Page 44 - AAA SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2018 Online Magazine

far, the applications are proving offerings, these applications have Asia-centric, has the com-
themselves beyond the market- been built from the ground up to pany drawn up any special
ing hype. For instance, with IFS work seamlessly with a customer’s plans for the region? Do
Maintenix Fleet Planner, one of existing M&E system. you see yourself growing
our early adopters found it now more in the region in the
takes a few hours to build a year’s What is the current split near future?
production plan for a 100 aircraft between commercial avi-
fleet, when in the past it tradition- ation, defense and MRO In terms of regional influence,
ally would take roughly three days. operators for the com- recent Oliver Wyman statistics
Consequently, there is also an pany? show that fleet growth rates are
indirect impact here on increased highest in the emerging markets
aircraft availability and revenue. IFS does not divulge any market of India and China. IFS sees main-
share or long-term strategic growth tenance support as key to helping
Are you currently in final estimates publicly. However, with organizations in Asia Pacific drive
stages of discussion with the formation of the Aerospace & operational efficiency and minimize
any company/companies Defense Business Unit, our man- aircraft downtime in a region where
regarding use of your date is to service the full end-to-end there is such a strong growth in
software? How many needs of all key segments within passenger numbers. The main way
new maintenance soft- A&D, including airlines & fleet oper- IFS is targeting growth in the region
ware customers have you ators, independent MROs, military is by helping airlines and MROs
signed deals with since logisticians, defense in-service sup- unlock value from driving mainte-
the acquisition of Mxi? port service providers and defense nance efficiency. IFS is committed
manufacturers. We are confident to scaling its presence and opera-
The IFS team does not discuss any that we have the comprehensive tions in lockstep with this growth in
contracts currently under negotia- suite of software solutions comple- order to meet the evolving needs of
tion, but in the commercial aviation mented by the industry expertise our Asia-centric customers.
market in 2017/18 IFS had the necessary to growing our footprint
good fortune to close a number of in all segments. What are some of the
high-profile deals and partnership long-term goals of the
agreements. These include PSA How much of a presence company? Where do you
Airlines, Air Transport Services and market reach do you see IFS in ten years, in
Group (ATSG), AECOM, TEST- have in the Asia Pacific terms of market reach and
FUCHS, Tsunami Tsolutions, G7 region? new products?
Aerospace and Calidus.
IFS recognizes the Asia-Pacific When new CEO, Darren Roos,
Can IFS software be region as a huge growth market joined IFS earlier this year, he
integrated with software in the global aerospace & defence made it clear from the start that
applications that airlines, industry. The company has offices the primary objective of the com-
defense or MRO custom- across the Asia-Pacific, includ- pany would be to continue the IFS
ers are currently using? ing Australia, India, China and focus on ensuring customer suc-
Singapore and already has strong cess through faster time to value,
The most powerful resource plan- A&D customer links in the region, risk mitigation and value assurance.
ning and maintenance solutions for example the Royal Thai Air Specifically, the company sees
need to be highly configurable Force, Hawker Pacific, Qantas, opportunities for long-term growth
offerings that include the ability China Airlines, TAE, HAL and primarily centered on increasing
to integrate seamlessly within a Sikorsky Helicopters. IFS also reach in the Mid-Market ERP space,
customer’s IT ecosystem. Since avi- recently signed an agreement while also growing product and
ation software systems rarely stand with G7 Aerospace to market and customer presence in both service
alone, IFS provides a series of API implement IFS Applications to management and the fast-evolving
interfaces that can be used to facili- commercial aerospace & defense aerospace and defense market.
tate integration of IFS software with organizations across Malaysia.
other supporting logistics, financial
and operations systems. And, as With the aviation industry
mentioned, in the case of our SaaS becoming increasingly

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