How Toronto’s airport modernized its IT operations by changing the vendor relationship

It’s no secret that travelers around the world have been demanding more seamless, convenient, and personalized experiences. Consequently, airports are continually under pressure to adapt to the changing industry and meet the needs of the flying public. Understanding this, the Toronto Pearson International Airport has been on a multiyear quest to modernize its operations and improve the passenger experience. It has done so with an unusual approach to vendor management.

Operated by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), Pearson Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, is Canada’s largest airport in terms of total passenger traffic (50 million people annually before the pandemic). More than 30 airlines fly out of the airport to more than 180 destinations around the globe.

[ Lisez la version française: « Comment l’aéroport de Toronto a modernisé ses opérations informatiques en modifiant la relation client-fournisseur » ]

As such, high availability, resiliency, and security of its IT services are essential for uninterrupted, 24/7 airport operations. But that was not the state at the airport when CIO Martin Boyer joined nine years ago, he told CIO Canada.

So six years ago, GTAA signed a contract with IT consultancy Wipro to improve the airport operations via automation and AI. The contract runs through 2025. Wipro reduced the number of Pearson’s vendors from 150 to 90 and included them into its contract with GTAA, providing GTAA with the single point of accountability it needed. Wipro also assumed total ownership of the airport’s entire IT environment and worked with GTAA to create a modernization roadmap.

The infrastructure portion of the digital transformation effort took about two years to complete. As a result, GTAA has seen a 94% reduction in IT major systems outages since 2016, Boyer said. It’s also seen multiple improvements in its help-desk operations: