Digital Transformation in Travel

Digital Transformation in Travel

Digital Transformation in Travel

Resort’s customer data – personal information and behavior data, help sales team send promotional messages to Mr. Ramesh Sharma. The programmatic campaign offered the guest whether he would like to make another booking this year – and offered a free spa treatment as an incentive. The campaign also offered him the corporate discount for his personal booking.

Ramesh decided to go on a family vacation.

Marketing team, on reaching the resort, offered him champagne of choice as a welcome gift. Mr. Ramesh was delighted by the hospitality of the resort. This journey of customer delight was backed by the digital innovation initiatives of the resort. Digital system at the resort reports that Ramesh visited a specific resort twice a year during the last one year. The data pulled from the system details shows that he used a specific booking site to book the last two stays and the previous stays were booked by a specific travel agency. The customer data at the resort also shares that the first two visits were sponsored by the corporate, and the other two visits were with college friends and with family. The guest’s old digital records help resort management know guest behaviors and areas visited – for example, the spa, coffee shop, and others.

In the current age travel companies collect massive amounts of data about their customers during every single step of the journey – flight paths, bookings, food and drink preferences, every movement inside premise, etc. This wealth of information helps travel companies design a programmatic campaign with specific offers for the customer. The idea of a personalized campaign of this nature would be impossible without the company’s capability to capture, store, and process data. This is just one of many wonders of digital innovations.

Digital Transformation in Travel Industry

We are in the era where the travel industry is rapidly digitizing the business operation and innovating business model, and customers are increasingly using digital technologies to plan their travel. The travel companies to gain the advantage over others are constantly evolving their digital offerings. It is observed that travel companies innovate to gain competitive advantage.

In today’s world, the travel industry is one of the prime revenue contributors. The industry, in the last three decades, has gone through a series of digital innovations. The industry has witnessed – rise of digital-native companies, such as Airbnb and Uber, and the rise of digitally transformed traditional travel companies. The traditional travel companies have reimaged businesses and adopt digital solutions, processes, and technologies to remain relevant and competitive. The travel industry is at the forefront of digital innovation and continues to transform in every aspect of its operations, which reflects in the market size of digital transformation initiatives. The World Economic Forum’s Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI), suggests that digitization processes in the travel, tourism, and aviation sectors will be worth up to $305 billion between 2016 and 2025. The report estimates that digital transformation will generate benefits valued at $700 billion for both the customers and society.[1] The report also suggests that digital transformation initiatives are also expected to migrate $100 billion of value from traditional companies to their new digital-native competitors.

It is believed that for travel companies it can be challenging to meet the tourists needs and provide innovative and creative services; however, digitalisation and technological development provide significant opportunities to be competitive in the global market as well as to be able to reach markets it was not possible before.[2] It will only be apt to say that the travel industries to keep up with the changing customer demands, expectations and preferences are embracing the journey of digital transformation. They understand that the digital transformation journey is not a one-day activity. In fact, it is the sum-total of multiple digital initiatives backed by technologies such as the Internet of Things, location-based services, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, blockchain technology and many others. The journey of digital innovation that started in the 1990s has matured now and we are witnessing one of the most digitally transformed industries. In the 1990s the progressive companies in the travel industry started to use electronic cash registers, financial software, mobile phones, email, internet banking to digitize their operational process. The decade of millennium witnessed Property management systems, computerized ticketing and stock control systems, online booking systems, customer reservation systems, email and mobile marketing, customer relationship systems, augmented reality, among others. In last one decade the industry has witnessed rise of digital marketing, social media marketing, virtual reality, mobile applications, cloud computing and online data storage, use of wearable technologies, google analytics, review websites, collaborative online environments chatbots and instant advice, platform collaborative economy; commons collaborative economy, Internet of Things, location-based services, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, blockchain technology and many others.

One of the key digital innovations of the last three decades in the travel industry is online travel booking platforms, such as Expedia, Yatra, makemytrip, Booking.com and others. The rise of online booking platforms has made it easier for customers to compare prices and book trips, and they have put pressure on traditional travel agencies to change the way they do business in order to stay competitive. It will be apt to say that the online booking platform was one of the first major digital innovations that transformed the industry in the last three decades. It has also given the industry some of the first digital native companies.

