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Customer Story

Major European Aviation Hub Takes Flight with Extensive Digital Transformation

Schiphol builds up its commercial and digital presence, making strides in the trade and tourism sector as the market remains up in the air
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Related services
Digital Strategy | Agile

Industry
Travel and Hospitality

Company
Xebia

Schiphol is a major European aviation hub located near Amsterdam. Formally known as Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, it was founded in 1916 as a military airbase. It connects over 300 destinations and is the third busiest airport in Europe. Each year Schiphol sees more than 60 million passengers through its terminals. The airport itself is made up of one main terminal with three large departure halls splitting from it. A separate Terminal 4 was built in 2007. It also hosts a large shopping plaza as well as an annex of the Rijksmuseum complete with 19th-century Dutch paintings.
Why
Compete with growing market segmentation
What
Mobilize commercial business for financial viability
How
Implementing roadmaps and liaising with Agile coaches

Rising to Meet New Challenges

In a notoriously fickle industry where trade and tourism are at the forefront of financial success, Schiphol was lacking the versatility to meet its goals. It needed to harness the potential from its commercial businesses to keep up with customers’ constantly changing needs. The company also had to compete technologically and digitally. With digital acceleration increasing, a fresh take was needed. Xebia was the first stop for starting this digital transformation. As one Schiphol manager explains: “Crystal clear vision and strategy are of utmost importance before executing change and Schiphol accomplished this thanks to Xebia’s consultants.”

Digital Renewal and Transformation

With its core business underperforming and the market changing rapidly, a renewed focus on its commercial side (media, retails, services, VIP, and parking) was necessary. Fostering growth and real long-term sustainability meant honing in on transforming the company digitally and commercially. Furthermore, by highlighting current digital gaps and obstacles the company could assess how to overcome them. A commercial vision to launch the company firmly and successfully into the digital landscape would allow it to be viable in today's digital world.

“From developing the basic knowledge about Agile to working towards more Agile leadership, a more connected and integrated management, all these facets are carefully considered in this change and are based on best practices, theory and learning by doing”

Schiphol
Schiphol ICT Manager

A Roadmap for the Future

With Xebia’s expert consultants, Schiphol took a holistic and dynamic approach to steer its commercial business toward strategies that align with current market trends. They were able to go through and reorganize their teams and teach them how to work in an adaptive and Agile way. This allowed prioritization of business needs based on a commercial roadmap. Each unit of Schiphol’s commercial businesses also received support in marketing, customer insights, and operations. The use of digital assets to help bring all these processes together and carry out tasks effectively proved to be key in pushing Schiphol’s future initiatives towards success.

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