Delta Airlines Internal Comms

case-study-delta-1
Delta Airlines digital signage

This case study examines how, why and in what ways Delta Airlines uses Yodeck as a transportation digital signage solution throughout airports and staff support sites around the United States for its centralized internal communications.

About Delta Airlines

Delta started out as a humble aerial crop dusting operation called Huff Daland Dusters in 1924. Since then, Delta Airlines has grown into one of the world’s largest global airlines. It helps more than 160 million travelers get to the places they want to go to each year. Along with its subsidiaries and regional affiliates, Delta operates over 5,400 flights daily and serves an extensive domestic and international network that includes 319 destinations in 54 countries on six continents. It is one of the four founding members of the SkyTeam airline alliance. Specifically, Delta operates joint ventures with AeroMexico, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, and WestJet.

Delta Airlines flight schedule displays

The Need

Up until July 2017, Delta relied on old school, analogue methods for its key internal communications with staff teams spread throughout several locations in the United States. The company needed to digitize this process for a more real-time experience. Because of its outdated technology, “bulletin boards” at various “bases” were outdated as soon as they got printed and displayed. Delta also realized that it must adopt a solution which was easy-to-use, feature-rich and low-budget. After running some trials with various digital signage suppliers, Delta opted for Yodeck, as it gave them “the best all round solution” to their needs. Most importantly, Delta Airlines needed to use digital signage for corporate communications to display data dashboards. These dashboards showed key performance metrics and KPI’s for flight attendants and other related staff members.

Delta airlines case study

“For so long we relied on printed materials, or emails, or other analogue ways to display data and information about how each of our individual locations were performing. We desperately needed to digitize with a solution that would be easy-to-use, scalable, and sensitive to our limited budget. In the end, Yodeck turned out to be the perfect partner for us to achieve all of those goals.”

TRACY FOSTER

IFS Field Support Manager

The Solution

In its efforts to digitize many important processes, Delta prioritized one of its most important “behind the scenes” workflows — internal communications. It focused on sharing vital data with flight attendants on the performance of all the company’s airport and support locations. In addition, Delta’s bases also made up a significant portion of performance information. Data included information about reliability, scheduling and time-keeping statistics. Also, statistics about accident rates and other relative metrics get displayed. Delta needed a digital signage platform that could be set-up with the minimum of fuss, and be rolled out from a central office to various locations.

Getting data and information to front line employees in real-time constitutes a central part of Delta’s internal communications strategy. Delta finds it imperative to monitor performance in real time and share best-practices with colleagues working in other bases. Moreover, they want to keep top management up to date on key KPIs. Additionally, all flight attendants work out of different bases and all of those bases have goals to achieve. Employees must meet targets for reliability, time performance and many other KPIs. Yodeck allows Delta to get vital information to front line employees so everyone can share important knowledge and monitor performance to the finest detail with the minimum of fuss.

Delta Airlines internal communications

“Yodeck impressed us so much from day one. It really solved our problem in a definitive way by helping us move away from the “bulletin board” culture. It’s so easy for us to use and update key data and display it in real time – we absolutely love the system. Another important thing for us is the customer service and tech support. Response times are incredible, and the team is always open to adding new features that we might need.”

TRACY FOSTER

IFS Field Support Manager

The Results & Benefits

With all the critical data and metrics they need shared across their various bases for all staff to see, Delta’s flight attendant teams are now much more efficient in their daily work. They also always stay up to date with the latest status of operations. In addition, they can see how they are performing versus other bases. How does this help them? Not only can they highlight any gaps which need to be filled faster, but they can also reward more accurately those who produce outstanding results. Furthermore, top management have instant and simple visibility of what happens at any given location at any given time.

Overall the main benefit that Yodeck has given Delta is their transition from analogue to digital in a key internal communications process. Delta now has the necessary information shared with the right people, at the right time, and in the right place. And all of this in a pain-free, simple way. Yodeck has also freed up the time of key commercial stakeholders within sales and marketing with digital bulletin boards. They previously spent far too many resources preparing analog boards and sending countless emails, etc. Put simply, everybody has come out a winner in the efficiency stakes.

Delta Airlines
Delta Airlines signage

“My favorite thing about Yodeck? If I could only mention one thing (because there are many), it would have to be the ease of use and simplicity of the system. What really helps us resource-wise and for efficiency is the support we get. The responsiveness of the Yodeck team when we want a new feature, enhancement or need to solve an issue is always lightning fast.”

MARCOS ICAZA

IFS – Program Leader