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Task 3: 3.2 Business Case

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Why London Heathrow Needed to From Excel to a Business Intelligence Platform

Heathrow Airport used a variety of Microsoft data and data analytics tools, in addition to

algorithms based on machine learning, to optimize processes, anticipate arrivals and departures

between terminals, and expedite customer flights. Heathrow transitioned from a paper-based,

reactive system to a highly anticipatory, proactive scheduling style to enhance routine operations.

Its actual projections are utilized to plan security and people’s movement adequately, notify

carriers of held-up travelers, and notify terminals of potential flight timing modifications. Hence,

Heathrow’s conversion to Microsoft was indeed one of the company’s data transformation

strategies utilizing cloud-related services to gather, enhance, and arrange for instantaneous or

relatively real-time data processing, comprising airline agility, customer transportation,

checkpoint lines, and long passport stretches (Carey, 2018; Wang et al., 2022). Microsoft Power

BI needed to be added as a front analytics feature that displays the real-time statistics provided

by these platforms. Subsequently, because of the significant amount of passengers handled every

day and the requirement to control their flow and ensure a seamless experience, London

Heathrow was required to upgrade to a business intelligence solution. Heathrow may enhance

how they make decisions, gain an edge over competitors, and boost productivity while lowering

costs by gaining perspectives from enormous amounts of data collected from its daily operations.

London Heathrow’s Passenger Benefits Based on the New Data Analytics Approach

This form of technology offers a great deal more than just providing precise projections.

It additionally reveals to policymakers the issues influencing passengers’ potential to obtain on-

time interconnections (Carey, 2018). This system improves the traveling experience for

customers at passport and safety screening points by consolidating arrival forecasts across

multiple sites, allowing workforce ratios to be adjusted in advance of anticipated surges in

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landings. Following the deployment of the modeling system, the head of the airport can share the

information with flight control personnel and security employees to more effectively plan lanes

and employees by understanding arrival numbers and their arrival location to guarantee that the

right amount of lanes is accessible thereby minimizing the wait time and anxiety for both

travelers and staff members (Wang et al., 2022). This aspect has aided in improving client

satisfaction.

How Machine Learning Enhanced London Heathrow Operations

Previously, if multiple aircraft arrived early, customs and luggage workers would have to

hustle to respond to the unexpected surge of incoming customers. Machine learning approaches

were deployed to improve London Heathrow Airport’s interconnection passenger experience and

promote timeliness. More precise, real-time customer tracking allows the airport to deploy

personnel more effectively and give more predictable departure times (Wang et al., 2022).

Hence, whenever airlines have ample opportunity to plan for clients’ arrival and departure, failed

connections become fewer. Also, predicting the pattern of switching travelers assists in

identifying any problems with passport and security, enabling proactive measures to minimize

any postponements (Wang et al., 2022). Airport workers use these estimates to arrive at data-

driven choices, such as tracing late travelers and delivering them onto their planes on time.

The Biggest Challenge faced By CIO Birrell at London Heathrow after Deploying BI and

Machine Learning

From the perspective of Birrell, the most difficult challenges had nothing to do with

technological advances and more to do with altering individuals’ mindsets and how

they perceive them. A limited quantity of data analysis can potentially be conducted using just a

few professionals. A cultural and mentality transformation was required to bring employees on
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the same page. Notably, this was more concerning the way this technology could be deployed

across the entire firm. Birrell underlined the issue of getting 4,000 security workforce to utilize

the data and change how they operate. The primary obstacle is an employee base with varied

levels of information comprehension, worsened by storage and retrieval challenges, the advent of

novel forms of business intelligence technology, and the trouble of aligning retraining (Alasiri &

Salameh, 2020). Hence, the growing popularity of BI technologies to give a glimpse of business

decision-making has created an entirely novel set of BI difficulties. Information management and

IT-driven computing technology are frequently used to assist traditional BI (Helmold et al.,

2022). The conventional approach relies on predefined steps and conveys data to business users

through visualizations, statistical analysis, and web-based tools. Therefore, according to Birrell,

putting together a workforce primarily reliant on statistical modeling and a culture centered on

data across the business is a constant struggle.

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References

Carey, S. (2018). Heathrow turns to power bi to predict passenger volumes ahead of Time.

Computerworld. https://www.computerworld.com/article/3427880/heathrow-turns-to-

power-bi-to-predict-passenger-volumes-ahead-of-time.html#:~:text=Heathrow%20turns

%20to%20Power%20BI%20to%20predict%20passenger%20volumes%20ahead%20of

%20time

Helmold, M., Küçük Yılmaz, A., Dathe, T., & Flouris, T. G. (2022). Digitalization in Air

Transportation and Reflections on SCRM. In Supply Chain Risk Management: Cases and

Industry Insights (pp. 37-78). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

M Alasiri, M., & Salameh, A. A. (2020). The impact of business intelligence (BI) and decision

support systems (DSS): exploratory study. International Journal of Management, 11(5).

Wang, F., Bi, J., Xie, D., & Zhao, X. (2022). Flight delay forecasting and analysis of direct and

indirect factors. IET Intelligent Transport Systems, 16(7), 890-907.