Videos
At the World Financial Symposium in Doha in September, Accelya got together with airline finance leaders under one roof – after more than two years! We caught up with them to understand their perspectives on the role of finance in retailing transformation.
It was interesting to see how much finance leaders are in synch on retailing transformation and the role of NDC and ONE Order. Over the course of the event, we interviewed four finance giants on their perspectives, and this is a taste of what we learned:
“We want to run as a financially efficient company, and I understand NDC to enable us to streamline how we sell directly to the customer”, commented Jenny Benjamin, Director – Revenue Accounting, Alaska Airlines.
“The main drivers for NDC for me are the opportunity that NDC gives airlines to reduce distribution costs and to extend their rich content”, said Ezekiel Oduor, Manager – Revenue Accounting, Kenya Airways.
“ONE Order is a logical continuation to NDC, and it will facilitate the aim and goals of NDC”, shared Soufiane Attif, Head – Revenue Accounting, Royal Air Maroc.
Konda Reddy, Head – Revenue Accounting, Qantas, called out the success factors for ONE Order adoption – “Have an organization-wide strategy to replace PNRs/tickets with orders, collaborate across departments, and have a roadmap for the transition that breaks this down into small steps.”
Order accounting and the role of finance
From what we saw and heard at the conference, airline finance teams are going above and beyond current operations to meet the traditional demands of revenue accounting while building out order accounting capabilities. As such, they are very much at the center of retailing transformation.
“The journey to orders is a whole company effort. So, finance needs to be involved from the start. Finance can bring focus to the integrity of the end-to-end process”, shared Konda. We couldn’t agree more.
Soufiane went on to say, “To reap the benefit of ONE Order, finance needs to simplify processes and to enable NDC to unlock flexibility”.
“We need to pull up our socks, and we need to speed up so that we are not caught unaware”, added Bright Kayinamura, Manager – Interline Accounting, RwandAir.
“Use these forums (WFS) to learn as much as you can about these things (NDC and ONE Order) because it is the next big thing for airlines”, advised Jenny.
In the videos below, our giants of finance give their take on their role in ensuring the success of retailing transformation in their airlines.
Ezekiel Oduor, Manager – Revenue Accounting, Kenya Airways
Jenny Benjamin, Director – Revenue Accounting, Alaska Airlines
Soufiane Attif, Head – Revenue Accounting, Royal Air Maroc
Bright Kayinamura, Manager – Interline Accounting, RwandAir