Digital transformation in the travel industry is led by a variety of companies, including both traditional travel companies and new digital-native startups. On one hand, Airbnb is a digital-native Startup that has disrupted the traditional hotel industry by offering a platform for people to rent out their homes and other accommodations to travelers. On the other hand, a traditional airline company KLM has embraced digital technologies to improve the customer experience, such as by offering mobile check-in and boarding, and by providing virtual assistants to help customers plan and book their trips.

The travel industry has been at the forefront of digital disruption. The digital transformation in travel has been ongoing for several decades, but it has become increasingly important in recent years as technology has advanced and made it possible to do more with digital tools and data.  Many companies in the travel industry across the globe are now using digital tools and data to improve their operations and provide better experiences to customers and offer personalized experiences. Some of the digital native companies, such as Airbnb and Uber – have changed the way we travel. They have improved people’s lives in different ways as well as in the traveling process. The extensive use of digital technologies such as mobile apps, online booking platforms, and virtual reality can help travel companies to provide a more personalized and seamless experience to their customers.

[1] Digital Transformation Initiative – Maximizing the Return on Digital Investments; World Economic Forum; May 2018

[2] Digital Transformation In Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges; Inita Kindzule-Millere, Sandija Zeverte-Rivza ; Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies

work from home era

Get set for the work from home era

Many IT and ITeS organisations had been practising work from home (WFH) even before the pandemic set in. It was a part of their work culture, but for many others, it’s a new phenomenon. WFH was not a practical option for those in manufacturing, hospitality, performing arts, heavy industries and the government sector. The culture of these organisations had always been work from office. Fixed working hours and managing the productivity of the hours spent in the office were the norm. In the current Covid environment, even those who never accepted the idea of WFH have embraced it for their greater good.

After six months, the economy, globally, is unlocking and employees have started to go-to-office. However, the phenomenon of going-to-office is a function of the comfort of an organisation and the guidelines that the local government has issued.

Digital Transformation
As of now, most of the companies, irrespective of the organisation’s DNA and work culture, are scared of returning to the traditional way of working. They understand the responsibility and risks posed by Covid.

The organisations that have their employees working from home have taken all possible measures to prevent further spread of the virus and data privacy issues while taking care of the comfort of employees working from home. Most of the companies have also brought in digital tools for efficient management of the workforce and ensured that everyone is performing their tasks, thereby bringing in efficiency in operations.

Going forward, companies would progressively look after protection of data, better employee-employer communications, streamlining operation process, controlling the quality of production, and mental and physical health of employees. Most importantly, they would invest in improving data security, IT hardware and software infrastructure. This situation also warrants an organisation-wide digital transformation. We are likely to witness an exponential rise in digital transformation offerings.

Many Benefits
During the lockdown, we saw that the IT and ITeS industry transitioned to the WFH model smoothly providing business continuity to clients without lowering quality or productivity, surprising industry leaders and customers alike. A key reason was strict adherence to quality processes and availability of communication bandwidth from homes. This forced experiment of WFH has been a sizable success and has thrown open a new debate – why can’t we continue with WFH?

The group that is promoting the idea of WFH is also propagating the idea of work from small towns. They count the benefits in the form of improved recruitment and retention equity, reduced infrastructure expenses, reduced transport, real estate and operating costs. They argue that the IT and ITeS industry has adopted delivery processes that are designed for quality output from its inception. Moreover, the argument is based on the fact that the IT and ITeS industry is designed to do remote consulting, operations and development.

Telecom giant AT&T, between 2000 and 2005, tripled its team of WFH or work from remote (WFR) location workers. This helped AT&T save $180 million — $30 million in real estate costs and $150 million in increased productivity, apart from improving retention rates.

work from home era

Biggest Challenge
Experts believe small towns are better equipped to handle the business continuity programme. The group that is promoting the idea of WFR are exploring how organisations can take care of regulatory requirements. Experts are evaluating the issues of data protection, management of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) issues and other cyber theft challenges.

