Qantas makes the switch to Microsoft Outlook

After decades spent using Lotus Notes, Qantas has decided to drop the email system in favour of Microsoft Outlook.

The decision to switch to Outlook was driven by Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and technology boss David Hall.

"At the end of February, we will see between 100 and 200 executives migrate to Outlook," said Mr Hall, Qantas corporate services and technology executive manager.

"We will then look at moving 20,000 people over from Notes. All this will happen over the course of this year.”

Mr Hall continued, "It's a fundamental change but it's really terrific for people in terms of ease of use.

"We're looking to refresh our communications tools and we'll be moving to a full suite of Microsoft Office and SharePoint as well."

Qantas's desktop services partner, Fujitsu was one of the key drivers for embracing the change and they will now manage the airlines move to Outlook.

"It was their view that maybe Outlook was more functional for us." In May last year, Fujitsu announced it had bagged a five-year end-user computing contract with Qantas valued at more than $200 million.