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When it comes to IT, Delta Air Lines is climbing higher into the clouds even as it keeps its footing on solid ground. The Atlanta-based airlines, which is partnering with Amazon Web Services on the cloud front and Kyndryl for its mainframe systems, is very content with its choice for a hybrid infrastructure, says Matt Cincera, senior vice president of software engineering at Delta.

“We have a good balance. They play together well,” says Cincera. “We have hundreds of applications that we’re in the process of moving to the cloud but a lot of our main capabilities are underpinned by workloads on the mainframe and it’s definitely with us for the foreseeable future.”

Some of those workloads include travel reservation systems and crew scheduling systems — mission-critical, 24-by-7 applications that are never turned off.

Delta’s foray into the cloud began in earnest about two years ago as the pandemic brought travel to a virtual halt, Cincera says. In partnership with AWS, the airlines started migrating many front-end applications and distributed applications that “marry” themselves well to the cloud while retaining traditional back-end workloads on the mainframe.

One cloud application that Delta highlights is the robust WiFi portal it launched this year to enable passengers to run connected applications on their own devices throughout a flight without having to pay the added cost for expensive and limited wireless sessions delivered via satellite.

The WiFi portal, which Delta is offering in collaboration with T-Mobile, also gives travelers to the ability to run any content on their devices rather than being limited to preselected content on backseat screens. The portal is available on roughly 550 Delta airplanes and was made possible because of Delta’s commitment to the cloud, Cincera says, noting Delta has 902 mainline aircraft and 352 regional aircraft in its global fleet.

“The speed of the cloud allowed us to move from concept to installation and provisioning in six months,” he says, adding that Delta’s cloud shift has also helped reduce equipment purchases and maintenance costs while providing efficiency and elasticity for the applications the airlines runs in the cloud.

Best of both worlds

As part of its cloud strategy, Delta has been moving many analytical workloads and data to the cloud. It has also been exploiting services aimed at enhancing customer service and experience.

For example, Delta IT, which Cincera says comprises roughly 1,400 team members, including subcontractors, has implemented Amazon Connect, an omnichannel customer service center, to enable self-service capabilities such as chat and virtual assist. Such services handle basic customer questions, such as baggage allowance for an upcoming trip, “and maps them to automated workflows to help customers more quickly,” he says.

Delta has plans to deploy AI to automate even more human interactions with the Delta.com site. “One of the most challenging areas is mapping customer intent and then automating the processes behind it, especially with really tricky transactions,” Cincera says. “Working on automating that is a big focus area for us.”

Despite its enthusiasm for the cloud, Delta intends to continue to rely on mainframes for select workloads and recently signed another 5-year partnership with Kyndryl, formerly IBM Global Services, to manage its mainframe applications, such as its reservation and crew scheduling workloads, as well as its CRM system and FAA maintenance documentation.

Kyndryl will also integrate automation capabilities to enable more agility in moving and managing data across various environments, says Brian O’Rourke, a former 20-year Delta employee who jumped over to IBM Canada and is now lead advisor at Kyndryl on the Delta account. O’Rourke says Kyndryl will help Delta re-architect its infrastructure to better harness data for innovative services, and he expects the two infrastructure platforms — cloud and the mainframe — to co-exist for a long time.

“It is a journey — doing application modernization and migrating to the cloud,” O” Rourke says. “But I can tell you, given the demands of the airlines, they will continue for be on the mainframe for the foreseeable future.”

The hybrid infrastructure is expected to remain in place in complex industries such as airlines and banking in which high availability and maximum reliability are absolute requirements, some analysts claim. Others point out that hybrid approaches enable enterprises to avoid costly vendor lock-in while enjoying multiple layers of fault tolerance.

The mainframe marches on

While some CIOs are sharpening their mainframe exit strategies by opting for the steep journey to the cloud, and others see the mainframe as dying, the mainframe remains ideal for certain workloads, putting many CIOs in a bind, says Peter Rutten, director of high-performance computing research at IDC.

“This paradox exists because the CIOs typically are of a generation that did not get mainframe courses in their computer science program yet now they find themselves presiding over a system that they don’t understand, that represents a large portion of their budget, and that is managed by a team older and more knowledgeable than they,” Rutten says. “So their knee-jerk reaction is: Put it in the cloud. To which the mainframe team often responds: That will be expensive, disruptive, and, frankly, unnecessary.”

Rutten says the current roster of mainframes are “hypermodern systems engineered like no other compute platform” and built for zero disruptions, performance degradation, security lapses, or downtime.

