BUYER CASE STUDY The Case for SMB Cloud File Sharing: AirWatch Enables Operational Transformation for L.J. Aviation Christopher Chute IDC OPINION Global Headquarters: 5 Speen Street Framingham, MA 01701 USA P.508.872.8200 F.508.935.4015 www.idc.com This IDC Buyer Case Study is based on a conversation IDC had with Terry Lascher, manager of Training and Standards at L.J. Aviation, a privately held midsize aircraft management and charter flight company based in Pennsylvania. The discussion centered on the three-year-old transformation undertaken by L.J. Aviation as it sought to mobilize its operational flight knowledge base. Highlights include: The firm chose to adopt a cloud-based file sharing and syncing solution from AirWatch, a mobile enterprise management (MEM) provider. Lascher credits AirWatch with providing an easy-to-use, sophisticated solution that has removed 70lb of paper manuals from each flight and fulfilled the earlier promise of being able to use tablets as a physical flight bag replacement, with the added benefit of secure access and file updating. Within the small and medium-sized business (SMB) space, firms are discovering it is not enough to integrate mobile devices into a business process unless it is on a secure, company-specific basis that can provide reliable data access, robust usability, and corporate and industry compliance. IN THIS BUYER CASE STUDY This IDC Buyer Case Study is based on a conversation IDC had with Terry Lascher, manager of Training and Standards at L.J. Aviation, a privately held midsize aircraft management and charter flight company based in Pennsylvania. The discussion centered on the three-year-old transformation undertaken by L.J. Aviation as it sought to mobilize its operational flight knowledge base. As a charter flight company, L.J. Aviation is run by pilots, not IT managers, and the firm sought to solve an industry-specific problem: managing and updating critical flight and operational manuals, checklists, and other files, many of which are government mandated. The firm chose to adopt a cloud-based file sharing and syncing solution from AirWatch, a mobile enterprise management (MEM) provider. This Buyer Case Study provides a benchmark for how small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can effectively adopt cloud-based solutions and how vendors should craft go-to-market strategies that will effectively target SMB customers. Filing Information: May 2013, IDC #241127, Volume: 1, Tab: Users Small and Medium Business Markets: Cloud and Enterprise Applications: Buyer Case Study
SITUATION OVERVIEW Organization Overview L.J. Aviation is a privately held midsize aircraft management and charter flight company based in Pennsylvania, with nine U.S. off-bases (e.g., satellite offices) including Boston and Richmond. The firm was founded in 1980 by Ed Kilkeary, Sr., a former military helicopter pilot who served in Vietnam and then continued his career as a civilian aviator. Kilkeary grew L.J. Aviation into a 125-employee company that manages a fleet of 31 multipurpose aircraft (including large, midsize, and light jets; turboprops; and helicopters) often used as charters for mid-atlantic-based executives and high-networth private passengers. To hedge against the occasional volatility in charter travel demand, L.J. Aviation offers aircraft acquisition and turnkey management for private civilian pilots. The firm also offers the OnFlight program, which allows customers to purchase blocks of flight time in advance with access to specific cabin-class aircraft, thus lowering the barrier to entry for private air travel and amateur piloting. L.J. Aviation maintains an informal go-to-market strategy. New customer acquisition is usually driven via word-of-mouth referrals, which is common for a specialized industry like private aviation. Private charter booking follows the typical travel industry workflow trips generally are booked at the assistant level via phone or email. From an IT perspective, it is important to note that L.J. Aviation, like many SMBs, does not have a formal IT department. Lascher is the closest thing to an IT manager L.J. Aviation employs, and he is both the new-hire training and the standards manager as well as a full-time charter pilot. Finally, one will note that for SMBs, IT transformation is less about infrastructure updates and more about using IT to solve industry-specific problems. Challenges and Solution Challenges The aviation industry is a challenging one for any participating company. It is heavily regulated, has high fixed and variable costs, and requires a high degree of ongoing asset maintenance (e.g., aircraft). Furthermore, the industry faces unpredictable delays that impact revenue generation (e.g., poor weather conditions) and must pay constant attention to customer safety. Within the charter flight industry, these issues are only magnified, since the customer base is much smaller than is the case with the broader passenger and freight air transportation businesses. This also happens to be one of the reasons L.J. Aviation chose to add aircraft acquisition and management to its line of business and constantly examines how it can manage its fixed costs more efficiently. 2 #241127 2013 IDC
