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Dallas/Fort Worth International Flies the Cloud to Build the Airport of the Future

Staff, Appian
May 1, 2014

As everyone can relate to, airports are a busy place, and sometimes we face delays that interrupt our travel experience. Luckily, process improvements at one of the world's busiest airports have already begun to ensure a top flight customer experience for travelers.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), the world's fourth largest operational airport and 10th largest airport in terms of passenger traffic (60 million), is using modern technology innovations to improve process management and ensure the highest level of customer service. At DFW, operations need to perform at a top notch level, as every major U.S. city is located within a four hour radius of the airport. The organization has embraced modern workplace technologyto create a better customer experience, as the airportstrives to becomethe "Airport of the Future."

Witha totalfacility covering roughly 30 square miles, making it larger than New York's Manhattan Island, one might ask how modern BPM is a natural fit for such a large business transformation effort.

According to William Flowers,Vice President of IT Services at DFW, the airport has quite the SCAM!

No, that's not a typo. Flowers discussed during his main stage presentation this afternoon at Appian World 2014 how Social Integration, Customer Experience, Analytics/Business Intelligence, and Mobility have helped DFW fulfill its business goals and objectives...S.C.A.M.

"The key to every one of our customers is making them more mobile, more flexible," said Flowers during the presentation. "Customer service is the driving force in our overall efforts. If you aren't using social and mobile for your business, you've fallen behind."

Given its size, DFW needed an efficient way to manage bothinternal and externaloperations. During DFW's initial eight month deployment (August 2013-March 2014), the organization was able to convert 15 existing work processes and implement 17 new enterprise business workflows.

Prior to adopting Appian's Work Platform, DFW mainly used paper-based processes for back office operations, requiring the physical transportation of forms and files across the facility. By leveraging an Appian Cloud solution, the airport is creating a modern approach to business, while also supporting the airport's goal of reducing paper consumption by 50 percent over the next five years. Through process automation, Appian gives DFW greater agility in its operations, while Appian's native mobile apps give employees better access to enterprise data in real-time.

"We went on cloud with Appian because it allowed us to do things faster," said Flowers. "We needed to ensure a quick return on investment and cloud allowed us to achieve process efficiencies and make faster, quicker decisions."

According to Flowers, Appian will connect 2,000 DFW employees across all staff levels with an agile approach and access to enterprise data, processes, and social collaboration. Staffers will be equipped with mobile devices that allow for a number of airport duties to be performed, including terminal mangers assisting passengers on terminal floors to reflect the airport's customer service dedication efforts.

"When we look to the future, I challenge my team to find solutions that include all components of S.C.A.M," said Flowers. "When you can put all of these together, it's like having men on base in baseball, and Appian allows us to hit grand slams."

Mike Ingrisano

Media Relations Manager

Mike Ingrisano