From integrating automation and cloud-based solutions to addressing increasingly complex cybersecurity threats, the IT landscape in 2025 is shaping up to be one of both opportunity and challenge. For businesses of all sizes, staying ahead in this environment isn’t just about having the right tools; it’s about having the right expertise.

But why is IT outsourcing more critical in 2025 than ever before? The answer lies in the convergence of several key factors: the accelerating pace of technological advancements, an ongoing global shortage of skilled IT professionals, and the rising complexity of maintaining secure and scalable IT systems.

Why IT Offshoring Is More Relevant Than Ever

In 2025, IT outsourcing continues to prove its relevance as a cornerstone of effective business strategy. Here’s why it remains indispensable in today’s hyper-connected and ever-evolving technological landscape:

Cost-Effectiveness Without Compromising Quality

Building and maintaining an in-house IT team is a costly endeavor, especially with the rising cost of talents as demand peaks and supply comes scarce. Not only in salaries, organisations will also need to invest in recruitment, training, benefits, and infrastructure. Offshoring eliminates many of these costs, providing access to a pool of highly skilled professionals without the long-term commitment and overhead.

Access to Specialised Expertise 

IT outsourcing offers access to a pool of skilled professionals who are already well-versed in the latest technologies. These professionals bring valuable insights and skills, ensuring businesses can stay ahead of the curve without the steep learning curve or resource drain. 

Enhanced Flexibility and Scalability

Whether you need additional resources for a short-term project or ongoing support to manage growing demands, outsourcing partners can adapt to your business requirements as offshoring allows you to scale your IT operations up or down as required.

This helps organisations address immediate IT needs to respond quickly to changes in the business environment. This adaptability can be the difference between thriving and merely surviving in the competitive landscape of 2025.

Here’s How ATI Can Help Your Business

With a team of over 1,500 skilled professionals in the travel industry, ATI excels in providing comprehensive business process services including IT operational support. Our offerings range from Automation Development and QC Testing to Software Development, all driven by a steadfast commitment in addressing the ever-changing needs of organisations. From streamlining operations to driving innovation, we’re here to ensure every business processes are equipped with technology advancements needed to reach your business goals.

Backed by over 20 years of experience, ATI’s strong culture and integrated ecosystem empower our team members to continuously improve and optimise for our clients, especially with the growing technology and automation advancements. With robust experience and support from our ATI Academy and dedicated Business Analysts team, we ensure our clients have the tools and talent to excel in an ever-changing landscape.

Ready to implement tech and automation to your business processes? Discover how ATI can help your business thrive in 2025. Learn more about our offering here.

As the digital world evolves rapidly, organisations depend more than ever on strong IT systems and solutions to stay competitive and fuel innovation. However, a challenge most companies face are the shortage and high wages for these skilled IT talents. This shortage is caused by several factors like high demand for IT skills, specialised roles, and constant global competition. As a result, many businesses face project delays, high costs, and inefficiencies when trying to complete large IT projects.

Whilst businesses have relied on outsourcing for various functions such as customer support, HR, and finance, recently, outsourcing has come on demand in the area of IT development. Outsourcing works in various different models from offshore hiring agencies, to delegation of specific business processes or tasks – typically in regions where labour costs are lower, or talent is more readily available. 

In any kind of industry, rapid technological advancements have required businesses to be agile and innovative. Outsourcing IT processes allows companies to tap into a global pool of IT professionals with the skills needed to manage, develop, and scale IT projects.

Why Companies needs IT Outsourcing

In addition to addressing the immediate problem of  skill shortages and high costs for IT talents, outsourcing offers several other benefits which makes it an attractive option for businesses:

Focus on core strengths: Outsourcing IT tasks allows companies to focus on their main business activities while leaving the technical IT work to specialists, improving overall efficiency and productivity.

Risk management: Outsourcing reduces risks by assigning tasks to experts who can handle challenges like cybersecurity, compliance, and operational issues.

