Oracle Corp., the world`s largest enterprise software company, today announced that Emirates Group, which includes the award-winning Emirates Airline, Dnata travel services, Emirates Engineering, Emirates SkyCargo, Emirates Holidays and Emirates Training, as well as Airport Operations and Cargo, has completed the implementation of a ground-breaking Oracle based e-business transformation aimed at centralising and streamlining many of its core business functions. 

The Emirates initiative, based on the Oracle E-Business Suite, has integrated the accounting, human resources, procurement, and order management functions across the entire group, enabling more than 9,000 employees to access key business applications and information through the Internet.

The Emirates Group foresees a number of measurable business benefits from its e-business project, both internally and for its customer- and partner-facing departments.  All of the Group`s key information is now centralised in one location, allowing the company to address cross-organisational business issues.  The Emirates Group`s management will have a single and complete view of the entire organisation, enabling timely and fact-based decision-making.  The centralisation and greater efficiency within the Group`s primary business functions is anticipated to result in lower operating costs and increased profitability. Additionally, the new streamlined business processes based on the Oracle E-Business Suite will result in increased efficiencies across the board.

“The optimisation of customer focus, reliability, and efficiency are three of the overarching objectives in the diverse businesses of the Emirates Group,” said Maurice Flanagan, Emirates Group Managing Director. “In order to achieve these goals, and at the same time to profitably manage our rapid growth, we needed the powerful technological backbone uniquely supplied by the Oracle E-Business Suite. The aviation and travel industries are among the most competitive in the world, and the Emirates Group has long relied on the most advanced technology to help us perform at peak levels of service.”

“One of the most vital elements in this project was ensuring that all our IT systems and applications would integrate and work together right out of the box.  With this new e-business infrastructure, the Emirates Group has an up-to-the-minute and comprehensive view of the financial, human, and logistical components of our various functional units.  That information enables us to respond quickly to new challenges and opportunities, and devise new and better ways to serve our customers and partners,” added Flanagan.

Within each of the Group`s divisions, the new Oracle-based e-business processes will offer specific advantages. From a financial perspective, the Emirates Group can now reduce finance and administrative costs, cut IT costs, establish appropriate accounting controls and manage key financial drivers.  The human resources system will lower cost per employee via its Internet-based, self-service functionality, and permit the Group to maximize workforce training, productivity and loyalty across the entire enterprise. 

With more than 6.7 million passengers carried by Emirates in the last year alone, supply chain management and logistics are vital areas of optimisation and consideration for the Emirates Group.  On the partner- and customer-facing sides of the organisation, the new order management and procurement solutions supply comprehensive transaction execution capabilities for managing and fulfilling all forms of customer demand.  In addition, the Emirates Group can now reduce purchasing costs and create buying efficiencies by identifying savings and supplier improvement opportunities.

In addition to core elements of the Oracle E-Business Suite, the Emirates Group has also put into operation related self-service and business intelligence modules.  The comprehensive e-business project was implemented by the Group`s own IT arm, Mercator, in conjunction with Oracle Consulting.  As part of its ongoing relationship with Oracle, the Emirates Group is now a member of the Oracle Financial Customer Advisory Board for Europe, Middle East and Africa, which enables the Group to influence the future development of Oracle`s software products.

“As evidenced by the more than 200 awards it has won for excellence, Emirates Airline and the entire Emirates Group are among the most visible and dynamic organisations in the entire Middle East.  A business that is growing and diversifying as rapidly as the Emirates Group is in an ideal position to benefit from the cost-savings and increased efficiencies offered by the Oracle E-Business Suite,” noted Husam Dajani, Vice President for Oracle Middle East.

“The Emirates Group`s e-business initiative demonstrates how regional industry leaders can utilise technology to build upon core competencies and enhance value across a diverse enterprise.  This implementation is by far the most advanced in the Middle East`s aviation and travel industry, and further strengthens Emirates` position as an emerging global player,” he added.

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