MySky is a spend management platform developed specifically for business aviation. But what does that really mean? We asked CEO and Co-founder Kirill Kim
“I founded the company with my business partner Christopher Marich five and a half years ago, building it from being an offline audit platform into a full spend management platform that serves all industry stakeholders,” MySky CEO and Co-founder Kirill Kim begins.
“As a spend management platform, it enables our customers to manage their direct costs better and optimise their indirect costs. We handle many back office processes, helping operators with the automation of expense flow, verification of invoices and the recharge process to owners. We’ve added important new features recently, including accurate flight cost budgeting based on our cost database. So, we’re not only helping to automate, optimise costs and sell more charter, but also allowing owners to understand the costs associated with their aircraft and plan better financially.”
‘Costs’ in MySky terms means all airport charges and more. “Our database is the benchmark against which costs are compared and forecast for fuel, airport services, navigation charges, overflight rights and so on. Invoices are automatically verified against existing documents within our database and issues flagged. Our platform integrates into other industry tools, such as accounting and flight management software, pulling operational pre- and post-flight data, as well as with Avinode to generate data against charter requests.”
The system even has the capability to scan a paper invoice, detect and identify the vendor and then enter it into automated verification while creating a digital copy, categorising the invoice line items and matching it to a specific trip number or flight; according to Kim, almost 90% of the process has been completed before the document ever reaches an accountant. MySky is accessible through PC, smartphone or tablet.
Vendor & owner benefits
Vendors working with MySky customers also see benefits. For example, Kim says MySky information shows vendors being paid more quickly. “In the past, let’s say an FBO sent an invoice. It goes in the pile and has to wait to be entered. Then it waits to be verified, a process that could take two or three weeks. Then it goes through the approval process, which is usually slow and takes another week or two. The FBO ends up being paid a month or six weeks after servicing a flight; with MySky the process is much faster.
“Customers have the option to enter invoices directly into the MySky platform, or they can provide a vendor email address and our technology will search the inbox for the invoice address and enter it automatically. It allocates cost articles and presents the accounting team with all the line items
pre-accounted and pre-verified. And there’s no chance of the email sitting unnoticed in an inbox.”
MySky’s database is essential to its accuracy and therefore constantly expanded and checked. “We are a data company, so we have a lot of engineers but also a large team of data evaluators. They constantly check that the data is very accurate by running it against invoices from different airports. Using data from across the industry we can also work up benchmark average costs for services so that our customers may understand whether their procurement is efficient.
“This ability to show how well an operator is working in different regions is very powerful and helps owners understand costs better; I think the industry will increasingly move towards this kind of transparency.”
Relationships & new products
In July 2020, MySky announced that it was using the S&P Global Platts database of global jet fuel prices as the data source for its platform’s fuel procurement analysis; the facility also enables comparisons with prices for choosing sustainable fuel over regular Jet A. Just a few weeks later, a second announcement saw MySky fully integrated into SD Pro, enabling a seamless cost and operations management process.
Data security is among SD’s critical concerns and the relationship with MySky says much about the latter’s systems. “All our data is encrypted and we use servers in the US or Switzerland for storage. Customers choose where they want their data securely stored. Their data is very sensitive and keeping it secure is our priority,” Kim says.
MySky also recently added Quote to its portfolio. Kim explains: “Quote is a new predictive costs toolset that allows charter operators, pilots, family offices and corporate flight departments to forecast the cost of a flight with more than 96% accuracy. Operators plug in data, including make and model of aircraft, registration and departure time and Quote estimates the cost of the flight in under 10 seconds. The result is that operators can produce a quick, accurate, and therefore competitive, charter price.”
The combination of accuracy and competitive prices means more earning potential for charter operators, and MySky offers further help through its Budget product, launched in March 2021. Again, Kim explains: “Budget is an advanced and accurate budgeting tool to enable private jet owners, brokers, operators, and aircraft management companies to see a detailed picture of the total annual running costs of any aircraft type. It provides owners with accurate financial insight, as well as allowing them to analyse costs between any aircraft type, whether new or pre-owned. Furthermore, it supports operators and aircraft management companies when reconciling running costs to owners.”
MySky helps optimise and predict costs, improving and simplifying aircraft ownership, operations and even sales, while also helping service providers; in that respect, MySky should perhaps be considered everyone’s sky.