Additionally, he says that IBM’s purchase of Red Hat and subsequent integrations means that IBM Z leverages OpenShift and Ansible for hybrid cloud as well as prepackaged cloud workloads. IBM releases a new generation every 2 1/2 years and invests close to US$1 billion in innovation in each new release. It may surprise some that the platform has seen shipment increases since 2013, Rutten adds.

As long as IBM continues to enhance the mainframe and make it interoperable with the cloud, there’s no reason why it’ll go away, Rutten says, adding that many IT leaders, Cincera among them, are more pragmatic.

“They know that they need the mainframe, modernize on the platform, integrate it with the rest of their data center, run it as a hybrid cloud, and take advantage of the new consumption-based pricing models for the platform,” he says.

Delta is of the same mindset — for now.

“Having that strong mainframe backbone and delivering services though high performing cloud capabilities plays well together,” Cincera says of Delta’s ongoing embrace of a hybrid infrastructure for the future. “We’re really comfortable where we’re at today.”

Cloud Computing, Digital Transformation, Mainframes, Travel and Hospitality Industry

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By Milan Shetti, CEO Rocket Software

If you ask business leaders to name their company’s most valuable asset, most will say data. But while businesses recognize the value of data, few have the processes and tools in place to access its full potential. In our most recent Rocket survey, 46% of IT professionals indicate that at least half of their content is “dark data”— meaning it’s processed but never used.

A big reason for the proliferation of dark data is the amount of unstructured data within business operations. Research shows that more than 60% of today’s corporate data is unstructured, and a significant amount of it is in the form of non-traditional “records,” like text and social media messages, audio files, video, and images. These numbers are growing with the continuation of remote work and the continued adoption of collaborative cloud software. Organizations that have not evolved their data management processes to reflect this exponential growth in data are vulnerable to missed opportunities and non-compliance. Therefore, many have accelerated digital transformation efforts to modernize operations and ensure they are reaping their data’s potential value.

In August of 2022, Rocket Software surveyed more than 500 corporate IT and line of business professionals to better understand the current challenges content management teams face and the steps to overcome these obstacles. Let’s take a closer look at the key findings in Rocket’s 2022 Survey Report, Content Management: The Movement to Modernization , and how content management software is helping businesses take advantage of the vast amount of information while staying compliant in today’s fast-paced, complex markets.

The challenges of today’s content management

The transition to remote work and migration to open cloud systems has allowed businesses to provide employees with more flexible working schedules and introduce cutting-edge technology to operations. However, remote work has led to employees communicating and sharing information on personal devices, which has increased the amount of valuable business content scattered being stored on shared and personal drives. Scattered and hard-to-track data — also known as data sprawl — has posed significant threats to companies’ ability to govern their content and has left them susceptible to regulatory infractions and missed opportunities. Our survey found that 37% of IT professionals believe employees saving content on shared and personal drives presents the greatest challenge to content management.

Along with data sprawl, IT professionals have grown concerned over the amount of redundant, obsolete, or trivial (ROT) data building up in companies’ systems. In fact, over a third of those surveyed reported ROT as the greatest threat to data management. Teams’ inability to properly locate, process, and remove excess or unnecessary data has led to data overload, higher costs, data discrepancies, and increased risk of data corruption and non-compliance.

While modernization may be the answer to data sprawl and ROT, IT professionals say that disruptions caused by the movement to cloud systems have also significantly hindered employees’ ability to manage data. Thirty-six percent of respondents consider cloud migration the greatest challenge to content governance moving forward.

While cloud migration may pose short-term challenges, unstructured and unmanaged data is a greater risk to operations as it will inevitably affect productivity, compliance, and a company’s overall success. Teams need the visibility and resources provided by cloud technologies to keep up with and eliminate data sprawl and ROT. Businesses that neglect implementing innovative tools into content processes put operations at a significant disadvantage.  

Taking advantage of unstructured data with content management software

Nearly one-fifth of professionals admitted that all of their organization’s data is unstructured. While most unstructured data goes unused, 59% of IT professionals say their company’s unstructured data and content is extremely or very significant. This revelation should leave business leaders with the fear of missing out (FOMO) when it comes to their unprocessed and underutilized content.

To get the most out of their data, businesses have begun introducing integrative content tools into operations. Integrating content software with popular collaboration and communication tools, like Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, provides content teams with a unified view of all their company’s data from a single platform. This enables data professionals to easily monitor, process, store, and remove all their companies’ data while helping organizations get the most out of their unstructured data.

The need to automate content governance

The introduction of complex data privacy regulations globally has made data governance more challenging. In fact, only 33% of IT professionals feel their organization’s unstructured data is adequately governed. This lack of accountability leaves businesses vulnerable to regulatory infractions, substantial fines, and potential criminal prosecution. Many IT professionals are pushing for automated data governance processes, with over three-quarters believing their company would gain a significant competitive advantage if information security and compliance operations were automated.

