Blackstone-backed IBS expects faster biz growth on rising digitalisation

Global PE fund Blackstone-backed IBS Software expects a faster growth in its business on the back of increasing digitalisation in aviation, tourism and hospitality sectors amid the coronavirus pandemic, its founder and Chairman V K Mathews said.

A provider of SaaS (software-as-a-service) solutions to aviation, tourism and hospitality sectors, IBS Software caters to around 200 clients across 25 countries, including the US, the UK, Dubai, Singapore, China and Japan.

The clients include Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Korean Air and British Airways. It has also provided its flight operations and crew management service to the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines and now-defunct Jet Airways in India.

The company offers three solutions in the airline sector, one each for passenger reservation system, flight operations and cargo operations, besides one product for travel and another for the losgistics sector.

"We have been growing at roughly around 20 per cent year-on-year in the past three years. We expect to grow faster going forward," Mathews told PTI in an interaction.

He said COVID-19 will accelerate growth as the companies are expected to invest more in technology in the wake of digital transformation.

"One of the major things the airlines globally are doing is that they are trying to replace all the legacy systems with modern and state-of the-art enterprise software," Mathews said.

Currently, the aviation sector accounts for 60 per cent in the total revenue of IBS Software, followed by tourism and hospitality with 30-35 per cent, he said.

The oil and gas sector accounts for the remaining nearly five per cent, according to Mathews.

"We expect all the sectors to contribute in the growth," Mathews said.