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Airline KPI Apps — Why There’s No Way Around

Having an app to access operations key performance indicators (KPI) is one of the most important things for airlines nowadays. I'm actually not getting tired to spread that word. And to tell airlines why it is so super-important.

Unfortunately, many airlines still rely on old-school solutions when it comes to KPIs. Instead of a KPI app, they use Powerpoint, PDF documents, or other solutions. One thing they have in common: Mobile usage is painful. They do not provide a perfect and seamless user interface (UI) or user experience (UX).

Let me get this straight. If your KPIs cannot —or not optimally— be used on mobiles, you should start to change this immediately. Why? Because you are leaving significant opportunities on the table.

On the flipside: Only by offering the possibility to access airline KPIs seamlessly with an app on smartphones are airlines able to achieve the goal of creating KPI-driven operations and corporate culture.

Let me break it down and explain why it is so super-important for airlines to play that mobile app game. And why it is essential to have a KPI solution that integrates on mobiles seamlessly.

If There’s No App Your KPIs Don’t Exist

Let’s start with the essential aspect first. If you want to drive awareness concerning your airline KPIs, mobile availability (in the form of a KPI app) is the only way to go.

This has nothing to do with your airline, neither with KPIs in general. Instead, it is linked to the fact that we live in a world where the mobile and contained apps represent the center of information.

Most of the information we consume (especially real-time data) is displayed on our mobiles. You can love it or hate it, but that’s how it is.

What does that mean? Giant KPI screens are essential, yes. The possibility of checking the KPIs on your laptop is fine. But if you want to get your people involved, if you’re going to have your people start caring about your airline KPIs, you have to provide them with an app on their mobile. Period.

I’d even go one step further. If you don’t provide your airline KPIs and real-time information with a smartphone app, the importance of those figures will go down to zero in the following years.

Apps Create Entirely New Possibilities When It Comes To Airline KPIs

As a punchline of the story, smartphone apps and the way we use mobiles provide enormous possibilities. Actually, opportunities we could only dream of some years ago.

By providing real-time airline KPIs on mobiles, you can achieve a completely different level of awareness. People will start to care about your airline’s KPIs wherever they are — at any time. There’s no longer a necessity to stand in front of large screens at dedicated places like the Operations Control Center. Instead, they check their KPI app for the latest updates.

KPI Apps Liberate The Way We Consume Information.

Benjamin Walther

Airline KPI Apps Truly Unleash The Power Of Real-Time

I’ve already written many articles about the importance of real-time KPIs compared to weekly and monthly reports. And almost every airline I talk to agrees on the fact that real-time KPIs help to improve the overall operational performance. Moreover, real-time KPIs create a new level of situational awareness.

However, here is the “but”: Real-time KPIs and real-time information don’t bring anything in case your staff can’t access it in real-time from wherever they are. You can have the most sophisticated KPIs; if your staff can’t naturally access them, it won’t improve the situation.

Nonetheless, by combining the idea of real-time and KPI apps, we can unleash the full potential. As a result, every airline employee will have access to real-time KPIs and information from everywhere — whenever they want. All they have to do is check their KPI app.

App Usage Enables Innovative Functionalities

Besides the facts mentioned above, airline KPI apps additionally create the possibility of utilizing genuinely innovative approaches. For example, one of today’s most important is KPI push notifications. A super-smart functionality that sends out notifications whenever a KPI significantly changes.

A super-powerful concept that’ll drive additional value to your KPIs and the way you are consuming KPIs. Instead of having your staff continually monitor each KPI, push notifications alert relevant stakeholders when something important happens.

However, such innovative solutions are only possible with a KPI app. And on top of that, they only make sense when used on mobiles, simply because you want to inform people actively and directly.

Contextual And Personalized.

Having a KPI app on mobiles ultimately leads to the benefit of customizing the information to the requirements of each user. Instead of showing airline KPIs at central places that aim to provide information for each user group, KPI apps offer the possibility to tailor the information precisely to the needs of each user.

Accordingly, you can exclude KPIs that aren’t relevant to specific user groups and add more detailed KPIs relevant to particular user groups.

In other words:

With Airline KPI apps you can personalize and tailor the information to an unprecedented extent.

Benjamin Walther

Summing It Up: There’s No Alternative To Airline KPI Apps.

Playing the mobile game and offering mobile KPI apps is the only way to go from my perspective. Mobiles and mobile usage will continue during the next years to be the dominant information source. Subsequently, if you want to create awareness, there’s no way around presenting your airline KPIs in a smartphone app.

What Do You Think?

What do you think? I’m always happy to start a discussion — Hit me up on Twitter or get in touch with me on LinkedIn.

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Benjamin Walther

CEO, Frankfurt

Benjamin is Information Design's CEO and a proven content-maniac. Besides running a successful business and developing pioneering ideas, he's dedicated to writing blog posts and creating content.

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