The balancing act of the Indian airline industry: Customer engagement Vs technology innovation

The Indian airline industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, adding approximately 100 aircraft annually for the next decade, and positioning itself to become the third-largest aviation market globally by 2026. However, amidst this rapid expansion, airlines face challenges such as volatile oil prices, currency fluctuations, high operational costs, and evolving regulatory requirements. Most importantly, airlines need to intelligently engage with the new-age air traveler in an era where passengers are digital-first, data-savvy, and open to new brand experiences.

The evolution of technology stands out as a key catalyst in revolutionizing the landscape of airline customer experiences. Most Indian airlines have met significant milestones in passenger numbers by strategically utilizing technology to enhance customer service, and centering their efforts on fundamental tenets such as providing affordable fares, punctuality, and ensuring a courteous and seamless experience. 

Over the years a strong emphasis on optimizing the overall customer experience has become imperative to the success of these organizations. This involves equipping personnels with integrated data platforms and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools. This collective approach underscores the industry's commitment to leveraging technological advancements for a more streamlined and customer-centric future.

Navigating Key Challenges and Strategic Imperatives

The aviation industry is currently grappling with several key challenges, prompting us to recognize essential imperatives for consideration - 

• Increase yield by improving management of high value travelers and tickets.
• Improve traveler’s satisfaction (CSAT/NPS) by managing customer expectations and improving communication with feedback and surveys
• Decrease communication costs by using the most efficient channels(voice/Whatsapp/SMS/email) to improve service efficiency 
• Boost ancillary revenue (Seat select, priority boarding, meals, etc) through improved marketing
• Achieve a higher load factor by increasing overall customer demand

Role of Technology in Enhancing Efficiency and Passenger Satisfaction

How can airlines optimize time, enhance productivity, and cut costs? How do they meet rising demand while ensuring elevated passenger satisfaction through large-scale personalization? These are some questions that airline CIOs aim to address. Airlines must achieve greater efficiency with limited resources. Tackling these challenges entails capitalizing on technology trends that prioritize improvements in time management, cost-effectiveness, and overall productivity.

• Time: Achieving true 1:1 personalized communications with travelers and prospects in real-time requires an intelligent engagement data platform. Today, there is a deluge of data across customer identity, purchase, service and web/mobile data. According to The 2020 Data Attack Surface Report, 100ZB of data would be on the cloud by 2025. Most customers are grappling with fragmented and unintelligent data. Unified data saves time. 
• Cost: According to a McKinsey report, 79% of companies are reporting cost reduction using AI. Some of the high potential areas include predictive maintenance, fuel optimisation, crew scheduling, revenue management and most importantly Customer Service. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are increasingly being used to handle routine inquiries, booking changes, and other tasks, reducing the workload on human customer service representatives. This leads to cost savings and improved customer satisfaction.
• Productivity: A Salesforce-IDC report on Automation: Trends, Challenges and Best Practices states that, on average, IT and LOB leaders report saving 1.9 hours per week per employee and 13.5% on operational costs. By incorporating automation into various aspects of operations, airlines can achieve higher levels of efficiency, reduce operational costs, and enhance the overall productivity of their services. It also allows airline personnel to focus on more strategic and customer-centric tasks, improving the overall quality of service

Transforming the Passenger Experience

Unlike current legacy systems which are fragmented, un-personalized and manual, the traveler experience of the future will be deeply tied to business outcomes,The future of the passenger experience hinges on smart, special, and easy principles:

• Smart: The future traveler needs to feel that she can find the information she needs while experiencing issues with travel. This would lead to higher online conversion and retention.
• Special: Personalized experiences which are relevant, customized and consistent can make the customer feel engaged and connected across channels. For instance, few airlines engage customers via their channel preference, with a consistent experience across technical (web, chat, email) or human (flight attendant, CSR) channels.
• Easy: Updating changes and managing passenger data is simple and the airline uses it to create better experiences. Airlines will need to increase information capture to build a single view of the traveler. Few airlines connect apps to Social and Service cloud helping passengers check-in and get flight updates. Tying social interactions to the customer record provides a holistic view of the customer 

Essentially, airlines struggle with the dynamic convergence of rapidly expanding markets and evolving consumer needs. Their continued success is largely dependent on their strategic use of technology, which is the key to increased production, lower costs, and time savings. The future of the passenger experience rests on providing interactions that are not just unique, creative, and simple, but also essential to achieving larger corporate goals. The secret to long-term success in the aviation industry today is striking the right mix between exceptional customer engagement and technological innovation.

The article has been written by Gourav Ray, Regional Vice President - Sales, Salesforce India