Fostering innovation in the highly fragmented travel sector, for both individuals and professionals: this is the raison d’être of the partnership between Amadeus and Microsoft since last year. A strong partnership in data and cloud technology, the first “fruits” of which are already operational. Immediate boarding!
According to a new study conducted by Forrester Consulting, at the request of Amadeus Cytric Solutions, accelerating digital transformation in business travel and expenses will improve the employee experience and achieve the goals set by companies by 2023. The study reveals that leaders increasingly recognize the need to design processes to serve their employees through a new hybrid work environment.
Relying on technology to enable travel operators (airline or rail companies, travel agencies, hotels, etc.) to always offer a better experience to travelers: this is Amadeus’ mission. It has taken an unprecedented scale since the beginning of the partnership with Microsoft. “The switch to Microsoft Azure is the biggest technological transformation in Amadeus’ history”says CTO of the company, Christophe Bousquet. “With Microsoft, we already have an innovation program in place through which we explore and develop new travel solutions that provide a smoother and more personalized user experience. This adventure is no small feat. Amadeus solutions require high-performance transaction management with strict requirements for system availability, security and performance.”
These innovations concern travel professionals as well as their customers, business travelers and tourists. Thus, a “Traveler Centric Platform” (TCP) was launched in 2022 as a cross-functional capability that provides a holistic view of the traveler. Goal: to encourage travel stakeholders to collaborate to take advantage of new travel information that helps them tailor their offer to each individual customer.
The flexibility and PaaS tools of the public cloud allow vertically integrated teams of Amadeus developers to leverage TCP to build machine learning models that can enrich other products. Thus TCP is used, for example, within the framework of Amadeus Hey! a virtual travel assistant that allows companies to send personalized information and services to the traveler before and during their trip.
If, in the case of TCP, the challenge is to promote cooperation across the entire travel industry is another area being explored by the two companies: product innovation and joint development. Thus Cytric Easy: ” Business travelers will thus be able to access the new opportunities which Citric Easyespecially to optimize the organization of their business trips, and they information sharing internally. Specifically, this new module will allow professionals to plan and then share the details of their business trips with their colleagues within everyday tools such as Microsoft Teams…”, summarizes the trade magazine Voyages d’affaires.
The challenge is clear: to improve the passenger experience. “Data, like the airline industry, is entering a new era of opportunity. The cloud and artificial intelligence offer more than a better way to store, manage and make sense of data. The smartest and most sophisticated data analytics on the market comes from the cloud using algorithms that leverage the open nature of the cloud to bring next-generation thinking powered by AI and machine learning. And it is only through an ecosystem of partnerships and collaboration that more personalized products and services can emerge in the market at scale. And John Lonergan, Vice President of Airline Traveler Experience, Amadeus, to continue: The aviation industry is at a pivotal moment as restrictions are lifted and domestic, regional and international travel resumes. The time has come for airlines to consider how our technology and integration with partners can help them deliver the experience of tomorrow to travelers today. »
Latest illustration: Combining Amadeus travel data and experience with Microsoft tools called Natural language processing (NLP), companies are exploring the potential of intuitive search, which will provide greater flexibility in terms of how you search, what elements are included in search parameters, and what information is provided to the traveler.
Thanks to NLP, travelers can describe their journey orally or in writing; search options leveraging public cloud infrastructure will compute billions of possible routes before returning a small number of the most relevant options. This will radically simplify the travel search experience, reduce the number of websites a traveler visits and provide personalized results that are sure to improve conversion rates. Travel has a future!