Global collaboration: With outsourcing partners in different time zones, work can continue around the clock, speeding up project delivery.

Here’s how ATI can help your business

With over 1,500 experienced team members, ATI stands out by offering operational support, including IT, through our outsourcing services. From Automation Development, QC Testers to Software Development service, our unwavering focus on meeting organisations’ evolving needs has been instrumental in our success, bolstered by the strength of our support ecosystem – the ATI Academy and Business Analysts team.

With over 20 years in the several industries, ATI’s culture and cohesive ecosystem supports our team members with expertise and essential competencies to effectively meet client demands. Learn more about our offering here.

Organisations are constantly relying on emerging technologies to help drive strategy and growth whilst enabling them to work more efficiently in numerous ways. Finding the right software solution often comes as one of the most important stress points in organisations.

Getting to know Bespoke Application Development

Bespoke applications – sometimes called custom or tailored software – is a software solution created specifically just for the designated organisation, to cater specifically for what a business requires. The organisation would effectively own the software, and can nuance its relevance to the business by determining all the kinds of operational needs the software functions for.

How is Bespoke Application Development beneficial?

Whilst many businesses view it as an investment, bespoke application development has the potential to accelerate your business growth. Here are some key features of bespoke applications which could benefit your organisation.

1. Reduced risk of cyber attacks

Cyber Attacks can be classified as the modern day act of stealing, and cases are constantly on the rise with hackers aiming to obtain intellectual property including personal data, credit cards, passwords, and more. It is imperative that the security of your company’s data is protected and risks are minimised across organisational processes. With the custom infrastructure of bespoke software, they are most likely unavailable to the public and close-sourced. This makes it challenging for unauthorised parties to break down the algorithm or hack into the system, making bespoke applications much more secure.

2. Cost-saving in the long term

One of the most frequently used arguments against using custom software development are usually the cost and development time needed. Most companies mistook the high upfront costs of custom application development as if it is something out of their league. However, customised features of bespoke softwares actually enables organisations to explore capabilities which could enhance and improve organisation’s procedures or offerings, creating an even bigger opportunity for cost savings or revenue gain of the entire organisation.

3. Flexibility in adapting to changes

The pace in which organisations are developing and growing are constantly breaking record highs. Organisations always include their software system as a primary tool and enabler in the development of their business – it may be a strategic move to improve overall business growth, or an implementation of a new framework to improve internal efficiencies. Bespoke software can be easily configured to adapt to new requirements and changing conditions as it can be flexible in its structure to serve organisations changing needs.

Investing in bespoke software development is a smart business strategy as it is a great investment long-term in both your business operation and in the future of your business. Finding the right partner to support you throughout the development of a software project enables you to configure a solution that perfectly suits your business’ objectives and future growth. 

How Can ATI Help You?

ATI is a business process outsourcing company with extensive experience of more than 20 years, serving clients and customers within the Travel and Aviation sector for over 21 countries all around the world. Our Bespoke Application Development service allows you to fully customise your software applications, according to your unique and specific business requirements. With ATI’s deep domain expertise in the industry, we can deliver your organisation’s needs quickly and efficiently with best-in-class support and maintenance. To learn more about our Bespoke Application Development service, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us here.

Digital transformation continues to be a vital undertaking for airlines during this recovery period. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), total industry losses between 2020 and 2022 are expected to reach $201 billion. As a result, technology developments are continuously leveraged not only to optimise operations, but also to drive revenue and long-term growth.

Often unseen from the public, airline processes are complex and intricate which makes the shift easier said than done. Tasks such as managing irregular operations, determining optimal fare pricing and payment processes are some examples of complex airline procedures.

How can ATI help you?

In the travel and aviation industry,  applying digital transformation involves deep understanding of the core organisational challenges. Choosing an experienced business partner who understands the company’s needs is vital to compete in this ever-changing environment and create sustainable growth. With 20 years of experience in the travel and aviation industry, ATI has developed several proprietary technology applications, backed with teams of industry experts to provide you an effective solution for sustainable organisational growth.

