Korea – a long-term project with a long-term gain

Have you ever eaten Kimchi? It’s a Korean side-dish made from preserved cabbage, a spicy delicacy eaten as an accompaniment to meat to add extra flavor.

Just like a good kimchi, many of our projects at Amadeus take time and careful planning. And the projects we are working on in Korea are no exception, with long migration timelines but an amazing result to look forward to at the end.

The teams working on the Korea projects are some of the largest we’ve ever deployed for a special project, with resources from across the Amadeus organisation and from all corners of the globe. We have brought in expertise from Bangkok, Nice, and even the United States, to make sure these projects run as smoothly as possible.

Anyone who has ever been involved in a large IT migration knows that it’s a major undertaking. And in Korea, we have not one, but TWO highly significant migrations underway.

Firstly, we are working with Korean Air to migrate them to the full Altéa solution. By 2014, all of Korean Air’s passenger processes, from reservations to check in and baggage, will be managed by the Amadeus system. Korean Air has a strong commitment to excellence in service, and the Altéa platform will allow them to focus even more on delivering amazing, personalized service to their passengers.

At the same time, a second project team is working with TOPAS, Korea’s leading travel information system provider. TOPAS selected Amadeus as its technology partner to develop a new and improved version of its reservation platform for Korean travel agents. Amadeus is contributing the world’s best GDS technology and content, while TOPAS is contributing its local market knowledge, and together we will create the best technology platform available in Korea.

Our teams are working hard to make these projects a success. It’s a long timeline – we’ve already been working for a year and a half, and there are two years ahead before everything is migrated in the market. But, like making a good kimchi, we know that the work and the waiting will pay off.

Once Korean Air and TOPAS have completed their migrations, Amadeus will be closely linked to their growth and success for the foreseeable future, in one of the most exciting travel markets in the world.