New Tool Links Biz Aviation Use to Mission Success
A unique new tool promises to be a big hit at the National Business Aircraft Association convention because it not only links business aviation to contributing to the bottom line but to the success of each mission in terms of dollars brought in. Because of this, Guardian Jet hopes the resulting data will encourage more business aviation travel as top executives see what has been sent to the bottom line with the use of business jets.
Studies have confirmed corporate jet usage as contributors to corporate success and profitability, but Guardian 20/20 allows individual companies to determine its value on a mission basis rather than the more abstract industry-wide basis. Commentary: New NEXA Study Confirms Competitive Advantage of Biz Aircraft
“There’s a new reality in business aviation,” said President Mike Dwyer, pointing out that sensitive financial and operational aviation data can be hosted at a user’s location, on a Guardian Jet server or on a secure Web server. "Economic conditions, intense government scrutiny and recent negative news about business aviation have forced corporate flight departments to prove their value or eliminate their fleet. Previously, the impact that fleet adjustments have on a company had been hard to quantify. With Guardian 20/20, we’re meeting the challenge facing many of our customers: how to accurately prove the value of their aviation fleet and the potential business impact of change."
Would that automakers had this tool as they hauled into Washington last year to ask for bailouts and created a political firestorm that set the business aviation industry back three years. They would have been able to defend the use of their jets and avoided the furor. And NBAA, if it could aggregate the data quickly, could have jumped in to defend the industry immediately rather than waiting for the three months it took to develop the No Plane, No Gain campaign.
“In direct correlation with NBAA's theme of demonstrating the value of business aviation, Guardian 20/20 was developed specifically to help business aviation departments to effectively defend themselves with a web-based tool called Guardian 20/20,” said the company. “Up until now, no other web tool provided users such a comprehensive snapshot of the business aviation function,” said the Guardian Jet. "Users enter flight operations information such as when a CEO flew, where he went and the financial results of the meeting(s). It then plugs the data into a web-based dashboard, giving the company a clear picture of its return on investment for that aircraft. This tool helps corporate leaders clearly understand the value of their business aviation operations by giving them access to financial and operational dashboards.”
Guardian 20/20, developed by athe Connecticut-based company, can also ensure management has a tool that can optimize flight operations for profit maximization and to red flag operations that are outside the optimal use of the aircraft.
Historically, aviation fleet planning focused on justification. “Guardian 20/20 was developed to also assess fleet leverage and the potential impact on the top and bottom lines,” said the company. For example, when a company flies eight executives to six international locations in five days for customer meetings, Guardian 20/20 can measure that information and determine in quantifiable terms the impact of the trip. Conversely, Guardian 20/20 can determine if one trip or destination has consistently under-delivered in terms of productivity or outcome, improving efficiency relating to fleet utilization.
“The objective is to make sure we are linking business aviation with the business strategy,” Executive Vice Presidnet Sales and Marketing Ed McKenney told Aviation Today. “The tool does have the capability to also link the use of corporate aircraft to what would have been spent in time or money on airline services but that savings is dwarfed by the success of a given mission. For example, one of our clients saved $50,000 in airline costs but that became moot in the face of the outcome. They were flying a lot of people over several days and landed $1 billion deal.”
McKenney said Guardian 20/20 can help travel managers assess the value of the corporate fleet and its use in comparison with the airlines but the point is to link that use to mission success. “Most of the focus for such tools has been from the cost savings perspective rather than from the business impact of using corporate aviation,” he said. “In other words did we have the revenue impact for the organization? Did this asset create value for the organization? Did we advance the strategy of the organization? Did we win the deal? It is the revenue impact that is more important than the savings. We hope we create enough visibility with the executive management that they will expand the use of business aviation because of the productivity and financial gains realized by linking business aviation use to the return on the investment. Guardian 20/20 will even ensure that the CFO is booking the right value for the asset and given the recent market shifts that is very important. You don’t want to be overstating the value of an asset and Guardian 20/20 alerts stakeholders when to that metric."
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