The Paperless Airline In 2010, L.J. Aviation decided to move away from the traditional set of paper manuals and other materials pilots are required to carry on each flight. These traditional flight bags include the following: Proprietary company manuals related to general operations and standard operating procedures Maintenance manuals Minimum equipment lists that provide a way to identify any needed repairs 13 different aircraft-specific manuals for types of aircraft within the L.J. Aviation fleet Safety management system manuals FAA regulation specific documents 10 12 binders of aeronautical charts The larger airline carriers had already begun to look at how ipads could be used as a substitute for these paper-based aeronautical charts, maintenance logs, and equipment lists. The management team at L.J. Aviation saw an opportunity to be an early adopter and applied to the FAA to move into a 100% paperless environment. Soon, the FAA granted approval and L.J. Aviation became the second charter company to adopt "Electronic Flight Bags" (EFBs), utilizing ipads. The Dropbox Dilemma While airlines must receive approval for EFBs, that is where government policy management ends and individual adoption begins. L.J. Aviation purchased six ipad 2 tablets and loaded a variety of required flight files onto the devices. Immediately, there were problems, as flight bag documents are updated quite frequently and pilots, along with their ipads, are infrequently in the same place at the same time. The firm chose to use Dropbox as a file repository and sharing mechanism but found that the service lacked a strong management functionality that would cause EFBs to realize their potential over hauling around paper. Lascher cited some shortfalls associated with Dropbox: an unclear way to manage new versions of the same file, unclear ways to ensure each ipad had any updated file and the outdated file was erased, and the lack of a central management console that would house the necessary functions and provide the ability to audit the "ipad fleet." Solution L.J. Aviation began to look at alternative solutions that would enable its new EFBs. Lascher was advised by a colleague in the healthcare industry to look at a formal MEM solution. His next step was to browse the Apple Web site for Apple-certified MEM providers. He chose the top 3 firms listed and tested each solution on three different ipads, including their management consoles. 2013 IDC #241127 3
L.J. Aviation's choice was not based on price but on usability, particularly since the company's MEM solution would be managed by busy pilots, not a full-time IT manager. And since file sharing and syncing within a mobile enterprise management infrastructure was the critical function lacking in the EFB solution stack, the console user experience had to be robust yet easy to use. L.J. Aviation chose AirWatch's Secure Content Locker (SCL) solution. Why? "With some consoles, you felt you needed to be able to write computer code in order to use them. AirWatch isn't like that," said Lascher. AirWatch Secure Content Locker AirWatch is a privately held company that offers a variety of MEM solutions to both SMBs and enterprise-sized companies. The firm helps its customers enable mobile access to company email, files, and data within both a physically and a virtually secure environment. The AirWatch Secure Content Locker is a file sharing, syncing, and management container hosted either on-premise or in the cloud. SCL offers the benefits of a file sharing and syncing service within a secure private container that can be accessed remotely and managed through an administrative console. The key SCL attributes L.J. Aviation finds the most valuable are as follows: Regular, easy-to-access device auditing ensures there are no unsanctioned applications within the 40 ipads used by L.J. Aviation pilots, including apps that may prove to be a distraction for in-flight pilots (e.g., games). More importantly, the SCL provides advanced security, which mitigates the risk of having any viruses infect the EFBs. A central content management infrastructure allows Lascher to easily update or add new flight files, ensuring that critical flight data and regulatory files are up to date and deployed to each ipad. Files are available to each user in both online and offline mode, which is critical during time spent in flight. The SCL is able to track user log-in dates and downloads and has the ability to message pilots to ensure compliance. New hires can be added to the system; pilots are issued an ipad on the first day of employment. ipads used by remote, off-base pilots can be accessed without the need to have them physically brought to a central management facility. L.J. Aviation chose to have its SCL hosted via the AirWatch Cloud, which means a pilot like Lascher, who is often out of the office on short notice, doesn't have to add server and IT infrastructure management responsibilities to his workload. 4 #241127 2013 IDC
Results Lascher credits AirWatch with providing an easy-to-use, sophisticated solution that has removed 70lb of paper manuals from each flight and fulfilled the earlier promise of being able to use tablets as a flight bag replacement, with the added benefit of secure access and file updating. The SCL includes a robust set of security protocols that make it much less likely that L.J. Aviation will see its SCL compromised by hackers, as was the case in August 2012 for many customers of its former solution partner Dropbox. L.J. Aviation saves on printing and mailing costs, which become considerable as files are often updated. There is also an additional safety benefit, given that updated standard operating procedures and aircraft-specific information can be deployed instantly. Finally, the ability for L.J. Aviation to manage its flight manuals through a cloud-based mobile solution negates any issues around managing IT resources at remote facilities. ESSENTIAL GUIDANCE Tablet Usage I s Driving SMB IT Transformation IDC's research into the impact of cloud solutions on the SMB space indicates that SMB uptake is less about updating an IT infrastructure and more about using IT to solve industry-specific problems. Consumerized mobile solutions are increasingly popular among SMBs and reflect the broad hardware transformation impacting the IT industry, as the tablet becomes an increasingly valuable computing tool. Cloud backup, particularly file sharing, has already become a de facto service critical in driving the transformation from fixed computing to mobile endpoint usage. While executives and mobile professionals kick-started the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) transformation, particularly around tablet usage, a broader number of employees are now using tablets in a work context. Many are working around a lack of local ondevice storage with both IT-sanctioned (and nonsanctioned) cloud file storage as a way to access company files. Within the SMB space, tablet adoption is strongest among midsize businesses like L.J. Aviation (see Figure 1), yet these firms are discovering it is not enough to integrate mobile devices into a business process unless it is on a secure, companyspecific basis that can provide reliable data access, robust usability, and corporate and industry compliance. 2013 IDC #241127 5
