Qantas IT Spin
BlackBerry shines as Qantas all-rounder
QANTAS has more than doubled the use of BlackBerry smartphones for cabin staff after a successful six-month trial.
Jamila Gordon says the device has led to productivity gains by relieving crew of time-consuming paperwork Picture: Renee Nowytarger
Crew members on all classes have been testing 400 devices since June as a customer service mechanism to replace paper-based forms.
Qantas decided to purchase 850 units after tests showed the devices could go the distance to include fault reporting.
"It's a complete communications tool and the crew use it for email, SMS and the like," chief information officer Jamila Gordon said.
"We're using it for customer service feedback in all cabin classes and also for fault reporting," Ms Gordon said.
"It's a fantastic tool and the crew don't have to carry two devices any more."
During the trial six customer service forms were electronically available on the BlackBerrys, making data entry much easier.
This led to productivity gains as the crew didn't have to manually transfer the information from the forms to computers back at the office.
In the future, the BlackBerry 8800 smartphones will be loaded with 11 forms, Ms Gordon said.
"These types of technologies play an important role as we try to achieve customer service and operational excellence."
The airline's technology department would continue to innovate where possible despite the economic downturn, she said.
Qantas is pushing to improve its battered image after ending 2008 with myriad negative reports ranging from engineering issues to mid-air emergencies.
The Flying Kangaroo is trying hard to regain ground - last week it unveiled a high-tech $10 million training facility designed to retraining 18,000 employees from all ranks to improve customer service.
Qantas had released a request for proposals for a desktop services partner, Ms Gordon said.
At the moment Telstra provides network, telephony and desktop services to Qantas.
"When you have a seven or 10-year outsourcing contract best practise says you need to market test every three or four years," she said.
You read the spin...now the reality
The Blackberry aka the Prune is a failure
The device is 2g and has insufficient memory to perform its required tasks.
The loaded software doesnt operate effectively due to insufficient memory.
The font size requires binoculars.
It does not work in a 3G environment.
There are log on problems.Trip data can not be retrieved.
The current outage has lasted 10 days and is likely to last another 7.
Essential information(IFSS etc) that was available in the blue Trip Folder has been removed.
Whoever is responsible for this mess is not an IT professional
The IT department of Qantas is full of second and third stringers who cant cut in the real IT world.