PROJECT OVERVIEW - FINANCE: STREAMLINING THE PAYMENT PROCESS
What could Airsource Partners do to make aviation expertise more accessible to all?
We have conceived the first aviation –related online expert knowledge service connecting actors of the air transport industry with the outside expert world.
FINANCE: STREAMLINING THE PAYMENT PROCESS
PROJECT STATUS : ACTIVE
LAUNCH DATE : MAR 2014
PRIMARY TARGET : Airlines
PROJECT FUNCTIONAL AREA : Sales & Marketing, Others, Contract Management
PROJECT FOCUS : Other
PROJECT SPONSOR : Baudon Nortier Consulting
Project Summary
Project Description
Baudon Nortier Consulting and Airsource Partners joined their efforts to help airlines streamline their payment projects and operations.
Proposal is to support airlines in establishing relationships with banks and payment service providers (PSP), from selection down to deployment.
Motivations to engage in such a project might be as diverse as market expansion, cost reduction or platform efficiency but the elements of complexity of such a project remain always the same.
Indeed, the integration of a payment partner requires involvement of multiple stakeholders (e.g finance, commercial, IT) as well as external parties (e.g acquirer, PSP and PSS) and is likely to have impact on systems (e.g web engine, revenue accounting) and organizations.
Aim is therefore to help airlines putting in place the appropriate project structure, defining the project milestones and managing the different key project phases.
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND REQUIREMENTS
Define business objectives which may be, among other subjects, to reduce fraud, reduce transaction fees, select new acquirers & enlarge portfolio of methods of payment to support market expansion, simplify back office operations or improve level of service.
PARTNER SELECTION
Select the right partner mapping at best your geographical coverage, sales channels(web, face to face, mobile), distribution channels (direct or travel agency) and expected level of functionality such as anti fraud tool, alternative methods of payment, multicurrency capability, reconciliation features or enhanced dashboard.
CONTRACTUAL PHASE
Focus as much on fee level and fee structure than quality of support when negotiating pricing, building contractual framework and Service Level Agreement.
PROJECT ORGANIZATION
Manage systems integration and product developments
=> Elaborate project planning, roles and responsibilities
=> Coordinate internal teams, PSP, PSS and acquirer contributions, monitor progress & risk, report to steering committee.
=> Validate product delivery: build test scenarios, run acceptance tests, follow up on problems resolution.
LAUNCH PREPARATION AND MONITORING
Develop training, build internal procedures, manage internal communication and define cutover plan & back up procedures.
Accepting electronic payments is not an option for airlines but this key step of the selling process often translates into operational complexity, revenue leakage and avoidable costs.
Why? Probably because payment is a discipline requiring specific skills and expertise which are quite distant from the airlines core business and are complex to develop when the economic conditions prevent recruitment or lead to staff reduction.
If experience shows that profitability can be improved thanks to precise and timely actions, it also demonstrates that only measures in the long run will ensure the sustainability of the expected benefit.
Why? Probably because payment is a discipline requiring specific skills and expertise which are quite distant from the airlines core business and are complex to develop when the economic conditions prevent recruitment or lead to staff reduction.
If experience shows that profitability can be improved thanks to precise and timely actions, it also demonstrates that only measures in the long run will ensure the sustainability of the expected benefit.
Project Description
Baudon Nortier Consulting and Airsource Partners joined their efforts to help airlines streamline their payment projects and operations.
Proposal is to support airlines in establishing relationships with banks and payment service providers (PSP), from selection down to deployment.
Motivations to engage in such a project might be as diverse as market expansion, cost reduction or platform efficiency but the elements of complexity of such a project remain always the same.
Indeed, the integration of a payment partner requires involvement of multiple stakeholders (e.g finance, commercial, IT) as well as external parties (e.g acquirer, PSP and PSS) and is likely to have impact on systems (e.g web engine, revenue accounting) and organizations.
Aim is therefore to help airlines putting in place the appropriate project structure, defining the project milestones and managing the different key project phases.
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND REQUIREMENTS
Define business objectives which may be, among other subjects, to reduce fraud, reduce transaction fees, select new acquirers & enlarge portfolio of methods of payment to support market expansion, simplify back office operations or improve level of service.
PARTNER SELECTION
Select the right partner mapping at best your geographical coverage, sales channels(web, face to face, mobile), distribution channels (direct or travel agency) and expected level of functionality such as anti fraud tool, alternative methods of payment, multicurrency capability, reconciliation features or enhanced dashboard.
CONTRACTUAL PHASE
Focus as much on fee level and fee structure than quality of support when negotiating pricing, building contractual framework and Service Level Agreement.
PROJECT ORGANIZATION
Manage systems integration and product developments
=> Elaborate project planning, roles and responsibilities
=> Coordinate internal teams, PSP, PSS and acquirer contributions, monitor progress & risk, report to steering committee.
=> Validate product delivery: build test scenarios, run acceptance tests, follow up on problems resolution.
LAUNCH PREPARATION AND MONITORING
Develop training, build internal procedures, manage internal communication and define cutover plan & back up procedures.
Experts / companies available for this project
Baudon Nortier Consulting - France
Cédric Baudon and Nadine Nortier, the co-founders of Baudon-Nortier Consulting, boast a combined working experience of over 30 years acquired at Air France and Amadeus in the fields of payment processes modelization and implemention. The expertise proposed under the current Project is a direct reflection of Cédric and Nadine’s knowledge of the payment industry, complex merchant organisations, management of transversal projects as well as management of relationships with financial partners or service providers. Baudon Nortier Consulting’s offers airlines a wide spectrum of expert services in the management of payments on a global scale through multi-channel platforms (face to face, on-line, call centre and mobile).
Cédric Baudon and Nadine Nortier, the co-founders of Baudon-Nortier Consulting, boast a combined working experience of over 30 years acquired at Air France and Amadeus in the fields of payment processes modelization and implemention. The expertise proposed under the current Project is a direct reflection of Cédric and Nadine’s knowledge of the payment industry, complex merchant organisations, management of transversal projects as well as management of relationships with financial partners or service providers. Baudon Nortier Consulting’s offers airlines a wide spectrum of expert services in the management of payments on a global scale through multi-channel platforms (face to face, on-line, call centre and mobile).
