British Airways is expanding operations at its IT centre
in Newcastle, as it gears up to streamline its back-office systems
and develop BA.com as its primary IT system.
The airline plans to hire 30 staff, including project managers
and business analysts, to work on a raft of new projects designed
to simplify BA’s operations.
The expansion comes after the airline began a programme to
reduce its total headcount by 35%. Some 30 senior IT managers and
42 middle managers from IT will lose their jobs in the
shake-up.
Paul Coby, chief information officer at BA, said the new staff
in Newcastle would work on developing replacements for legacy
back-office systems, such as payroll and flight crew support
applications.
“At the moment we are upgrading our payroll system and reviewing
how we can simplify procurement, human resources and finance
systems. Like many airlines, we have built up a lot of legacy
systems,” he said.
The Newcastle IT centre will also take responsibility for
developing some aspects of the BA.com website, which will be
redesigned and relaunched to make it easier for customers to buy
tickets online, said Coby.
“We want Newcastle to provide end-to-end support for areas such
as finance, human resources and procurement. This will give us the
capability to take elements of the business and provide support
from one centre,” he said.
The work will be tightly managed and controlled by staff in
Newcastle, but some development and support work will be contracted
to the airline’s four outsourcing partners in India, said Coby.
The company has worked with NIIT and TCS, and it appointed CMG
and Capgemini as additional outsourcing partners earlier this
year.
“Because the use of technology is so important to the airline,
maintaining the overall control of how it is managed is important,”
said Coby. “We will design the new systems in London and Newcastle.
Elements may be developed overseas and some of the support may be
done overseas.”