Assist in Managing Flight Disruptions

Flight disruption has become a constant in the aviation industry, and providing high quality customer service in these difficult times is never easy.  Meanwhile, timely flights and smooth passenger journeys are critical factors in service excellence. ATI’s IROPS is an opportunity for airlines to drive customer satisfaction, designed to provide immediate assistance and valuable support to your customers to get through any occurring irregular operation. Our team manages scheduled and unscheduled disruptions 24/7 for faster resolution to their booking, ticketing queries, and other process management needs such as service recovery validation and ticket refunds. Focusing on passenger-centric support, ATI’s IROPS service helps airlines retain revenue, enhance customer satisfaction and drive operational efficiencies.

Managing Fares Effectively with Integrated Workflow and Smart Automation

We understand that in order to determine air fares and pricing, airlines need to be constantly updated with the nuances of current market demand, competitor strategy, passenger behaviour and all other related factors. ATI’s Fare Management Platform, FMP solution, has a customised data feed feature which ensures you have all the data you need to determine the best pricing strategy for your routes. Equipped with smart automation and integrated workflow features, FMP also helps improve internal efficiency by simplifying the negotiation and review stages of internal fare management and subsequent distribution within a single system. Not only are employees able to work more efficiently,  the best pricing strategy is able to be implemented to ensure maximised airline revenue.

Integrated Airline’s Payment Systems for Optimised Operations

Payment processing between airlines and travel agents hasn’t changed much since the introduction of the BSP and ARC payment settlement plans. With the need for faster payment confirmation at the time of booking and flexible payment options, ATI developed a solution called Online Payment for Agents (OPA) which provides a web-based portal that works as a payment landing page connecting both the Global Distribution Systems (GDS)  and a variety of online-based payment systems. This integrated solution facilitates a wide variety of payment options through direct connections or highly-secured payment gateways. By focusing only on the essential needs for the payment to be made, processing time can be significantly minimised and unnecessary costs, such as deposits and bank guarantees, can be avoided to help airlines improve their cash flow.

Ultimately, we understand there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for organisations to implement digital transformation, these are only some examples of the strategies that could be implemented. Working with technology partners such as ATI, who have implemented these solutions on multiple cases and understands underlying requirements to solve issues common across large, complex, enterprise organisations, means there are easier alternatives than trying to do it all yourself. Learn more on how ATI could help your organisation on www.atibusinessgroup.com.

Payment processes between airlines and travel agents haven’t changed much since the introduction of the BSP and ARC payment settlement plans.  Whilst the current system allows airlines to sit back and wait to be reimbursed, there is a cost to this rigid system and it does take quite a long time to be paid.  

ATI Business Group has successfully developed a new solution for you to reduce this high cost and provide a payment gateway that ensures payment at the time of booking with completely flexible payment options.  

Introducing OPA

Online Payment for Agents (OPA) is a web-based portal that works as a payment landing page, connecting both the Global Distribution Systems (GDS)  and a variety of online-based payment systems.  OPA is a technology solution that helps digitise payment transaction processes from offline channels into payments that can be performed online with no wait time.  

OPA allows fast, easy and secured payment for airlines and their network of travel agents.  OPA removes the need for any payment intermediaries such as BSP.  By involving only the essential flow and services needed for the payment, processing time can be minimised and unnecessary costs (such as deposits and bank guarantees) can be avoided which can help airlines significantly improve their cash flow.

Our OPA solution can be integrated into multiple payment systems as well as all three principal GDS systems.  It supports PNR information checking, customised checking points according to your business rules and needs, reporting and automatic ticket issuance.  It facilitates a wide variety of payment options that can be added as required, through direct connections or through highly-secured payment gateways.  OPA also integrates with other settlement and inventory systems to allow payments not just for flight tickets but also for non-flight products generating further revenue opportunities.

