Oh yes indeed, we are most certainly all living in challenging times, and while the world seems to have rather ground to a halt especially in aviation, it is great to see a major employer in Korea using the latest technology to not only protect the health of its employees amid the spread of COVID-19, but be in a strong position when things return to normal, by implementing telecommuting from home through Google’s G-Suite for all employees except cabin/cockpit crew and field operation departments.
So, what is G-Suite? Well it is a cloud-based suite of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools and software developed by Google Cloud including Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar, Currents for communication, plus Drive for storage and Sites for productivity and collaboration and much more!
G-Suite has well in excess of 4 million paying businesses!
So, what does G-Suite offer Korean Air staff in non-technical terms lay people like me can understand? Well it offers Korean Air employees professional email, shared calendars, online document editing and storage, messenger and video meetings, and promotes collaboration and connectivity from wherever they are working, with Korean Air employees able to use cloud-based tools to create and compile documents, directly exchange ideas and obtain approvals regardless of their location- how smart is that?
At the same time, G-Suite offers high levels of security and data encryption, allowing for greater protection of personal information and data and through this transformation in document creation and reporting methods, Korean Air has brought a more efficient, horizontal organizational corporate culture to the company.
It is clear that Korean Air staff love G-Suite, saying, “G-Suite has made working so convenient and efficient, with Hangouts chat making meetings concise and clear.” “Also only one person can talk at once during the meeting, so it makes me think twice and only mention what is really necessary”. “I could also organize meeting notes right away, which made it so efficient and convenient.” “Another advantage wish that I can participate in multiple meetings at the same time when needed.”
Another said, “Even if I am not in the office, I can communicate with my team members in real time using the share function of G-Suite documents.” “I can instantly get feedback from team members and revise my work, which really increases my work efficiency.” “In addition, team members can work on preparing the same report at once without difficulty or confusion.”
“The video conference function in Google Meets makes team meetings much easier even when working from home and I could share data with team members and give presentations using the screen share function, which is not really that different to face-to-face meetings.”
Another Korean Air manager added, “Even though I did not have enough time to back up data for
telecommuting before I left the office, I can always download the necessary files at home from our team’s Google shared drive and I was impressed by how useful the cloud-based data storage function is.”
Another key feature of G-Suit is remote access through VPN (Virtual Private Network) which creates the same environment as the office, with systems which should only be accessed from company servers, such as the Revenue Management system, connected to from home using a remote desktop connection and VPN, with a manager saying, “I can work at home just like I am at the office”.
Korean Air had already made significant IT investments to adapt to the digital age, with in 2018, Korean Air announced plans to migrate all its applications and data to AWS Cloud, making it the first among large Korean enterprises and major global airlines to do so.
Working with the largest Korean IT outsourcing service provider, LG CNS, to move its infrastructure to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud, Korean Air aimed to accelerate their digital transformation and under the agreement, Korean Air migrated all their applications and data to AWS Cloud, including the entire set of websites, cargo management system, flight Control system, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and other systems.
AWS is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, delivering a wide variety of cloud solutions to millions of customers around the world with cutting-edge technologies including big data and artificial intelligence (AI).
When the migration is complete in 2021, Korean Air will be able to leverage new technologies such as AI, machine learning, big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), and database management to render customized services based on individual preferences for passengers and develop new services that aim to ensure high satisfaction for customers worldwide.
A group of people sitting at a desk in front of a computer Description automatically generatedFollowing the agreement, Korean Air also opened its Cloud Command Centre in July 2019 to ensure the safe, stable transition of applications and data into the cloud, completing the migration of its data centre, and the new Cloud Command Centre closely monitors the airline’s migration to the AWS cloud.
In the Cloud Command Centre, [pictured] staff closely observe the migration process day and night in the control tower, and the conference room will be used as the operations centre in case of any errors or security emergencies.
The Cloud Command Centre allows the airline to check the location and scale of any errors and take immediate action, by integrating tasks related to the data centre, foreign and domestic networks, security controls, operations of servers, networks and security device.
Korean Air says that with the opening of the new Cloud Command Centre, Korean Air will complete the stable migration to the AWS cloud and continue to embrace digital innovations to improve customer service.
Now if that is all not very smart “stuff” I don’t know what is and it also demonstrates Korean Air’s position as a leading global airline that post COVID-19 will emerge as serious player on which we should all consider flying – an awesome experience.
Some of you may recall my recent review of an amazing flight I enjoyed on board Korean Air and just in case some of you have forgotten what being on an aircraft is actually like and a quality international airline at that, click on the link below and experience my recent Korean Airlines flight review London Heathrow- Seoul-Brisbane – so sit back and enjoy as we are cleared to take off with…Korean Air.
A Korean Air update by John Alwyn-Jones
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