Fiji Airways peaks efficiency, continuing its decade-long Smartsheet journey

Traversing the fiercely competitive skies, where margins are razor-thin and disruptions relentless, Fiji Airways soars to new heights. "We uphold the mission of providing a safe, high-quality service to customers, flourishing as a business, and offering a reasonable return to the shareholders," explains Monisha Lata, Senior Manager, Business Systems at Fiji Airways.

Lata has been working at Fiji Airways for 15 years. Her team provides support to all business applications, and using Smartsheet isn’t new to them. “We started using it for project management over 10 years ago. Its use was mostly contained to our IT departments,” she starts. But during difficult times, Smartsheet became a huge help to larger teams.

“During COVID, our aircraft were grounded, there was no revenue coming in, and people were stranded across the globe," she says. "Meanwhile, we still had to provide customers with refunds and keep other tasks running across every agent dealing with our airlines in any part of the world. That called for a rapid enhancement of our operations." To ensure smoother processes, Lata recommended expanding the use of Smartsheet.“ Looking at how it is more interactive and user-friendly than other platforms, we decided to adapt its functionalities to align workflows across our global offices and roles.”

Expediting refunds, remotely

Fiji Airways globally upgraded its processes with Smartsheet, starting with refunding cancelled flights during the COVID pandemic. "Human interactions were limited, and cashflow refunds and customer service became a major part of any airline’s work during that period," Lata explains. 

"Smartsheet was a lifesaver for us as we could automate workflows and manage requests remotely."

Previously, the process relied on manual paper-based handling, resulting in significant challenges in remote coordination. 

"Everything was all over the place. It was extremely difficult to track all requests, and our teams couldn't communicate effectively," mentions Lata. "Our main pain point was regional agents; they were overloaded with work."

To address these issues, Fiji Airways introduced Smartsheet forms, automating approval workflows. This allowed team members to work from the safety of their homes, receiving approval alerts and managing requests efficiently through Smartsheet dashboards and reports.

By automating refunds, Fiji Airways also gave customers a sense of control and improved their experience. "As soon as a ticket is submitted, the customer receives a thank you message and confirmation that their request has been admitted," Lata confirms.

Propelling digital invoicing

Another crucial process that needed digitisation was invoicing. "During lockdown, we encountered issues with paper-based invoice approval," Lata explains. "Our decentralised system made it difficult to obtain approvals, especially with travel restrictions. Sending physical documents was risky, so we had to relieve our finance teams by digitising invoices."

Lata’s team launched a successful pilot project to shift the invoice approval process onto Smartsheet. “We established a digital workflow to eliminate paper and process invoices electronically,” she notes. The success of the pilot enabled Lata to expand the Smartsheet solution organisation-wide. “We have close to 15 departments using Smartsheet for all their payment approval now.”

On-the-fly data synchronisation

Smartsheet also streamlines processes for Fiji Airways' in-flight crews. “In the aircraft, we fill out voyage reports, which capture everything that happens during the flight, from broken seats and weather conditions to food complaints,” Lata explains. “These reports are then relayed to the appropriate teams for action, such as engineering or customer service.”

Previously, the voyage reporting relied on manual paperwork, creating an administrative burden for the crew. After flights, they had to complete extensive forms, which were then transcribed into Excel spreadsheets by office staff to compile data for various departments. “This manual process made it challenging to track issue statuses, often taking three to five days to circulate the files,” admits Lata.

Now, Smartsheet simplifies the process by allowing the crew to enter report data via forms, even without Wi-Fi on board. Once online, it syncs to a central register, enabling instant access for office staff after landing. "The whole process takes a few hours," enthuses Lata. "We can closely track what happened, who dealt with an issue, if it was resolved, and how our customers responded. Everything can be traced in Smartsheet."

Turbocharging content lifecycle

Fiji Airways’ marketing team recently boosted its capabilities by integrating Brandfolder's digital asset management platform. “We were stuck in a nightmare of distributing and managing assets stored on network servers,” Lata recalls. “The underlying infrastructure became unmanageable.”

Witnessing McLaren's success with Brandfolder, Lata issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) and, upon receiving positive feedback from the marketing team, adopted the solution. "We have many events coming, with campaigns rolling out each week," she explains. "But legacy folder structure and distribution via emails couldn't keep up with that pace."

Brandfolder brought structure, speed, and control to asset management at Fiji Airways, making accessing files easier and enabling rapid data transfers worldwide. "We have a pretty good structure with Brandfolder, which makes it so easy to access our assets now," Lata confirms. "And the speed that Brandfolder delivers, transferring terabytes of data online within seconds for people on the other end of the world, is incredibly impressive."

The adoption of Brandfolder also facilitated cleaning the digital footprint by enforcing proper asset structuring, storing, and labelling. Furthermore, the new system improved data security and compliance by centralising asset storage and eliminating scattered locations and cloud-sharing risks. "Before, we shared everything on the cloud without naming conventions or tagging rules, making retrieving historical assets incredibly difficult," Lata admits. "This has changed now."

Today, Smartsheet is a flight plan for Fiji Airways, allowing it to stay on course with its projects. “Smartsheet has truly impacted the way we collaborate,” concludes Lata.