The biggest challenge of WFH option is data protection. It is believed that when employees work from home, it is harder for employers to supervise the handling of confidential information and data. Organisation and industry bodies should consider reviewing contracts of employment to ensure they have robust confidential information clauses, and that the employee is adhering to the clauses.

It isn’t reasonable to say everyone who has an internet connection, Zoom, or a Microsoft Teams account is good for remote work. Using only employer-approved devices for office work, only employer-approved video-conferencing facilities, accessing internet on a secure device, using secured wi-fi networks, restriction to open or download only secure sites, prohibition on downloading or saving of employer’s confidential information on personal devices, restricting access to confidential information, providing access to information to only those who work on data to perform their duties, etc, should be seriously considered.

The other challenge companies may face is performance evaluation and employee behaviour during work hours. Employers must make it clear through their policies what is a suitable and acceptable behaviour when working from home. Moreover, it is also important to evaluate the social impact angle of WFH. It is observed that WFH has enabled some individuals to change their working practices for the better, but in most cases, daily routines have gone for a toss. The working hours too got longer. It is critical for the HR to understand that an employee’s health and safety are the prime responsibility of an organisation, irrespective of WFH or office.

Promising Returns
WFH is here to stay but its final shape will evolve with time. Several major companies, including Twitter, Facebook and TCS, have already announced a temporary or permanent shift to WFH, heralding the beginning of a new era in work culture.

This shift was desired and much needed for we’d have certainly faced the reality of WFH in the next decade. The pandemic has only accelerated the process. Organisations will now have to accept the WFH environment, realign their work culture, update process and technology, and rethink structuring their workforce.

Organisations need to come up with the process that manages the data protection requirements. To protect confidential information, employers should review their confidentiality policies and implement new technologies and statutory measures that specifically deal with WFH. WFH may result in more value in terms of equitable distribution of wealth, better inclusivity, improved diversity, more women employees, reduction in migration to metros, etc. The returns of WFH on the social equity front in very promising.

Also Published at https://telanganatoday.com/get-set-for-the-work-from-home-era

Industry 4.0 and Digital Transformation

Industry 4.0 and Digital Transformation

Industry 4.0 is a huge deviation from the traditional manufacturing setup. It is the total integration of manufacturing systems, production processes, digital communications technologies and automated machines. It effectively uses expertise of IT systems, internet of things (IoT), adaptive manufacturing systems and other new age technologies.  As I understand, Industry 4.0 revolutionizes the manufacturing ecosystem, bringing greater agility through improved data analyses and digitized processes.

Samsung has taken the role of digital transformation with Industry 4.0 very seriously. For example, the surface inspection systems for digital TV production by Samsung reduces human operator intervention in the production line, increases throughput and reduces errors in the product inspection. System operation supports capturing TV surface image from high-resolution camera devices. This helps Samsung not only improve the quality of production but also reduces the human intervention in production.

 The Industry 4.0 team of Samsung has also developed a post-processing system for an image captured by the camera to make it amenable to automatic detection. The IIoT machines at Samsung uses automatic surface defect detection algorithm to distinguish a real defect from a false one on the digital TV. These were two of many such initiatives undertaken by Samsung to lead the benefits of digital transformation with Industry 4.0.

The integration of digital transformation with Industry 4.0 is not just a technical process, it is the sumtotal of internal integration which includes technology, cultural integration, resource optimization, financial inclusion, and services integration, and external integration which includes political, economic, social, legal, and many other external environmental issues.

Digital transformation with industry 4.0 has efficiently bridged the gap between physical and digital worlds. A few forward-thinking companies have done amazing things using the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and data analysis. They hook up with others with whom they can create new ecosystems of value. Here, it is important to talk of how Nokia and BSNL have collaborated for Industry 4.0 and have transformed traditional wired factory networks to wireless networks leading to improved equipment mobility for enhanced flexibility of manufacturing infrastructure.

