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• MCommerce to impact Frequent Flyer programmes

  Posted by TTC Admin May 9, 2011 - 663 views - Filed in New Technologies - #mindtree  #Mcommerce  #frequent flyer technology 

  Loyalty programmes are clearly here to stay having been successfully adopted across many areas of business.  Airlines were among the earliest companies to understand the benefits and, according to MindTree travel and transport group consultant Sachin Tantri, current technology and future developments will open up even more opportunities for them going forward.

  Although a majority of travelers associate an airline frequent flyer system with free tickets, there is much more that today’s well-travelled and well informed traveler seeks from their loyalty programs.

  “It is the key goal of a frequent flyer program to ensure that members keep flying,” explained MindTree’s Sachin Tantri. “Currently, the most astute airlines are focusing on technology in two key areas, the outer façade which is what the frequent flyer members get to see and the inner core to make the IT more nimble footed. While these can be technologically complex we can still expect to see some interesting developments down the line.”

  The outer façade is where members see their transaction history, point’s summary, interaction threads, complaints and suggestions. The website is going to be the largest marketing tool of loyalty programmes. This area is the most progressive technologically, with airlines looking to innovate and bring more convenience and value to their members. It includes tools on the website like sliders and mile-o-meters to enable flyers to choose the right mix of cash and miles for their purchases.  It also includes interactive maps which clearly depict how much one would earn if he flies from A to B across various cabin classes or how many miles one would need to fly free from A to B.

  “MCommerce is also key,” says Sachin Tantri.  “We are already seeing the introduction of the mobile platform and WAP portals and I really expect this to pick-up in the coming years.  Mobile applications can reside on the smart phones of members providing them instant information and transacting capability. Imagine a simple application residing on your phone providing all that you need to know about what’s going on with your loyalty account.”

  The inner core of the loyalty systems are also being changed from the erstwhile rigid systems to more agile and nimble systems in order to tie up with more and more third parties. Service Oriented Architecture is being employed so that the inner core can be easily changed and hooked to third party systems without problems. Loyalty systems are also being integrating with various service providers like credit card companies, hotels, gift shops and florists. All this in order to bring more value to the miles held in the members account. In addition, airlines could engage in cloud computing technologies, in several areas, to reduce their capital expenditure with the most significant impact being the exchange of information between participating airlines of an alliance or the exchange of information amongst the third party service providers.”

  “The future however is even more exciting as there are seemingly infinite possibilities to engage flyers,” says MindTree’s Sachin Tantri. “These include the creation of a large trading ecosystem where loyalty points can be traded. This trend has already started amongst airlines and is expected to offer value for money to participating organisations, which need not be airlines, and to their loyal members. Imagine you are short of 2000 miles in your loyalty account of airline A, whilst there is somebody who has excess miles in his/her account of another participating partner loyalty programe (airline or non-airline) and wants to cash it, he could sell his points to you at a price mutually agreed by both the parties. It would benefit both you and the other person, as you would spend only a small amount to get those extra miles and fly free, whilst the other person can encash his idle points”

  “The final area,” according to Sachin Tantri, “is that new technologies will enable loyalty departments of airlines to be viewed as a profit centre rather than simply being a cost overhead to the airline. Loyalty departments could become self-sustaining. Imagine an airline decides to tie-up with a smart phone manufacturer and create an application which would cost a onetime download charge of say £x.  While we will leave the commercial aspect out of this discussion, it could mean more ancillary revenue to the airline”

   

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