Customer as a data packet

Viewing travellers as data packets is not as cold as it may first seem; such perspective would actually allow airlines to minimise inefficiencies and maximise per-sonalisation.. Better a

Customer as a data packet

Airlines are not so very different from the logistics

indus-try — both must be able to coordinate the location and

movement of equipment, staff and resources with

tre-mendous precision The logistics industry accomplishes its

mission by treating all of these elements as “data packets.”

Based on the research, carriers whose aim is to be

some-thing other than the lowest bidder will need to do much the

same to optimise and customise the travel experience for

their customers Viewing travellers as data packets is not as

cold as it may first seem; such perspective would actually

allow airlines to minimise inefficiencies and maximise

per-sonalisation This makes for happier customers who arrive

at their destinations on time — much as packages do today

When it comes to handling data, airlines can also learn a

great deal from other industries Analysing the information

that consumers continually generate allows hotels,

casi-nos, supermarkets and global companies such as Netflix

and Amazon to personalise the customer experience with

greater precision And, thanks to mobile phones, GPS and

locational tracking of Internet use, among other

technolo-gies, customers become datapoints, transiting virtual

net-works in parallel with their physical movements As tracking

and data analytics become ever-more precise and granular,

some systems are even able to vary offers made to

super-market customers, for example, based on personal profiling

and the specific aisle where the shopper is located

Better and more sophisticated use of information — across the full trip, from the moment travellers begin research-ing flights to their post-trip feedback — can help airlines achieve greater efficiencies and deliver a more personalised experience How data are collected, used and transmitted can even bring to business class and coach some of the features of first class Making sure that they have the most complete data packet possible is the first step for airlines if they want to deliver a seamless yet balanced interaction, that is, trips that are coolly efficient, but warmly personal

Getting it right, making it personal

The information airlines now offer and collect is relatively sparse, as are the corresponding options available to per-sonalise flights: first class or coach; window, aisle or centre seat; vegetarian, kosher or halal food Better information exchange and analysis, a more unified and complete data packet, can open up more options — much as it does for the hospitality industry — from comfort levels to entertain-ment possibilities to pre- and post-flight activities

For example, business travellers, vacationing families and

“adventure” travellers value different services Providing more opportunities at the booking stage for customers to self-identify — or using predictive analytics to extrapolate

CUSTOMER AS A DATA PACKET

their category and needs with greater precision — would

allow airlines to offer more relevant personalisation options

Airline loyalty programmes that have more comprehensive

customer profiles — the product of data gathered across

multiple flights — should also be able to read trip purpose

and context and respond accordingly Dr Wong might be

offered business-bundle options when travelling alone but

family-bundle options when travelling with spouse and

child, for example

“In the next 10 years, technology, and information

technol-ogy in particular, will be what matters most” in improving

industry service and efficiency, says Henry Harteveldt, a

travel industry analyst and the founder of Atmosphere

Research Group, a boutique research and advisory firm

focused on the global travel industry The amount of

in-vestment necessary to reap the benefits of this technology

is relatively insubstantial, he argues “The average airline

spends about 2% of its revenues on technology, compared

to about 30% each on fuel and staffing,” he says “Even

increasing investment in technology to around 5% of

reve-nues could have enormous benefits.”

Data packets move and change

The more information an airline has about the full trip —

beyond the flight segment — the more it can do to

per-sonalise and tailor the flight segment to mesh smoothly

For an airline, stranded passengers can be thought of as data packets to be re-routed through the air-travel net-work Such real-time mapping would extend the reach of the airline to cover more of the trip, so that an airline that compiled particularly rich passenger data packets could offer more personalised care far beyond the flight When airport traffic threatens to make a business traveller miss

a flight, for instance, she might prefer the time savings of

a van to the comfort of a limousine A family with a young child, forced to change reservations at the last minute, might value a hotel with child-friendly facilities over one with in-house business services like meeting rooms and computer and printer access

The fragmented data packet

As in other sectors, fragmented information remains a challenge Fragmentation can be seen across the travel industry, even though the mutual interests of the transport, lodging, dining and entertainment sectors are served by sharing data to create the most accurate and comprehen-sive data packet possible Such sharing would make for greater efficiency and reduce duplication and its costs A data packet so rich in detail would be useful both to provid-ers and to travellprovid-ers

“Customer demand really argues for interoperability,” says Valyn Perini, senior vice president at Kalibri Labs, which

Internal conflicts

In-house customer data can be siloed in different systems

that not only do not share information, but can present

compatibility problems Software development that

ad-vances interoperability will play a great role in minimising

this, as well, notes Ms Perini

The split between marketing and customer service,

how-ever, is another way in which the conflict between siloed

divisions within a company can come into play Reading a

data packet fine-tuned for marketing purposes, for

exam-ple, might logically lead to providing fewer incentives to the

most loyal customers Since they’ve already demonstrated

their commitment to the brand, given limited resources,

every dollar spent on incentives for loyal customers is a

dol-lar not available to woo new customers or to forge a closer

connection with less-loyal customers

While that sort of conclusion is a logical one, it is based

on an incomplete understanding of the passenger as data

packet — as if one were to separate out a single line of

computer code in a program that runs a full page The

virtue of assembling a more fleshed-out, balanced data

packet is the resulting “full-page view,” allowing the airline

to understand and design solutions that will benefit all its

passengers as well as its own bottom line

We have the technology

Viewing the customer as a data packet, whether explicitly labelled as such or not, has been the practice in a number

of industries for some time now As the cost of information gathering, storage and analysis continues to fall, airlines can genuinely begin to play catch-up, Mr Harteveldt says

Reservation information, loyalty programmes and connec-tions to other travel providers give airlines a solid base on which to build a richer and more comprehensive customer data packet As with other companies, they can also pur-chase access to additional databases Acquiring the tech-nology and the mindset to harmonise information across the full range of sources will allow airlines to create a richer, more accurate and holistic view of their passengers This is positive for both airlines and their customers