What’s the best document management software for North American aviation?

With definitive cost pressures set to rise for North American airlines, digital transformation such as adopting document management software is a key player in cost reduction. However, selecting the right software for North American aviation can certainly be difficult as there are many important aspects you need to consider.

Ultimately, the choice of software must meet your requirements and include the following features if it’s to be considered effective for your organisation:

• Robustness and security
• Meets safety and compliance requirements
• Is cost-effective
• Maintains content and version control
• Improves utility

Robustness and security

Airline’s hold a vast amount of data, from aircraft manuals to personnel information and more. Therefore, the document management software you choose must be able to provide a tight level of security that ensures your information is protected from cyber risks.

Any data must be encrypted to a high-level, much like banks and military organisations do. The software should also withstand regular penetration (PEN) and vulnerability tests to ensure robustness and security.

The ability to obtain information 24/7/365 is vital for an operational - passenger-focused service. If your system unexpectedly goes down, you won’t be able to make sure that you have the most up-to-date manuals on board. Additionally, should this happen during peak times, it could have a significant impact on the operation as a whole, so you need to ensure that you’ll be able to avert this issue.

Meets safety and compliance requirements

As the relationship between aviation operational documentation and aviation compliance is becoming much more acute and being bound by the likes of IOSA audits and Federal Aviation Regulations, having the ability to reference compliance within documentation for audit support and proof is vital. A document management system that can support this linkage has value even for quality management purposes such as for internal auditors.

With the right document management system, there should be added support for pilots and other users to ensure they are able to access the app and manuals as and when needed - which will result in much better efficiency across the board.

Is cost-effective

The increasing demand for cost-effective and efficient business process solutions acts as a driving force for the growth of the document management systems market in the region. The aviation market in North America is also characterised by high infrastructure costs and strict policies and regulatory frameworks. As such, choosing the right document management software will be able to offer some hard savings on:

• Your IT infrastructure
• Reducing the need for full document updates
• Increasing the productivity of your back-office flight support team
• Doing away with the need to spend on difficult-to-use XML tools
  
  

Maintains content and version control

Many airlines tend to use multiple third-party tools and software, which could result in experiencing poor library management. As such, this could make it difficult for in-house teams to maintain control of content and versions of documents that are being circulated and may result in human error where the incorrect manual may be distributed or could result in loss of data.

Using a document management software that encompasses all your content in one place can help you keep ownership and control of all your documents, without having multiple versions across multiple tools.

Improves utility

The right document management system will ensure that your technical pilots can be freed up from being utilised for subject matter or technical roles. A direct result of this is that you immediately increase the value of their role in the overall operational equation. For example, if technical pilots are being used in technical writer roles instead, then not only are they not doing the role they were hired for, but could actually be losing your airline money. Think of it this way, if you airline consists of a mixed fleet with 100+ tails, losing your technical pilots to other roles may be costing you upwards of $100-$250K in lost utility.

Conclusion

The right document management software will:

• Optimise your operations
• Provide support during your peak periods to ensure you meet deadlines
• Support regulatory compliance
• Improve operational dependability and utility rates
• Provide a strong level of security to protect your data from cyber risks
• Increase your operational cost-savings
• Save on lost utility

Still unsure what makes a good aviation document management system? Download our useful insight to learn how a good document management system can be a core driver in not only reducing costs, but efficiency, compliance and safety.

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