Why the Airline Industry Must Shift to a Data-centric Mentality
The many benefits of becoming data-centric instead of application-centric.
Now more than ever, the transportation industry is in need of a mentality shift from being application specific to data-centric to address these current failures and emerging issues. This mentality shift will allow organizations to break down silos, improve overall data visibility, and leverage real-time data to overcome and prevent future IT issues, says of DataStax.
No one would deny that the airline industry has completely melted down in recent months. From Southwest’s scheduling and staffing fiasco to the FAA system outage causing a U.S. ground stop to a Lufthansa IT failure that stranded passengers, there seems to be a new disaster making headlines every week.
These situations have sparked conversations and speculation across the board about why this is happening now. Though there are a plethora of reasons why this is the case, IT systems have taken center stage as the cause for blame. The industry relies on IT systems built to support an airline industry from years prior — one with fewer people, fewer data demands, and less complexity. When it comes to answering why the transportation industry is in peril, outdated IT systems that cause software failures and data silos that limit the ability for effective communication and real-time decision-making are a major explanation of the issues both airlines and trains face.
The Origin of the Issue
When updated with the right technology, IT systems can create seamless experiences across the board. Yet, these updates are often deprioritized as organizations adopt an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it attitude” to IT infrastructure, which is typically labeled as important, but not mission-critical to safe flight operations.
Rather than improving backend IT operations, the airline industry has been laser-focused on bettering the customer experience through updates like improved passenger entertainment systems and digital boarding passes. While these customer-facing advancements receive the most attention from investors, IT infrastructure has fallen by the wayside.
Efforts to resolve IT issues are also put off because they require deep expertise; legacy database systems keep information locked up in data silos, accessible only through specific applications. This issue is further complicated by the fact that airline systems are part of a centralized federal system. Every airline’s system goes down when the federal system goes down, which has prompted some to search for ways to have their own systems cover operational functionality that these legacy systems provide, causing redundancy and additional failure points. Despite these challenges and misconceptions, the industry must prioritize IT upgrades to ensure safe, efficient flight operations.
The Big Question
The world has seen why outdated IT systems can be problematic and dangerous. Glitchy legacy systems can cause software failures, leading to issues like the U.S. ground stop. Data silos prevent essential, effective communication and limit real-time decision-making. Without immediate access to the right data at the right time, the industry is flying blind.
Batch processing cannot solve this problem. It actually magnifies the problem, as it works through high volumes of data too slowly and provides the right answer at the wrong time. The reality is that there are decisions that have to be made at certain times, decisions that cannot wait for data to slowly appear, and capabilities to do so already exist. Air traffic control must be done in real-time, it is event-driven, and data has to be fully available and accessible at any given moment to allow for each impactful decision to be made at the precise time it is needed.
This leaves one big question: How can the industry apply this across the board? It is no small feat to take all the data, bring it together, and have information flow to the right places at the right time. On top of that, the organization must ensure that data is being validated to know that what is happening is true and real.
The answer lies in a mindset shift supporting the modernization of current IT infrastructure and implementing an event-driven architecture.
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Making the Shift
Moving from an application-specific mindset to a data-centric mindset can help organizations seamlessly manage data, ensure its availability, and take advantage of the wealth of information they have. Rather than working with applications that control systems of records from within, the data-centric mentality promotes the provision of a stream of applications that can be populated with events on demand. This also helps break data silos, as the organization focuses on prioritizing which data goes to which function.
The data-centric mentality aligns with the concept of moving from a monolithic data architecture to a cloud-based event-driven microservices architecture. This move is beneficial because a microservices architecture is made up of units that run on their own, allowing individual services to be updated or altered without impacting the other services. This function allows for improved reliability, performance, and scalability, making it far easier for IT professionals to process updates and implement new tools. The implementation of a data-centric mentality clears the way for the airline industry to stop putting off upgrades and rapidly modernize outdated IT infrastructure.
In addition to the resolution of issues that cause major mishaps on the runway, these upgrades open the door for the application of real-time data, and some airlines are already reaping the benefits of this. A few years back, United Airlines deployed a real-time system of record that manages all information from day-to-day flight operations, constantly feeding it to real-time applications through messaging and streaming. Access to real-time data enables advantageous processes that send the right offer to the right customer, ensures planes are in a location at the right time, and allocates staff to the right places within an airport.
With the correct direction, the industry can get ahead of the game, using data to drive predictive and generative AI and overcome IT challenges before they arise. The data-centric mindset introduces new, modern solutions that will prevent future IT issues in the airline industry and eliminate the possibility of another ground stop.
The Industry of the Future
The airline industry’s recent failures can be attributed to several factors, but outdated IT systems are a major cause. Thanks to software failures and data silos that eliminate effective communication and lead operators to make decisions based on old data, planes have been grounded, and near-collisions have been a serious cause for concern.
Moving forward, airlines need to take control of IT systems with updates that are a better fit for the modern world and can drive the AI applications of the future. By turning away from an application-specific mindset and making data the star of the show, the industry can adopt a system that employs real-time data to break down silos and enhance data visibility to prevent future IT issues.
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