As you may or may not know by now, digEcor was recently acquired by Total Aviation Solutions (TAS) out of Australia. We are very excited about what this acquisition means; though, I’m sure that there are some questions.
My objective with this post is to answer a few of those questions.
Why did it make sense to merge the two companies?
An integration of TAS and digEcor (all under the digEcor umbrella now) rather than a partnership is better for the industry because it allows the new digEcor, Inc. to leverage all of the prior expertise (and connections) of both companies rather than singular aspects of the individual companies.
Under the prior arrangement, one product was being enhanced and developed - the GLIDE embedded IFE system. With the shift in ownership, digEcor is now able to enhance all existing products as well as grow the product portfolio. The combination also allows us to enlarge our global footprint from a service, sales and marketing aspect and deliver even greater IFE experiences to airlines and passengers around the world.
How will this affect current customers?
For current customers, the transition will be seamless. The only difference will be in the level of attention and service.
There is a dialed-in focus from the new leadership on customer satisfaction and we expect to drive a higher level of satisfaction across the board. A larger global presence means more local support for our customers. In the long term, it also means that current customers will have a greater variety of options from hardware to software to incorporate into their IFE programs.
What are some of the intermediate to long-term plans?
In the short-term, the plan is to ensure that all of our existing customers know that we remain committed to providing the best IFE solution and service for their needs. We will finish installing, monitoring and flying the GLIDE IFE system, our very first fully embedded system.
In the long-term, the goal is growth and the ability to provide an entire end-to-end digital cabin experience. Not just great content, not just a great medium to watch movies or play games in flight, but an offering where the flying experience is all tied together through innovative products that profit an airline and its passengers.
There are a lot of small pieces that airlines have to go out and individually grab to put together their passenger experience puzzle. That takes time, money, and work to manage and maintain. The process and result can be disjointed. Over the next few years, we will work to alleviate that headache.
What about the short term?
At APEX, we showed a new product dubbed Engage by digEcor. It’s a white label mobile cabin crew application in partnership with Intelligent Pathways and is already flying with Quantas under the name “Red.” Engage is representative of the growth and future of our product line since it’s a software/service product whereas digEcor historically focused primarily on hardware.
How is the new company managed?
The office of the CEO, held by David Withers, will be in Brisbane, Australia. Regional offices with a president for each are planned for each of the three major regions of the world: the Americas out of Utah, AsiaPac out of Singapore, and EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) is in process of being finalized.
Photo Credit: PAX International