Now that you know a little bit about OPA, here are the top five reasons you should consider OPA for your airline: 

1. Real-time payment system

The usual payment transaction process flows periodically, where airlines do not receive their payments directly and this typically takes 14 days or more for funds to be received.  

OPA is designed to integrate into all three GDS (Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport) as well as a variety of payment gateways which allows airlines to receive real-time payment where funds flow directly to the airline’s account when the booking is made.  Tickets are then issued only after payment is received in real-time.  

2. Customised payment options

Carriers are able to customise their payment options according to their market needs.  In current systems, airlines provide their own credit payment facility while in OPA the credit facility can be obtained directly from banks.

By connecting OPA to banks (host-to-host), travel agents can use all the banks’ payment channels, including Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, Credit Cards and even bank commercial loans.  Other financial gateways can be obtained including Direct Payment, PayPal, Private Label, e-wallets, ATM and other BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) platforms.

As OPA also allows airlines to hold ownership of the system, adding customised promotional features is also made possible such as distributing discount vouchers for travel agents.  

3. Cost-effective process

To use the current system, airlines need to pay several fees such as; fees to collect payments and create billings. With OPA, payment intermediaries won’t be necessary since airlines will be the owner of the system and not just a user. Airlines only need to pay once to use OPA and there will be no added fees moving forward

This transaction flow will be more efficient as the cash flow is direct to the airlines. Not only does it minimise processing time, it also reduces the high cost of the process removing all the unnecessary fees.

4. Secured transaction process

OPA offers online transaction security standards including 3DS/OTP and fraud prevention features that are installed to guarantee security through the whole transaction process until it is completed. 

Using Credit Card (CC) FOP as an example, when using CC in the OPA, the system will not only implement 3DS but also provide Fraud and Risk Management that allows airlines to blacklist suspicious credit cards, stolen credit cards or credit cards with different billing addresses. The procedure ensures safer payments for every transaction in every channel, providing further assurance that the airlines can safely receive their money.  

5. No more large bookings deposits (for travel agents)

OPA helps both airlines and their network of travel agents when doing a group booking.  Currently, a deposit is required for large group bookings such as corporate travel or group leisure travel. When a group reservation is confirmed and deposits need to be paid, OPA can accommodate deposits based on the amount per ticket or by the percentage of the group fare.  OPA then calculates the required total deposit automatically.

Are you ready for the future of the payment process?

By removing the need for any payment intermediaries and involving only the essential flow and services needed for the payment, processing time can be minimised and unnecessary costs can be avoided which can help airlines to significantly improve their cash flow. With a variety of payment gateways, suppliers and carriers are also given the freedom to choose the best payment channels suited to their needs.OPA is the flexible solution many airlines are looking for to address their payment needs through the travel agency network. Learn more about OPA here , or book a meeting with us to discuss more OPA functionality.

The advancement of technology and the internet sure have made planning for your next trip much easier. You are now able to place your booking anytime and anywhere. But for passengers through most of the 20th century, arranging ticket bookings was not as easy as a few clicks here and there. There were various challenges for airlines to make the reservation, from a limited number of distribution capabilities, manual procedures and lack of technologies. It was quite a journey until we were finally introduced to airline CRS (Computer Reservation Systems), GDS distribution and online travel reservations.
What is a Global Distribution System (GDS)?

The modernised booking process was first made possible with the creation of GDS (Global Distribution Systems) that works as a network to connect the world’s airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers. This automated system allows us as customers to access broader travel options and make bookings to our liking through travel content platforms. 

But, how did it all begin? 

The History of GDS
 

• 1950 – Traditional ticketing process

Back in the 1950s, airline reservations systems were still very traditional. Ticket operators sit in a room with physical hand-written cards that represent each seat on aeroplanes while assisting customers through phone calls. Going back and forth to the airline’s inventory by hand, they check flights, availability of the seats and fill the passenger’s information manually. One booking could take up to an hour, or even more. 

