CHICAGO, Aug. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Using the latest
cutting-edge technologies that allow its employees to provide
better service to customers no matter where they are or what
situation they face -- that's the underlying philosophy behind
United Airlines' bold new mobile strategy, an approach that earned
the carrier a coveted spot on this year's list of CIO 100 Award
winners.
Over the past few years, United has invested heavily in
mobility, untethering a large percentage of their workforce and
enabling them to better perform their duties on the move. There are
currently 60,000 devices in the hands of United's employees around
the world, each one equipped with a variety of applications
designed to solve problems that customers encounter when traveling.
"This recognition is the culmination of a massive team effort,
in terms of research, development and rollout, intended to
revolutionize how our employees interact with customers," said
Jason Birnbaum, United's vice
president of operations technology, one of the leaders responsible
for the company's mobility push. "One of our aims was to take our
agents from behind their podiums and put them out into the
terminals, where they could do things like change seat assignments,
re-book passengers and print luggage tags right where the customers
are. A re-booking transaction that would have taken 10 minutes
under the old, stationary system now takes less than two. And those
are just some of the many examples of ways we are making the
day-of-travel experience better."
Perhaps most notably, United is the only airline with employee
mobile devices that are both Wi-Fi and cellular-enabled,
giving them a valuable contingency plan when technical outages
occur. And with its own in-house development shop turning out
custom apps, United is uniquely positioned to better serve its
customers and employees through mobility. Most recently, many of
the technicians at the airline's seven hubs began using iPads to
perform some of their checks, significantly improving the speed in
which they can clear an aircraft once repairs are completed. Those
tools will soon roll out to all of United's airports, meaning
significant reductions in maintenance downtime.
About United
United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,500
flights a day to 338 airports across five continents. In 2016,
United and United Express operated more than 1.6 million flights
carrying more than 143 million customers. United is proud to have
the world's most comprehensive route network, including U.S.
mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los
Angeles, Newark/New York, San
Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 748
mainline aircraft and the airline's United Express carriers operate
475 regional aircraft. The airline is a founding member
of Star Alliance, which provides service to more than 190
countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit
united.com, follow @United on Twitter or connect on Facebook. The
common stock of United's parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc.,
is traded on the NYSE under the symbol "UAL".
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SOURCE United Airlines