A recent Tnooz article identifies 5 basic - yet big - trends that are changing the travel technology industry (not to mention many other industries too). Below are the highlights:
NoSQL
A fundamental change in the development of technology infrastructure. Moving away from databases that essentially search only 2-dimensionally and into more dynamic databases will shift the way we store, manage, access, and use data. This shift translates to faster and more reliable technology and systems.
Analytics & Automation
The convergence of analytics and automation is being called “BI Inside.” The insights of analysis are being used to power automated services. Systems are becoming more proactive, rather than reactive. Cutting out the need for human intervention is much more efficient, where systems can alert guests’ mobile devices and immediately begin processing and interacting with them.
Moving Away Transaction Processing Facilities
Known for their simple and quick transactions, Transaction Processing Facilities have been very reliable and continue to be useful for the financial industry. However, for travel systems, information about guests is evolving to include context-rich data. Things like attaching a web of video clips, invoices, etcetera to guests. Results will include better merchandising and personalization.
Travel Reengineering
Booking systems have begun to rethink the booking process; imagine booking a trip with the time you wanted to arrive instead of choosing your flight time. Soon trip engineering will also integrate several schedules and travel plans for booking groups, conferences, etc.
Targeted Merchandising
We are already beginning to see this in services like Amazon and Facebook, where interactive information is being used to “help” bring you other products and services you might be interested in. Expect to see travel dial into this untapped opportunity in your near future.
All 5 of these trends boil down to one thing: it’s all about the guest. Enhancing the guest experience is key and any tools that can help you do so are valuable. Have you checked out our Eleven’s guest technology lately?
What industry changes are you seeing and how could technology help?