Boeing and AeroInfo: A dynamic pairing

Source: Exec Digital Canada

Date :3/31/2008 5:41:08 AM

Fred Rego, COO, and Blair Nadeau, VP Business Development, of AeroInfo Systems explain how their company’s relationship with Boeing has made it one of the world’s leading aviation software providers Written by Emmet Cole and produced by Rich Gentile

Technological advancements have made information technology and software publishing two of world’s most rapidly growing industries. According to the United States’ Bureau of Labor Statistics, software publishing alone is projected to rise at an annual rate of 12.8 percent in the next decade.

AeroInfo Systems, a provider of advanced maintenance software applications for the airline industry, has been a division of Boeing Canada Operations, Ltd. since September 2000, enabling Boeing to enhance its Commercial Airplane Services division with a cache of cutting-edge applications and advisory tools in order to better serve its client base. A leader in aviation maintenance planning, scheduling, and tracking, it has recently extended its proficiency into the business advisory realm.

“We are software developers and airline experts,” says Fred Rego, COO of AeroInfo Systems, and one of the company’s founding members. “What gives our company an edge is our in-depth knowledge of airline maintenance and operations combined with our considerable software expertise,” says Rego.

Technological Expertise and Application

Business and technical advisory services, application development and integration, and targeted business solutions are all central to AeroInfo Systems’ work. With over two decades of experience, they solve business and information technology challenges with sophisticated business and software solutions within the security, aerospace, defense, manufacturing, maintenance, transportation and logistics industries, enabling them to constantly adapt to an ever-changing marketplace.

Throughout its history, AeroInfo Systems has had a global reach, helping the company to grow at an annual rate of 50 percent. Their world-class business consulting methodologies bring clarity to a range of business and software development issues, and are centrally controlled through PMI-accredited project management practices, supported by CMMI certification.

Due to a need for credible, quantitative evidence of IT companies’ performance, the CMMI model is a reliable, and highly valued indicator. According to the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon, the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is an improvement approach process that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes, and can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization.

CMMI helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes. Last year, AeroInfo Systems reached all of its business targets and achieved level 2 and 3 CMMI certification. They’re aiming to achieve level 4 by 2010.

“Very few companies in the world reach level 3, which means that the company has all of the processes in place that are necessary for high quality software development,” says Rego.

This year, AeroInfo is focusing on improving productivity and growing the company through working on various initiatives and securing new projects, Blair Nadeau, VP Business Development explains. “The immediate goal is to to continue to support Boeing’s rapid advancements in maintenance support solutions while expanding AeroInfo’s remit into other transportation arenas, including shipping companies and ground transport specialists.”

AeroInfo is also doing a significant amount of work with Integrated Defense Systems, explains Nadeau, thereby expanding the company’s presence amongst Boeing’s military business relationships.

“These expansions don’t just enable us to add value to a much broader customer base,” Nadeau explains. “Expansion is part of our intellectual property. We have taken the approach that if we hire the very best IT and Airline operational people, the work will come to us. And it has.”

AeroInfo Systems has become more involved in business and technical advisory services in recent years thanks to the breadth of its expertise in software development and the transportation and business environments. It secured an external contract with Canadian Helicopters Corporation Global Operations in January 2007, and is working with their operations internationally to assist with revising and implementing an information management system.

Client-First Approach

AeroInfo Systems encourages clients to actively participate in the process of integrating custom applications to their business and strategic plans. In the process, AeroInfo teaches its clients to think in new ways about their company’s business processes. “We work closely with our customers to determine the issues that are driving potential inefficiencies within their business,” explains Nadeau.

From there, the clients systems are evaluated and customized applications are developed. “It could be programmatic, it might be an application that we might build, and we might make a recommendation to go with a certain product that we would help them integrate into their current environment. Or, it could be something as basic as a procedural change,” explains Nadeau.

AeroInfo Systems’ client-centered approach has been mutually beneficial. “Our goal is to find a solution to our clients’ problems, which ultimately relates the business advisory services side of AeroInfo with strong application development and integration. This is the path that leads to a targeted business solution,” says Nadeau.

Green Practice and Employee Value

AeroInfo Systems is also leading the way in green practices. As part of an industry that promotes technological evolution, they have a strong recycling program on premises and encourage alternate means of transportation.

“We even encourage people to come on bikes,” says Nadeau, who commutes just over 13 kilometers by bike to work whenever possible. Indoor bicycle parking has also been established within the company’s new high-tech facility. The facility was built a few months ago and adds another 9,000 square feet to their existing 28,000.

In keeping with AeroInfo System’s strong relationships with clients, the company is known for highly valuing its employees – a positive strategy that’s reflected in an extremely low turnover rate and expanding workforce – in the past two and a half years AeroInfo has grown from 57 employees to just under 150.

Because of the high-stress environment AeroInfo operates within, the company provides employees with innovative “creature comforts” that help them relax between assignments. They also encourage an open-door policy so as to make employees feel comfortable and familiar with their executive committee and other leadership. “There aren’t a lot of walls here,” says Nadeau. “We are all very focused on providing strong leadership, an innovative work environment, and incredibly “neat stuff” to work on.”

As the need for information technology systems and efficient applications increases, and the global economy poses ever more complicated challenges, AeroInfo Systems Inc. is defying convention to become the forerunner in pioneering efficient, sophisticated software for the aviation industry.