IBM Cloud seems to be on a roll acquiring cloud customers, its latest client acquisition being American Airlines, which inked a deal with the tech major to host some of its enterprise applications on IBM’s cloud infrastructure, as well as leverage its cloud dev platform Bluemix and analytics capabilities.
IBM has signed up several airlines this year to use its services. Back in March 2016 Aeroflot, the largest Russian airliner, turned to IBM analytics technologies to harness vast amounts data to better understand customer preferences and buying behaviours in a bid to improve customer service and conduct more targeted marketing campaigns. In June this year IBM signed a ten-year $300 million technology services agreement with UAE-based Emirates Airlines for offering IT infrastructure delivered as a service.
As part of the partnership, American Airlines will move select enterprise applications to IBM’s Cloud. The airline will be able to leverage the global footprint of IBM Cloud, which consists of more than 50 data centers spanning 17 countries, as well as a wide range of application development capabilities through IBM Bluemix. In addition the company will have access to IBM advanced analytics capabilities and technologies, all of which will enable the company to advance its enterprise into a cognitive infrastructure that offers greater resiliency and better customer experiences.
“With the incredible proliferation of and access to data, cloud is becoming a platform for innovation. The scalability and performance of the IBM Cloud, combined with Bluemix, turns the cloud into an enabler of innovation and a way to create new services and business models.” said Robert LeBlanc, Senior Vice President, IBM Cloud. “This partnership is about delivering the flexibility to American Airline’s business, allowing them to enhance their customer relationships and further gain a competitive advantage.” – IBM Press Release
The combination of IBM’s Analytics division as well as its cloud-based solutions seems to be the high point of IBM’s offerings to the airlines industry. With two big airlines – Emirates and American Airlines – joining IBM as cloud solutions clients, it will afford IBM the experience it needs to further strengthen its industry-centric offerings in the future.
Both Emirates and American Airlines have been clients of IBM for a long time, and what we are seeing here is an extension of those relationships. The key tipping point for selecting IBM to handle infrastructure and analytics came after IBM’s landmark seven-year 1 billion euro deal with Lufthansa in November 2014, in which IBM was expected to bring new solutions to the German airliner that “incorporate business analytics with mobile computing and social business.”
Thanks for reading our work! Please bookmark 1redDrop.com to keep tabs on the hottest, most happening tech and business news from around the world. On Apple News, please favorite the 1redDrop channel to get us in your news feed.
