Customers provide ideas for product development

Lufthansa Systems’ airline customers jointly decide which new modules they want for the Sirax revenue accounting solution

Lufthansa Systems is following a new product development strategy in revenue accounting: the customer community for its Sirax AirFinance Platform will decide the future direction of the solution. In mid-June, around 50 representatives of 18 customer airlines of all sizes and business models met to discuss issues and trends and define new ideas for upcoming releases.

“Our customers know best which revenue accounting functions they need to meet their complex, dynamically changing demands,” said Tobias Kujac, Director Product Management and Development Finance Solutions at Lufthansa Systems. “This is why we decided to take greater advantage of their expertise and involve our customers more actively in the further development of our solution.”

The Sirax AirFinance Platform from Lufthansa Systems is the first integrated platform to optimize all of an airline’s finance processes. For the past 11 years, the Sirax Customer Community has been meeting during the annual Sirax User Conference to find out about product innovations and talk about current industry trends. The Community meets before the conference, gathers product enhancement suggestions and jointly discusses which ideas would be of most benefit to the airlines. Lufthansa Systems provides the Community with a budget that it can use as it sees fit.

“This approach is unique in the industry,” said Kujac. “It gives our customers a great opportunity to adapt the revenue accounting solution even more precisely to their needs.” Representatives of Lufthansa Systems do not attend these Community meetings, but afterwards they give feedback on the possibility of implementing the suggestions and the timetable.

The hot topics discussed at the last meeting in mid-June in Hamburg included the consolidation of existing platforms, information about the NDC implementation, plans for the new ÁTPCO Tax Feed, the number of releases per year and requested changes to the documentation. “New aspects and options were discussed intensively. We also agreed on product expansions covering greater automation, additional displays for special information and improved analysis functions,” Kujac reported. “All of our customers will benefit from these optimizations.”

The Product:

The Sirax revenue accounting solution speeds up accounting processes by automatically checking ticket sales against actual flight data. Integrated sub-processes also support the billing of interline flights between airlines. Based on this, the actual revenues are then calculated very precisely and quickly. Furthermore, customers can quickly gain a comprehensive overview of their financial situation, enabling them to rapidly respond to changing conditions. The system also delivers precise, current information for management and accounting staff at all times.

 

Caption (copyright Lufthansa Systems): Sirax Community’s relationship with the Sirax Team of Lufthansa Systems provides the opportunity for developing more collaborative, tailored accounting solutions. Ann Jaycox from Southwest Airlines, Chairperson of the Sirax Community, and Tobias Kujac, Director Product Management and Development Finance Solutions at Lufthansa Systems, at the 2016 Sirax User Conference.