JKCS flies high

Executive Vice President and Head of IT Sector, John Keells Group, Sujiva Dewaraja is passionate about IT and especially software that’s produced by the company belonging to his Sector: John Keells Computer Services (JKCS).

Software built in-house

“In the past, we used to do outsourcing work for overseas customers and they used to own the IP. But now the company has mastered the art of building our own software Products from scratch, taking complete responsibility for the entire process,” said Dewaraja, discussing what’s new at JKCS and where it’s headed.

“The risk in this type of business was the fact that once you build the product, and go to market, the software may become obsolete or you can even run out of customers. But the plus side with our new products is, once you have covered your cost with your target customer base, there is still the chance of getting bonus customers, where the revenue goes straight to the bottom line.”



King of aviation sftware

Having provided software services for the aviation industry for over a decade, JKCS’s UAE joint venture, ISA developed the highly successful Accel Aero package in 2005 for Air Arabia. Today, this package has 15 other such low-cost carriers as customers. This product really took the AccelAero brand international and secured its position as a top player in the regional aviation software game.

Not resting on its laurels, JKCS came up with Evinta – an online airline ticket reservation software product that has achieved the lowest booking cost per passenger.

“The core aspect of this system is that it is an internet-based model, which means that customers can simply come through the internet from anywhere in the world and use it. With Evinta, all you need to make an airline booking is to have an internet connection - whether it is through your PC at home, an internet kiosk, or your mobile phone. Alternatively, you can make these bookings through online travel agents as well,” explained Dewaraja.

Evinta’s customer base includes some of the region’s few 5-star airlines such as Qatar Airways and Kingfisher.



Revolutionising software

Software as a Service (SAAS) is a new area in IT solutions where customers do not have to ‘purchase’ the product. “The server, software, and staff are all owned by JKCS and the customer just pays according to how many passengers actually use the software! This is extremely economical and flexible for customers. The best part is that as a business model, SAAS is helping low-cost carriers immensely by allowing people who could not even consider air travel before, to fly,” added Dewaraja.



Benefits of SAS

SAS has many benefits. Such a system is an income enhancing opportunity for businesses, through interactive Revenue Management. There is also no fixed price for a ticket, and the price depends solely on the supply and demand and also on each person’s need threshold, making it a very “personal” product.

“You need to keep in mind that an airline seat, contrary to how we perceive it, is a perishable commodity. If a carrier doesn’t fill all the seats on a flight, it simply loses out. As a result Internet Booking Engines such as our product Evinta works perfectly well, creating a win-win-win situation for the customer, passenger and service provider,” said a smiling Dewaraja.



Breaking into the leisure industry

JKCS recently produced the Zhara Hospitality Suite (Zhara HS), the all-in one hotel management software. Zhara HS enables a hotel or resort chain to run its entire operation by simply logging on to the Internet, making the entire process simple for the customer and operator. Using an internet connection you can run a hotel chain from anywhere, anytime! At the local property level, there is no need for any IT infrastructure, software or people.

“Hotel rooms, much like seats on a flight, are perishable items. If you don’t sell the room within the stipulated time, you are losing out. So, similar to Evinta, Zhara enabled our customers to pay only for the number of rooms that get booked through the system.  Needless to say, web based systems like Zhara are becoming more and more popular in the hospitality industry around the world. We already have all John Keells Sri Lankan Hotels and Resorts using this system and we will introduce it to John Keells Maldivian Resorts in the future,” said Dewaraja. “We have also just signed up our first International customer outside of JKH Group.”

With cutting edge software products that thrill businesses and their customers and its recent foray into the rapidly growing global leisure industry, JKCS is certainly a company to watch!