BSNL was one of the early adoptions of IIoT applications in industry. This exercise has improved productivity and operational efficiency of the telecom operator, but it failed to cash in the momentum. As I understand, BSNL could not manage to transform the softer side of the transformation. It failed to integrate the key internal and external transformation elements. It could not improve on the services for the benefit of consumer.

Business success today requires a customer centric digital transformation strategy. It starts with prioritizing a superior and relevant customer experience and aligning the organization, processes, employees and technology to empower it.

In this ever-changing consumer centric economy, the needs of the customers keep on changing. It is responsibility of the management to script the digital transformation journey to match the pace of the change. All leading companies are re-imagining customer experience with a strong focus on digital.

The successful managers of our times are fully aware that digital is not just about being technology-led but also about recreating new experiences and service models for transforming their business. They understand that digital transformation helps organization shortened  time  to  market  to  develop; produce  and  market  new  products  and services; increased  customization  to  satisfy  individual  consumer  demands; manage higher product individualization; offer higher flexibility  with  faster  and  more  versatile  production  processes; offer expertise to produce smaller lot quantities with high quality and a cost-effective way. Managers at Rockwell Automation were one of the first few who understood the benefit of integration of digital transformation with Industry 4.0. The impact of Rockwell Automation’s digital transformation has been very encouraging. It has helped Rockwell Automation in increasing delivery from 82 to 90 per cent, reduced its lead times by fifty per cent, increased productivity by five per cent and reduced capex by thirty per cent.

The integration of digital transformation with Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing setup produces both short- and long-term benefits. It offers – transparency, manufacturing agility, improved productivity, improved efficiency, staffing flexibility, reduced costs, reduced training time and expense, improved quality, end-to-end manufacturing, as some of the key benefits. The effective integration of digital transformation with Industry 4.0 also helps organization in the decentralized decision-making process; pave the way for lean organization structure; help build base for the technology innovations; help develop innovation capability and culture; provide opportunities to increasing mechanization and automation, digitalization and networking, decentralized production and supply.

Organizations who have already embarked on the road to digital transformation are making impressive advances. They are shifting organizations’ goal, changing how people work and deploying technology to achieve value.

As I understand planning a customer journey blueprint, organizational cultural changes and the right operating model are often the most challenging elements to tackle in the journey of digital transformation. The path of digital transformation is not an easy journey. It demands organizations to define the digital landscape; establishing connection with customers; understand what customers’ feel about their brands; explore what customer expectations are; building momentum amongst management to lead the transformation journey; enable collaboration with partners; educate employee about the change; reengineer the organization culture; enable sense of digital accountability, among many other challenges.

The initial deployments of digital transformation with Industry 4.0 have offered us benefits in term of reduced costs and improved efficiencies. The next wave of digital transformation with Industry 4.0 calls for significant business value in terms of delivery efficiencies, new revenue streams, customer experiences, etc. However, in order to reap the benefits and potential, it’s not enough to understand what one can do with these technologies.

India: A Lucrative Cyber Security Market

India: A Lucrative Cyber Security Market

Cyber-attacks have become a regular phenomenon globally and India is no exception to it. We are experiencing new threats every day with a potential cost to the economy that cannot be fathomed. It’s not surprising that organizations are taking cybersecurity seriously, with a large portion of their budget going into implementing measures to fight cyber-attacks. Progressively, cybersecurity is becoming an important strategic issue in almost every organizations executive board room discussions. Organizations are planning to spend more on cybersecurity, devoting increasing resources to improving their defences and working harder to embed security-by-design. This also gets reflected in the cyber security market size. NASSCOM, Data Security Council of India & PwC Report, India’s cybersecurity market for products and services will grow up to $35 billion by 2025 creating 1 million + jobs in security domain with a robust ecosystem of 1000 security start-ups. This is yet another opportunity for the established IT players and start-ups to make maximum out of it.

In one recent attack, an Indian bank lost 944 million rupees (US$13.5m) after hackers installed malware on its ATM server that enabled them to make fraudulent withdrawals from cash machines.

