When V K Mathews was general manager of IT at Dubai-based Emirates airline in the 1990s, he saw a clear gap in the world of aviation technology. The carriers’ demands were not being met by global technology players, let alone local IT companies, so when Mathews led the team to set up Emirates’ Mercator, a strategic business unit (SBU) aimed at providing technology services to other airlines, his ambition to fill the gap he spotted years ago grew even stronger.
The result? The birth of IBS Software. Mathews established the product development company in 1997 to cater to worldwide aviation and transportation industries, and, since then, he has not looked back.
“Airlines all over the world were still using their legacy technologies when I had left Emirates to set up IBS. Today, we can say with much satisfaction and confidence that over these years our company has changed the way airlines are carrying out their fleet and crew management, passenger reservations, accounting, cargo management, etc to get optimal operational and cost efficiency,” says the executive chairman, who was the youngest GM from Asia at Emirates when he decided to leave the Gulf airline. We meet him in the sprawling, green IT complex Technopark located on the outskirts of Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram.
The walls of the meeting room are dotted with photographs of historical personalities, ranging from American inventor Thomas Edison to Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi and English social reformer Florence Nightingale. Mathews says the pictures act as inspiration for him and his team to become the preferred technology partner for global airlines such as Etihad Airways and Lufthansa.
“The IT industry globally is a $5 trillion industry. As, against this, the entire aviation industry was only about $700bn in 2018. The IT operation of the airline industry accounted for a smaller share of it. So, the IT business of airlines was a small pie for the IT industry, and airlines mostly had to develop their IT technologies in-house back in the earlier days.
20/09/19 James Mathew/Arabian Business
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The result? The birth of IBS Software. Mathews established the product development company in 1997 to cater to worldwide aviation and transportation industries, and, since then, he has not looked back.
“Airlines all over the world were still using their legacy technologies when I had left Emirates to set up IBS. Today, we can say with much satisfaction and confidence that over these years our company has changed the way airlines are carrying out their fleet and crew management, passenger reservations, accounting, cargo management, etc to get optimal operational and cost efficiency,” says the executive chairman, who was the youngest GM from Asia at Emirates when he decided to leave the Gulf airline. We meet him in the sprawling, green IT complex Technopark located on the outskirts of Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram.
The walls of the meeting room are dotted with photographs of historical personalities, ranging from American inventor Thomas Edison to Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi and English social reformer Florence Nightingale. Mathews says the pictures act as inspiration for him and his team to become the preferred technology partner for global airlines such as Etihad Airways and Lufthansa.
“The IT industry globally is a $5 trillion industry. As, against this, the entire aviation industry was only about $700bn in 2018. The IT operation of the airline industry accounted for a smaller share of it. So, the IT business of airlines was a small pie for the IT industry, and airlines mostly had to develop their IT technologies in-house back in the earlier days.
20/09/19 James Mathew/Arabian Business
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