 Unified CommunicationsThis newsletter is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation Don't miss LIVE Hosted Services webcast! Network World's Unified Communications Newsletter, 05/17/07Messaging should be up in the airBy Michael OstermanOn a flight last week from San Diego back to Seattle, I was struck at how antiquated the airline industry is in some ways. For example, we were set to depart a few minutes early when one of the ground crew discovered that a small plastic piece of a door on the exterior of the aircraft was broken. While this represented no threat to the safety of the aircraft, the engineering team back at the airline’s headquarters had to issue an engineering change order and then fax the document to the ground crew so that the order could be added to the aircraft’s log book. As a result, the flight was exactly one hour late in taking off. The delay in taking off meant that a number of passengers were going to have very tight connections. However, the flight crew could not communicate with gate agents in Seattle to ask them to hold the connecting flights for a few minutes. Further, while the flight attendants read off the list of gates for the connecting flights, they added the caveat that this information was subject to change, and so passengers should check the monitors in the airport once we arrived. Perhaps because I’m so exposed to messaging on a daily basis in terms of the research that we do, the briefings I receive, my writing this newsletter, and so forth, that the procedures airlines have in place seem so "1970s". For example, while I’m assuming that faxing the engineering change order instead of e-mailing it is mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, imagine the time savings if a more efficient method of communication could be used. Having a secure e-mail or instant messaging capability would have saved valuable time, and cost the airline less in terms of reticketing passengers who might have missed their flights, loss of goodwill, etc.
Real-time messaging between flight attendants and gate agents could have ensured that passengers did not miss their connecting flights. A real-time communication system that could update departure gate data could have provided valuable information to passengers rushing to meet a plane. All of this is possible even with the extremely narrow bandwidth links used for ground-to-air communication. In short, messaging technologies can provide real value to the airline industry and their passengers, value that today is not being realized.
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| Contact the author: For webinars or research on messaging, or to join the Osterman Research market research survey panel, go here. Osterman Research helps organizations understand the markets for messaging and directory related offerings. To e-mail Michael, click here. This newsletter is sponsored by Microsoft Corporation Don't miss LIVE Hosted Services webcast! ARCHIVEArchive of the Unified Communications Newsletter. BONUS FEATUREIT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESTo subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007 |
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