When Air Canada launched its Unifier programme, the ambition went far beyond a conventional ERP upgrade. For the airline’s procurement function, it marked the moment to move from being a highly capable sourcing organisation to becoming a fully embedded enterprise partner, shaping cost discipline, operational performance and long-term value creation.
At the centre of this shift are Gilles Néron, Vice President, Strategic Procurement and Coralyn Ah-Moy, Senior Director of Procurement Transformation and Centre of Excellence. Together, they have overseen a multi-year journey that has modernised the digital core, strengthened governance and redefined what success looks like for procurement in one of the world’s most complex operating environments.
As Canada’s flag carrier, Air Canada operates in an environment defined by scale, complexity and constant volatility. Its procurement function must support a vast and highly regulated operation spanning fuel, maintenance, airports, catering & onboard products, IT, Data and Digital, corporate, commercial and crew accommodation & transportation, all while balancing cost discipline with safety, reliability and customer experience. External shocks such as fuel price volatility, supply chain disruption, geopolitical uncertainty and fluctuating passenger demand place further pressure on procurement to be both resilient and agile.
In this context, procurement is not simply about buying well, but about managing risk, ensuring continuity of operations and enabling the airline to respond quickly to changing market conditions. Together, Néron and Ah-Moy have overseen a multi-year journey that has modernised the digital core, strengthened governance and redefined what success looks like for procurement in one of the world’s most complex operating environments.
Building on strong foundations
Air Canada was not starting from scratch. Five years ago, Procurement had already completed a major transformation with the implementation of SAP Ariba as its end-to-end platform for sourcing, contracting, supplier management and procure to pay. “That gave us strong digital foundations,” says Néron from his Quebec office. “But Finance and Operations were still running on legacy ERP systems, the business was fragmented, and we did not have a single source of truth.”
Unifier was designed to close that gap by integrating procurement’s digital core with SAP S/4HANA, creating a unified architecture across Finance, Operations and Procurement. The objective was clear: stronger governance, real time visibility and faster, data-driven decision making. “This was not just a technology upgrade,” Néron explains. “It was a business model evolution towards agility, compliance and enterprise level insight.”