond more quickly to changes in the marketplace and improve work processes, while allowing it to stay compliant and update-to-date with global industry standards and initiatives,” he added.
Ashok Rajan, head of cargo & logistics solutions at IBS Software, described SIA as “a team that recognises the transformative impact of digitalising air cargo and is dedicated to creating innovative customer experiences that will enable it to capitalise on the air cargo opportunities ahead”.
The second phase of the implementation process is planned for March next year. This stage will involve migrating a mail module, implementing mail revenue accounting and rolling out new capabilities in sales, operations and cargo revenue accounting modules.