The whole booking procedure was slow and challenging for ticketing agents to process, especially with large volumes of bookings. Serious errors could happen during several tasks as manual ticketing processes are prone to inaccuracy.

•  1964 –  IBM’s SABRE, the first-ever computer reservation system (CRS) to launch

American Airlines wanted a system that would allow real-time access to flight details and an automated system of their booking and ticketing processes. An IBM salesperson and the CEO of American Airlines then initiated the development of an automated reservation tool.

US military allowed IBM to reuse some of its groundwork system, SAGE and created the first-ever computer reservation system (CRS) known as Semi-Automated Business Research Environment (SABRE).

In 1964, SABRE became the first CRS and could process more than 7000 bookings per hour. Not only could American Airlines check their inventory bookings in seconds but the system could also store passenger’s information such as names, phone numbers and itineraries. Not long after, other airlines joined the CRS race and built their programmed reservation systems with the help of IBM, including Apollo by United Airlines.

• 1974 – Travel agencies shared CRS and conjoined with airlines

While airlines were automating their booking process, travel agencies struggled and remained fully manual. They had to call a ticket agent at the airline to check seat availability. The only way to keep travel agencies updated and capable of selling more tickets was by setting a direct connection to the airline’s CRS.

As more airlines connected to the CRS systems, travel agents could choose which airlines they wanted to work with. Airlines then began installing their proprietary internal reservations systems in travel agencies. Since then, 60% of bookings were made through travel agencies. The affiliation between airlines and travel agencies caused a great change in the travel industry.

• 1978 –  The emergence of GDS in the US

In 1978, due to the economic condition in the US, the government no longer regulated the airline industry and carriers were now free to set their prices and establish their routes. Airlines started to share CRSs and those who participated in the distribution had to pay commission. This process led to the emergence of a new term called the Global Distribution System or known as GDS to keep track of flight availability, schedule, and prices. 

However, due to the high competition, airlines attempted to boost their position in the market and began raising fees for competitors, delaying schedule and tariff updates. Before this, travel agencies spent quite an amount of time entering reservations and pricing itineraries off tariff books. 

Airlines realised the current system’s inefficiency and formed a new GDS model known as the GDS-centric distribution model. This allows travel agencies to connect to various airlines and terminals that have access to the GDS content as well as a third party company such as ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company) making the price more dynamic.

• 1987 – Europe’s Own GDS

In 1987 Lufthansa Airline along with Air France, SAS, and Iberia developed a new GDS called Amadeus. In the same year, British Airways, Aer Lingus and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines established Galileo and is now the largest European GDS. A couple of years later, European GDSs formed partnerships with US-based systems and began providing services internationally. Entering the 90s, Amadeus started to absorb smaller GDSs outgrowing the European market and eventually became the largest distribution system in the world.

• 2000- The era of Internet and online booking

As the internet became more available in the 90s, this meant new opportunities for airlines, travel agencies, and GDS providers. Electronic ticketing was introduced, digitalisation of the whole booking process expanded.

As a result, Airlines and IT companies created their own travel websites and online reservation platforms such as Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz and Hotwire.  Consumers were able to reserve and purchase tickets easily and efficiently from websites and online travel purchases grew rapidly. 

Where to from here?

With the rise of technology and the internet, online reservation systems became much more secure, providing fast processing and accuracy to transport millions of people across thousands of routes each year. The GDS seemed to have established a permanent place in the distribution chain for travel shopping however a new entrant introduced by the airlines called NDC (New Distribution Capability) may cause a significant dent in the GDS dominance.  

With increasing GDS fees and demand for the ability to sell ancillary services such as purchasing seats and meals, that the GDS could not meet, airlines sought out a technology alternative that once again enabled them to connect directly with their end customer.  As of today, there are more than 60 carriers that are either NDC certified or XML-capable.   

The impact of NDC is still not certain and due to Covid, its still not clear – only time will tell.