The Travel, Transportation and Hospitality industry had to spend much of 2021 picking up the pieces from COVID and putting them back together again. 2022 will be a year of continued change. Enterprise leaders should prepare to focus on the following three trends to survive and thrive in the coming years.
Reduce technical debt.
Companies will need to optimize their software licenses usage, offload their mainframes and build systems of integration, or API factories. A priority will be to rationalize application portfolios by deciding which applications to retire, replatform or retain. Do not put off building a cloud strategy. 2022 is the year for this.
Improve customer experience.
Enterprises that want to get ahead in 2022 will need to leverage advanced analytics and data for hyper personalization. These systems of insights are invaluable as your enhance your customer experience. Systems of experience will play a role in improving engagement with customers by making it mobile-led and by enabling chatbots and other advanced technology. Travel enterprises should place significant focus on the day-of travel experience and contactless travel by leveraging web, mobile channels, IoT and sensors, biometrics and advanced self service. Systems of integration will bring cohesion to the customer experience by connecting back-end systems with front-end experiences and leveraging the aforementioned systems of insights.
Success will come when companies have the capability to engage with the right customer at the right time using the right channel with the right product. Advances in AI and machine learning will foster faster engagement, and augemented and virutal reality will create immersive experiences for hotel rooms, aircraft seating, etc. These technologies will go a long way in helping customers do the bulk of their decision-making prior to the travel itself.
Prepare for and mitigate other disruptions.
Every company today is asking how it can improve its resilience and business continuity – even in the face of unexpected events. TTH companies will want to expand their thinking on how to do this. An area of potential is in automation, specifically robotic process automation (RPA) for back-end processes like those in Accounting and HR. The engineering principles used in digital twins can help enhance operations management by finding assets, improving turnaround time and streamlining the supply chain by using simuations to predict breakages.
Companies that fail to consider sustainable energy sources are likely to face huge disruption in the industry. Other plans should include real-time flight plans driven by satellite data; blockchain for ecosystem-wide transparency of the supply chain, MRO functions and passenger information; and 5G networking for inflight and airport connectivity will create faster and better systems.
ISG helps TTH companies navigate a changing market. Contact us to find out how we can help you prepare for 2022.
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