If Indian IT players want to grow their business and the IT startups wants to establish themselves in the global market, cyber security offers them that opportunity.  NASSCOM, Data Security Council of India & PwC Report also suggest that India cybersecurity market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of over 19% during 2018-2023. Growth in the market is expected to be driven by multiple driving force including – one, rising number of government initiatives towards digitizing; two, increasing awareness of business and individuals towards cyber security; three, rapid adaptation of security initiatives in healthcare, BFSI, education and other vital sectors; four, rapid adoption of Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud & IoT technologies by business, government, and individuals. The projection of the exponential growth projected by NASSCOM and other consulting organizations is based on the basic facts that Indian market comes with certain competitive advantages which makes it as a preferred destination. Some of the USP’s of the Indian market are– one, preferred destination of global SoCs; two, mature security practice of Indian IT services companies; three, security services operations set up by MNCs; four, preferred destination for security R&D; five, Existing GIC (Global In-house Centre) security operation centers; six, competitive IT product ecosystem, seven, existing network of 100 + Indian security companies; eight, availability of skill sets – 150,000 + experienced security professionals; trust factor that IT industry brings in to the global IT players.

As of now, India’s cyber security landscape is passing through transformational journey and it is too early to say that the joint effort of the government, regulators and industry are showing results, but the Indian cyber security industry is doing good and projected to do wonders.

Also Published at http://infidirect.com/2018/05/01/well-designed-user-experience/

Cybersecurity Culture

Cybersecurity Culture

Cybersecurity should no longer be viewed as a function of information technology alone. The review of cyber security as a function should move under COO or CEO. It needs to form an integral part of culture and strategy of the organization. It should be reflected in every facet of the organization, right from the strategy to the behavior of an individual employee. We have also started to observe that the performance of any business on stock market is also dependent of their cyber security policies and practices.

An organization’s security culture is not something that grows in a positive way organically. One must invest in a security culture just when a security culture is sustainable, it transforms security from a one-time event into a lifecycle that generates security returns forever. A sustainable security culture has four defining features. First, it is deliberate and disruptive. The primary goal of a security culture is to foster change and better security, so it must be disruptive to the organization and deliberate with a set of actions to foster the change. Second, it is engaging and fun. People want to participate in a security culture that is enjoyable and challenging. Third, it is rewarding. For people to invest their time and effort, they need to understand what they will get in return. Fourh, it provides a return on investment. The reason anyone does security is to improve an offering and lower vulnerabilities; we must return a multiple of the effort invested.

It is an established fact that the computers do exactly what we tell them to do. The challenge is with the humans, as they need a framework to understand what is right thing and what is wrong for security. Making of cybersecurity culture includes following points – One, cybersecurity is the battle that can only be won by joining hands with other companies that are part of the ecosystem; Two, the journey of the cybersecurity culture must start with identifying and defining Internet governance in collaboration with governments and regulators; Three, the code of cybersecurity ethics can be created for each industry separately based on their needs; Four, the act of cyberattack transparency will build trust with everyone from suppliers to customers; Five, CEOs should be presenting cyber security as the DNA of the organization which is a part of their business model and value chain, including their leadership structure; Six, CEOs should acknowledge that cybersecurity is not an “add-on” feature, instead, it is an integral part of “security by design”.; Seven, organizations should start to bring CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) to the board, who will help organizations protect Cybersecurity Value Chain; Eight, CEOs are in a position to influence Internet service providers as a first action to make the Internet more secure and to invest in implementing better base Internet protocols; Nine, despite many organizations focusing on developing cybersecurity awareness, not all individuals understand their role in the organization’s security culture; Ten, cyber security awareness is about changing the view of individuals who have the opinion that only security department is responsible for cyber security; Eleven, lack of employee buy-in is one of the main reasons that it is difficult for organizations to instill proper cybersecurity culture in their workforce.

Organizations can work on the idea of setting up the cyber security community within the organization.  It should be seen as the backbone of sustainable security culture. Security community is achieved by understanding the different security interest levels within the organization and addressing their needs.