Customer & Partner Solution Brief
/ / Designated Support Resource Elevates Development of Airline Software
“A big success factor has been the individual support we get from our TAM [Technical Account Manager]—someone who is personally responsible for making sure that we succeed.”
Rich Uhl, Senior Microsoft Systems Architect, Navitaire
Business Needs
For more than a decade, Navitaire has been a pioneer in delivering information technology and business process solutions to the airline industry. The company’s products have global reach and support a range of mission-critical tasks, including online reservations, revenue management, revenue accounting, and operations management and recovery.
The company faced a challenge when the platform powering itsindustry-leading online reservation system, Open Skies, would be retired within a few years. As Navitaire began to research other platform options, the company realized that it could improve performance and enhance functionality by rewriting the existing application using Microsoft® technology. So Navitaire began developing a completely new, online reservation system—New Skies—using the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 Enterprise Edition database server, and the Microsoft Windows Server®2003 operating system.
“The Microsoft technology met all our technical needs and supported the significant availability and performance requirements for our New Skies application,” says Chris Clanton, Vice President of IT and Operations for Navitaire. “Microsoft technology also gave us the ability to create a more scalable product, which enables us to expand our customer base to even larger carriers.”
In addition to having a robust technology platform, Navitaire knew that having the right support services plan in place would be a key component for the New Skies application. Given the business-critical nature of an online reservation system to an airline, Navitaire wanted to ensure it would have the resources in place to quickly resolve any customer issues that occurred as the application was being deployed. A support plan could also help the company validate technical decisions and resolve issues during the New Skies application development lifecycle.
Solution
To address its support needs, Navitaire acquired a Microsoft Services Premier Support Agreement.
“Today, with our proactive support model, we are taking advantage of a wide range of services available through our Premier Support Agreement,” explains Rich Uhl, Senior Microsoft Systems Architect for
Navitaire. “We’ve attended workshops, had onsite visits from Microsoft database experts and product group resources, worked with support services to resolve issues—and all of this has been coordinated directly through our designated Microsoft Technical Account Manager.”
Specifically, Premier Support has helped Navitaire: conduct a technical architecture review, address Web server performance issues at a customer site, and obtain Microsoft Solutions Framework training.
Benefits
Personal touch via a proactive support modelprovides overriding benefitsto Navitaire through its Premier Support Agreement. A Microsoft Technical Account Manager (TAM) helps Navitaire access the right resources quickly and achieve its application development and deployment goals.
Personal Touch
Navitaire attributes its ability to resolve complex development issues to the dedication and hard work of the company’s TAM. The TAM represents someone within Microsoft who has a vested interest in seeing Navitaire succeed.
“A big success factor has been the individual support we get from our TAM—someone who is personally responsible for making sure that we succeed,” says Uhl. “Today we have a company advocate working for us within Microsoft—it’s an invaluable service.”
Quick Access to the Right Resources
“The resources available to us [through the Premier Support Agreement] for problem resolution are impressive,” says Walter Gren, IT Manager of Database Technologies for Navitaire. “Depending on our needs, we may talk to Microsoft executives or product engineers. The level of support we get simply is amazing.”
“Compared to other platforms, the level of support we get through Microsoft is truly unique,” says Gren. “We work directly with Microsoft engineers who have a deep understanding of the products we’re using.”
Successful Deployment with Proactive Support Model
Navitaire continues to convert its existing customers to the New Skies application. As the company moves forward, it has an added measure of confidence that, because of its Premier Support Agreement, Navitaire will have the necessary support, if required, for each conversion. If the company encounters a problem during a customer deployment, it has a solid escalation path in place.
“As we look to the future, we know that we can count on Premier Support to help us continue to deliver seamless conversions for each of our customers,” says Uhl.
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Windows Server, and the Microsoft logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.Document published August 2006