Lufthansa Cargo, IBS celebrate 10 years of transforming cargo biz

Lufthansa Cargo is celebrating 10 years of transforming its global air cargo business with IBS Software this month. "Over the past decade, IBS Software has successfully partnered with Lufthansa Cargo to create a modern, agile and innovation-focused business, built on the strong foundation of iCargo – IBS' market leading cargo platform," says a release from IBS.

The partnership began when Lufthansa Cargo made the decision to replace its core IT platform - a mainframe system called Mosaik - in 2012, the release said. "This was a 30-year-old legacy technology which formed the nerve centre of its operation; changing it was considered a project of immense complexity and risk. Consequently, Lufthansa Cargo carried out a rigorous market search during which 400+ potential suppliers and partners were evaluated. IBS Software and its iCargo offering was selected based on the strength of the offering, the capability and experience of its teams and the high level of congruence in future strategy."

IBS Software served not only the immediate goal of significantly upgrading Lufthansa Cargo's operational core but also further consolidated its IT landscape by bringing other applications under the iCargo umbrella. The highly complex transformation project - named iCAP - involved more than 300 global locations across the Lufthansa Cargo network and its major hubs in Europe, including the Frankfurt mega-hub.

"The outcome of iCAP was an integrated solution that supports the requirements of the airlines' freight business, providing enhanced web-enabled features that optimise operations, enhance profitability, and provide scalability. The solution helps manage the increasing volumes of cargo movement requirements of freighters, ground handling agents (GHAs) as well as airports. Buoyed by the success of the initial phase of the project, Lufthansa moved to a full SaaS (Software as a Service) model of software delivery for iCargo in 2020, entrusting the full ownership of hosting and maintenance of Lufthansa Cargo's iCAP platform to IBS Software."

Dorothea von Boxberg, Chairman of the Executive Board, Lufthansa Cargo, says: "IBS has been a strong partner in guiding us on our digitisation journey over the years. From the replacement of legacy IT systems to the laying of the foundation stone in the area of digital fulfilment to the development of more far-reaching IT solutions - which have now been the backbone in our IT operations. It is our goal to continue to work together to drive the digital transformation of our industry, improving data quality and connectivity with our customers in the process, and making our own processes more efficient as well. Together, we are creating considerable added value, especially for our customers."

Ashok Rajan, SVP, Head of Cargo & Logistics at IBS Software, says: "I view our decade strong partnership with Lufthansa Cargo with immense pride. It truly represents what can be accomplished through a partnership that goes above and beyond that of a buyer-supplier relationship. Our partnership has created several innovative business practices, many are industry firsts revolutionising and improving quality across cargo operations in a rapidly changing industry. IBS is looking forward to continuing to drive value with and for Lufthansa for many years to come."

Jochen Göttelmann, CIO, Lufthansa Cargo, adds: "We look back on the existing ten-year partnership with IBS in a thoroughly positive light. Together, we have further developed iCargo as a product in such a way that it provides us with excellent services on a daily basis at our Global Handling Hub in Frankfurt and in our worldwide operations. The intensive cooperation between IBS as a technology market leader and Lufthansa Cargo as an innovation driver makes our collaboration special to this day. The IBS teams convince us every time - with their know-how but also with their commitment to live up to our claim of implementing innovations in airfreight. We are very much looking forward to furthering our cooperation."

Lufthansa Cargo and IBS Software also continued to innovate and develop several industry firsts and implement innovative business practices such as the iPartner Handling platform in 2021. "This deployment represented significant progress for Lufthansa Cargo's Mobile Digital Handling initiative created to eliminate paper-based processes across its operations by digitising tasks and process checks carried out by its GHA partners to enable best in class customer experience." These efforts have culminated in Lufthansa Cargo recently achieving 100 percent eFreight adoption, which is the industry benchmark, the release added.