First Published on 4th May, 2017
Airlines, like any business entity, must make rapid progress and capitalize on the prowess of digital transformation, asserts Dejan Cusic, Business Director, Ireland & UK at Comtrade Digital Services.
Before embarking on a project of such magnitude, airlines need to have a precise understanding of the digital world, how to inch closer to crafting unique customer experience, embracing the requisite speed of innovation and using technology to improve business performance or reach of the business. It has to be ensured that constant testing and an iterative approach to product development takes the project forward, and yet there is no compromise in business continuity. Also, leadership, that paves way for a digital future and overcomes cultural resistance, is a vital component of such initiatives.
Cusic referred to Ryanair’s steady progress with their Always Getting Better or AGB initiative (into 4th year now), with the carrier currently working on its 2017-18 customer experience improvement plan. The plan is to not only grow passenger numbers to 180 million per annum by 2024, rather let them select their travel preferences by creating a personal profile, securely store payment and passport details (an application was launched last year).
“(Through the application), Ryanair is working on continuous study of passengers’ preferences, understanding their habits – which seat is preferred, the destination chosen…so when such data is harvested it would pave way for personalised offers, seamless travel experience in the future,” shared Cusic.
Traffic has increased by over 50% over the last 3 years.
And the crux of this whole initiative is – the promise of “low fares” stays, where as new initiatives like being able to book connecting Ryanair flights on the Ryanair.com website, with a feeder flight service with other airlines following later this year; pre-saved preferences for faster bookings (3 clicks) etc. are being introduced.