FIGURE 1 U.S. SMB Tablet Unit Installed Base by Company Size, 2011 2013 Source: IDC, 2013 Advice for Customers SMB customers like L.J. Aviation are quickly beginning to understand that the consumer solutions they may initially find to be very convenient and cost-effective are not the same as a consumerized business solution. Security, compliance, and a management layer are all necessary to achieve full mobile device utilization. That is not to say business solutions need to be complex or require a high level of IT savvy. Rather, as we stated previously, many vendors like AirWatch understand that their growth will come from outside the enterprise space and the key to long-term success lies in being able to offer solutions that are simple to learn and, at the same time, easy to use. IDC advises SMB customers to explore how mobile devices can provide a positive business result, especially since many services are cost effective and easy to access, whether file sharing or mobile payments. However, SMB customers will still need to take device and data security into account, particularly those customers operating in more regulated industries. Taking Uncertainty Out of Charter Travel To date, transformative IT solutions have been utilized to reduce costs and streamline business processes. This Buyer Case Study is a textbook example of this. However, IDC advises SMB managers to begin to consider how these same solutions can be used to streamline front-office business processes. 6 #241127 2013 IDC
For instance, L.J. Aviation hasn't changed the way it books revenue since its beginning 30 years ago. The company can take a cue from the larger travel industry, which has undergone profound transformation in the past 15 years, and begin to look at customer-facing scheduling apps, which may allow for ad hoc bookings as well as bookings from its OnFlight program. By utilizing a global schedule overview, L.J. Aviation could use its burgeoning IT services to not just streamline bookings but also generate additional revenue by pushing promotions that would further encourage bookings. Advice for Vendors Oftentimes, IT vendors view the SMB space with trepidation. The aggregate number of potential customers (over 8 million in the United States alone) makes this an attractive market, yet many are small firms with specific needs and limited budgets, particularly when compared with enterprises. Many have not begun to consider IT as a viable means to streamline operations. Furthermore, this is a space that lacks the IT savvy found in enterprises, and the SMB decision maker tends to be a non-it practitioner. However, cloud solutions and standardized mobile hardware are quickly making company size less relevant. Employees as well as business owners and managers are all becoming sophisticated at utilizing the same consumerized mobile IT resources that are used in both personal and professional lives. This does not mean, however, that SMB managers are necessarily interested in developing a broad IT management skill set. Rather, these types of businesses value simple, easy-to-use solutions that can integrate into their business processes, whether they are centered on IT or not. IDC advises vendors to remove their "enterprise colored" glasses and take a fresh look at the SMB space, starting with midmarket customers like L.J. Aviation. Many midsize businesses are successful and well established and willing to invest in IT solutions that add new capabilities with clear results. But this needs to be more clearly articulated to the SMB than the enterprise customer base. IDC advises vendors to sponsor more customer outreach and educational initiatives on behalf of either their channel partners or themselves (if engaged in a more direct go-to-market strategy). Demand among smaller businesses needs to be nurtured, since many of them haven't connected the dots between the iphone in their pocket and measurable cost savings to their bottom line. IDC also advises vendors to be more flexible and willing to customize solutions with new SMB customers. While enterprises may shop for broader solution stacks, SMBs usually look to IT for transactional problem solving. In many ways, vendors (and channel partners) with cloud-based offerings are in a great position to grow these new SMBs into larger accounts, as many may be much more comfortable working with a vendor that can host many features and functions, further negating the need for internal IT staff. 2013 IDC #241127 7
LEARN MORE Related Research U.S. SMB Cloud Backup and File Sharing Adoption: How Tablet BYOD Trends Are Driving Transformation (IDC #240369, March 2013) U.S. SMB Public IT Cloud Services 2013 2017 Forecast (IDC #239407, February 2013) U.S. SMB Mobile Device BYOD Policy and Tablet Adoption Survey by Company Size (IDC #238926, January 2013) U.S. SMB Tablet Application Adoption Survey by Company Size (IDC #238953, January 2013) U.S. SMB Tablet Adoption 2013 2016 Forecast (IDC #238977, January 2013) Copyright Notice This IDC research document was published as part of an IDC continuous intelligence service, providing written research, analyst interactions, telebriefings, and conferences. Visit www.idc.com to learn more about IDC subscription and consulting services. To view a list of IDC offices worldwide, visit www.idc.com/offices. Please contact the IDC Hotline at 800.343.4952, ext. 7988 (or +1.508.988.7988) or sales@idc.com for information on applying the price of this document toward the purchase of an IDC service or for information on additional copies or Web rights. Copyright 2013 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved. 8 #241127 2013 IDC