Cloud Ready: Rapid Response to IT Disaster Recovery Challenges in the Airline Industry

CHALLENGES

Our client, a major airline, faced the daunting task of implementing three critical operational upgrades within a 12-16-month period. These updates included a new plane-tracking system, the replacement of dispatch procedures, and an overhaul of the crew scheduling system. Each of these systems was integral to the airline’s daily operations, ensuring efficiency and safety across their fleet and workforce. The magnitude and complexity of these updates posed a significant challenge, as they required seamless integration and minimal disruption to ongoing operations.

The resilience management team was already stretched thin and lacked the necessary personnel bandwidth to manage these updates effectively. This situation was further compounded by the need for specialized expertise in IT disaster recovery (DR), crucial to safeguarding these new systems against potential failures and ensuring their reliability. The airline needed a resource with a unique skillset that was not present within their team—specifically, someone with extensive experience in IT DR, high availability, and DR testing within a cloud environment.

Identifying and onboarding such a resource was urgent. The consultant needed to work closely with IT and business sponsors to develop and document IT Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs), workarounds, and run books. Additionally, they had to assist in creating and executing DR exercises to ensure all new systems were resilient and any potential disruptions could be swiftly mitigated. The challenge was not only to find the right expertise but to do so quickly enough to keep the project on track and within the specified timeline.

SOLUTION

To address the client’s unique needs, we conducted a discovery call to understand their specific challenges. It quickly became evident that the airline required a dedicated resource for their critical operational upgrades, but a direct-hire candidate wasn’t feasible due to the project’s limited 12-16-month duration. Additionally, the client required a unique IT DR skillset and a full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.
We determined that staff augmentation was the ideal solution as it allowed the airline to quickly scale up their workforce with a dedicated, skilled consultant who would take direction from their management team. This model provided the necessary flexibility and expertise without the long-term commitment of a direct hire.

Our Corporate Resilience Consulting Team—including a staffing expert with over 25 years of global experience in business continuity, IT DR, and crisis management—swiftly identified an experienced IT DR consultant with expertise in high availability and cloud DR who had previously assisted another major airline, ensuring relevant industry experience.
This approach enabled the client to integrate a highly skilled consultant into their team, ensuring that DRPs, workarounds, and run books were developed and tested. Our unique service offering provided immediate staffing relief and robust support for their critical operational upgrades.

RESULT

Our resiliency staffing expert quickly identified, within a week, an experienced IT DR Consultant who could immediately assist our client. This significantly reduced the time required to search for and onboard an experienced resource. As a result, our client was able to meet tight timelines for multiple large operational upgrades with confidence—knowing that DR workarounds and run books had been implemented and tested, even in a cloud environment. This solution provided peace of mind and ensured operational continuity, thereby allowing the client to maintain resilience and efficiency in their critical operations.

Author