Sydney-headquartered data and analytics specialist Bi3 Technologies has delivered a Microsoft Azure data analytics platform for Sydney Airport.
As international travel surged post-COVID, Sydney Airport wanted to gain more visibility of its operations to facilitate an improved customer experience.
“The goal was to deliver a daily operational tool that would provide us with real-time data identifying where we should allocate resources to improve the efficiency and safety of the airport for customers,” said Garrick Bryant, head of data strategy at Sydney Airport.
Sydney Airport partnered with Bi3 Technologies and the Microsoft Data & AI team to build a data analytics platform to streamline and modernise its data ingestion processes.
The second phase of work included creating an operational dashboard that used AI and machine learning (ML) to enhance the passenger experience.
Using the Azure platform for real-time visibility
The data platform provides Sydney Airport with a significantly expanded view of real-time data.
“Sydney Airport’s priority was the availability of real-time data,” said Thiru Subramaniam, data architect at Bi3 Technologies.
“By migrating to the Azure ecosystem, we were able to rapidly build proof-of-concepts to explore new options and bring real-time data into the hands of these key teams.”
The platform uses Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL and Azure Stream Analytics to reduce complexity and simplify data integration.
With the platform configured to optimise data streaming, capturing data in real-time allows the airport to democratise data so it can be accessed for various scenarios, such as asset tracking, customer experience, quality control, health and safety.
It also allows Sydney Airport to use ML for predictive maintenance and forecasting to improve airport operations.
Improving passenger experience with granular insights
Using the data capabilities of Azure, the operational dashboard allows Sydney Airport's operations teams to support passengers at critical points of interaction through enhanced visibility and reporting.
“There are more than 20 customer touchpoints across the airport precinct as passengers arrive and make their way through to departures. Each touchpoint provides an opportunity to improve efficiency and create a positive journey for customers,” said Bryant.
The dashboard helps teams oversee every touchpoint from a single pane of glass, providing greater visibility to make decisions around resource allocation.
It has also improved the speed of security processing, with passengers making their way through security screening in under 10 minutes.
Using Azure AI Machine Learning and Stream Analytics, the dashboard allows Sydney Airport to forecast customer numbers at each touchpoint by collecting information in granular detail.
Microsoft said this has resulted in the airport’s data strategy team improving forecasting accuracy by 95 per cent, enabling them to estimate peak periods.
During the scope of work, Sydney Airport had access to support from Microsoft through the Microsoft Unified Service, which helped the company navigate the Azure platform.
“We knew that if we ever had an issue or couldn’t figure out how to make the platform meet our needs, targeted support was only a phone call away," said Subramaniam.
"It was a three-way partnership where we at Bi3 Technologies could always rest assured that Microsoft was providing the best support available, so we could confidently guide the team at Sydney Airport through the process.”
