IBS Software has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Travel and Hospitality Competency status, announced at the inaugural re:Invent virtual conference on December 3^rd, 2020. The competency status is in recognition of IBS Software's expertise and experience in helping customers transform their business, from behind-the-scenes operational efficiencies to customer experiences. The launch of the AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency comes at a crucial time for the industry, as it looks to innovate in order to address changing demands in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a world already defined by 'pre' and 'post' Covid, many businesses have significantly changed the way they operate in the post Covid "new normal" era. Across the travel sector, many different types and sizes of companies became financially fragile and some unfortunately faced closure or layoffs as the travel industry came to a near standstill. But with the vaccine starting to become available globally, confidence in travel will recover and the sector will get back on its feet again.

Moving ahead will involve new thinking and resolution. More than ever, technology will be the key enabler. Organisations across the travel industry are prioritising digital transformation to ensure their business adapts to new demands and grows. Many have come to realise that moving to cloud is an efficient way to operate and optimize costs. IBS has been offering its Software-as-a-Service delivery model, with solutions hosted in the cloud and from its own data centers located in Frankfurt, Ashburn, Tokyo and Sydney. Maintaining own data centers and ensuring 24X7 monitoring and support involves a significant investment in infrastructure and personnel. This is where cloud services like Amazon Web Services come into play.

While running own data centres gives optimum control over resources that manage the customer's applications and data, it also incurs considerable year on year costs for the maintenance of the infrastructure. IBS Software uses AWS, as it ensures enhanced features, security, support and services at a much reduced cost and makes the processes less cumbersome. It offers more flexibility wherein at the click of a button, the cloud infrastructure is ready and running in a matter of minutes. AWS also adds packaged services, such as Machine Learning (ML) capability, which can significantly speed up the time to market.

In the opinion of IBS Software's Chief Technology Officer Chris Branagan, "IBS is indeed proud to be one of the launch partners to achieve the AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency status. This is a true recognition of our technical expertise and our efforts to offer more agile and competent technology platforms for our customers. IBS' cloud strategy is adapted around the 'cloud native' architecture of our products and can take full advantage of the AWS cloud platform and its offerings. We have also recently started working with AWS in the AI and ML space, specifically to mine and introspect all kinds of rich data in our SaaS boundary."

IBS Software's cloud strategy includes providing mission critical, highly available services with built-in resiliency to failures via self-healing frameworks, comprehensive security and industry standard compliance like GDPR and PCI, near-Infinity scalability to adapt to customer business volumes, best-in-the-industry disaster recovery and BCP offerings with almost zero data loss, built-in data integrity and faster time to market and flexibility for changes and enhancements.

AWS's global travel and hospitality practice helps companies of every size and segment – including airlines, airports, ground transportation, travel services and sellers, restaurants, lodging, entertainment venues and casinos, cruise lines, and technology providers – to stay agile and accelerate innovation. Now more than ever, AWS wants to help customers succeed by connecting them to partners with deep AWS experience, and a proven track record for helping travel and hospitality companies build resilience for the long run.

Achieving the AWS Travel and Hospitality Competency differentiates IBS Software as an AWS Partner with deep domain expertise in the following categories: Data 360, Digital Customer Engagement, Core Travel and Hospitality Applications, and Consulting Services providing strategic guidance and deployment services.

Check out the press release.