While innovative content management technologies that automate and streamline content governance exist, they are still unavailable in many of today’s business operations due to ongoing misconceptions about the limitations of mainframe technology. However, by utilizing the right combination of content modernization solutions, like Rocket Software’s Mobius Content Services suite, teams can bring the power of automation and innovative practices to content operations along any infrastructure. 

The role of content management software moving forward

While outdated processes and a lack of automation continue to hinder content management efforts, it appears that businesses are finally recognizing their importance. Over the next 18 months, about one-third of IT professionals say their companies plan to continue modernization efforts by introducing more artificial intelligence, reporting and analytics tools, and integrative content software into operations.

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Moving forward, businesses will continue to deal with stringent compliance regulations, the growing adoption of remote work, and increasing customer demands for faster service. Organizations must implement solutions into their operations that enable them to govern and leverage all of their content to gain a competitive advantage. By utilizing content management software, like Rocket Software’s Mobius Content Services , businesses can provide IT professionals with an unparalleled overview of a company’s entire content system and reduce human activity with automation capabilities. This will enable companies to ensure compliance while also taking data operations and utilization to the next level.

Data Management

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Consolidation is happening across industries – even spirits. Acquiring companies gain a myriad of benefits when they add new brands to the fold, but one resulting downside is internal complexity and confusion caused by different systems and processes being used. The Pernod Ricard Group, the producer of premium spirits such as Chivas, Absolut, Martell, Ricard and Perrier-Jouet, experienced that very challenge.

A global company, Pernod Ricard operates 90 subsidiaries across 100 production sites in 80 different countries and employs over 19,000 workers. To track and monitor the entire lifecycle of its spirits, Pernod Ricard used server-based technology. Because of the volume of different products and the complexity in managing associated processes across so many countries and sites, however, it was becoming impractical and unsustainable, creating a disconnect for prospective IT technicians who are accustomed to working with more agile and accessible systems. In order to both compete for better talent and improve its operations, the company made a decision to forge ahead and build a single web- and mobile-based platform that would serve all main production plants, allowing teams to monitor operations from anywhere and on any device and enabling the company to implement automation and standardized data collection and management processes across all its brands.

Upon researching the market, Pernod Ricard concluded there were no solutions that could provide the adaptability and agility its operations would need for competitive advantages and continued future growth.

Buy, build… or modernize?

When the company struck out looking to buy, Pernod Ricard turned its focus internally toward a tool it had used previously that was still performing at a high level; however, it had become cumbersome and unsustainable for users. Pernod Ricard determined modernizing that internal application would deliver the flexibility, adaptability, and agility its users needed – and, at the same time, it would be a selling point for retaining and attracting new IT talent.

While web- and mobile-based applications were critical to the project, Rocket Software – which acquired Uniface, the company that had created the original application – started by revamping Pernod Ricard’s 2,500-page ERP, doing away with its outdated and unused pages. A hybrid team of Rocket Software and Pernod Ricard developers then worked hand-in-hand to rethink, reconstruct, and rewrite the entire framework of Pernod Ricard’s application. The team simplified and reduced the application’s components from 4,000 to 2,200 — cutting them nearly in half. To create a uniform platform for managing Pernod Ricard’s many brands, the team built the application out brand-by-brand, deploying new functionalities as they went. In doing so, Pernod Ricard hoped to introduce standardized data collection and management processes while still providing its brands with the freedom to implement into the software the different methods and functionalities specific to their operations.

Creating a better user experience

In less than three years, Pernod Ricard completed its modernization project, cutting the 1.3 million lines of code needed to create the software by 60%, substantially reducing coding times. Since its transition onto a single platform, the Pernod Ricard Group has signed an additional 180 users to its company, a true testament to the solution’s modernization and innovative allure to the next generation of talent.

By automating its barrel reservation and Cognac QA process, employees save two days of work per month on average, which allows teams more time for value-driven tasks. And newly integrated automation is helping to streamline Martell’s cask inventory operations. On the old platform, employees could complete the physical process of “debonding” and content measuring at a rate of 7,000 to 8,000 barrels daily. Since adding automation capabilities, employee workloads have been reduced and teams can now complete between 12,000 to 14,000 barrels per day, saving Pernod Ricard both time and money.

Faced with few options, Pernod Ricard chose to modernize and it’s paying big dividends for its digital transformation efforts. Next time you’re contemplating some combination of new hardware and/or software to address operational challenges in your business, the answer to those challenges may already be in-house.

Read more about Pernod Ricard’s modernization efforts here

Digital Transformation