Airports Empower Passengers by IT

SITA, known as the société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, is the world's leading specialist in air transport communications and information technology. According to a research result of '2011 SITA Airport IT Trends Survey', which is released on February 28, 2012 by SITA, the airport IT trends can be concluded into several important points as followed.

1. ‘Improving customer service’ is ranked by respondents as the primary driver for new technology investments.
2. Self-service continues to grow, and passenger touchpoints, such as e-gate and common bag-drop functionality have a trend of increasing.
3. Mobile services investments for passengers and staffs will keep taking priority part of airport investments.
4. Services on mobile and social networks are set to support the airport’s digital communication.
5. Mobile phone notification of flight status and delays remains at the top of airport mobile investments.
6. Offering retail services by way of the mobile is also a strong desire of airports.
7. Mobile phones and FIDS screens, which are employed to direct passengers around the airport, has now expanded to the entire communication ecosystem within and around airports.
8. Digital display and passenger processing technology will be developed to improve operational efficiency.
9. A new theory is raised that information technology is driving the business of customer communication and engagement at the airport setting.

Beyond that, there are 3 airport IT trends that are needed to be discussed in depth.

Dynamic display solutions
As for advantages of dynamic display, firstly, David Saleme, concessions manager for the Columbus Regional Airport Authority indicated that dynamic signage has advantages of frequency of impressions, flexibility and creative content. Secondly, Saleme proposed that it’s a good strategy to combine content with promotion and advertising offers to create non-aeronautical revenue. Thirdly, Engalls, assistant director of aviation, information systems, McCarran International Airport, added an incredible advantage that the ability to dynamically display whatever information in any part of the terminal at any point in time.

With regard to the future of signage technology, Saleme related 3 trends. First, a growth in the use of large format digital media will be seen continuously. Second, large format digital media will release advertisements to catch the eyes of customers. Third, there will continue to be an increase of interactive technology incorporated into digital displays, including touch technology is going to continue to become more prevalent at the airport setting.

Information distribution: social media
Ingalls remarked that using various forms of digital communication to push information out to customers in real-time is a great benefit. Thanks to people are quite interactive in social media, which enhances the ability to directly interact with customers, and to personalize the experience. Nowadays, there are so many different channels for direct interaction with the customer, such as a direct communication link to the customer or end-user.

Keith Gerr works as a marketing director with FlightStats, a company weaves a combination of consumer products along with its own website and additional products that an airport can purchase, such as data feeds, as a way to provide data consistency to airport partners. He says that his company has been zeroing in on the fact that airports want to deliver a great customer service experience. As a network, FlightStats has the website, apps and data relationships.

Scott Hopkins, product development for the airport segment at FlightStats says that the company’s fundamental goal is to have a huge traveling consumer base and to be able to connect airports with that traveler base.

Passenger processing: customer service
Complimentary Wi-Fi has been provided in McCarran since January 2005, and initially that was a customer service item. Through providing Wi-Fi service, Mccarran has earned a considerable amount of revenue from sponsors and other types of arrangements related to the Wi-Fi service. Ingalls says, to me, that’s a great example of having your cake and eating it to — providing the experience to the customer while still earning the revenue.

To conclude, customers have the technology in their hands. Airports must continue to put the power of process into the hands of travelers. Engalls believes that technology is becoming a much more integrated part to the master planning process for airports, and it should be.

http://www.aviationpros.com/article/10628052/airports-empower-passengers

Google Street View to be launched in Botswana to help boost a “rapidly growing tourism industry”

Google Street view is a technology that shows people a photograph of the exact location they are searching for on Google maps, helping them getting a better view of their future destination or it can also be used as a simple curiosity to see what’s happening in other cities, other countries (for example: you can try to google a street view of the well-known Art House Tacheles in Berlin and the picture of the building will appear).

These photographs are taken by cars, which are equipped with one-of-a-kind cameras (see picture below).

These cars photograph an area while driving through.

A Google Street View car at tech fair CeBIT in Germany earlier this year. Picture: AFP

This Google functionality, which was launched in 2006, already exists in more than 30 countries and it will be launched in Botswana by about seven months.

This is the second country that will use this functionality in Africa, the 1^st one already using it being South Africa (since 2009).

• What will it change for Botswana?

This country is known for being a diamond exporter and more precisely for being a destination for safaris where tourists can admire the wildlife.

The officials count on Google Street View to boost the destination in order to become a destination of choice for tourists.

“The service will feature images of streets and landscapes in capital Gaborone, second city Francistown, and tourist destinations such as the Kalahari Desert, wildlife-flush Chobe National Park and the Makgadikgadi salt pans, officials said.” (Retrieved from the attached article; see link below)

This technology featuring panoramic street-level images could be seen as a marketing tool to bring more tourists to the destination and this way increase its economy in terms of tourism and not only with diamond exportation.

“Tourism currently makes up around 10 percent of Botswana's $14.9-billion (11.2-billion-euro) economy. Diamond sales, the country's boom industry, make up about one-third.” (Retrieved from the attached article; see link below)

• Launching a technology in a country where the Internet access is limited: how will Botswana deal with this situation?

Nowadays, people don’t go on the internet only with their computers but also with new technologies like PDA or tablets (like iPads) and as the access to the Internet is often effectuated through Smartphones, Google spokeswoman for Sub-Saharan Africa Julie Taylor said they are working on developing collaborations with mobile network companies in order to improve the mobile coverage in the area.

Moreover, Internet helps promoting a destination, not only with Google Street view, but also on social networks or websites, the country could get notoriety thanks to feedbacks or ads and this way develop its activities and services if they get to attract more tourists due to its promotion and development on the web.

Google Street View can be seen then not only as a marketing tool, but also as a releaser which could enhance the implementation of other internet strategies to help developing tourism in countries such as Botswana.

Finally, the country could maybe become keen on technologies if tourists come to the area with smartphones, Officials may want to develop an app helping visitors experience safaris in an unique way, why not?

Retrieved from IC Publications "Google Street View to launch in Botswana"
http://www.africasia.com/services/news_africa/article.php?ID=CNG.72ca66ee1a4afc263528e0bb35442cac.151

The iPad and other tablets- how new technology revolutionizes the event industry

The mobile industry has changed the way how people are communicating, trading and doing businesses with each other. This industry constantly adapts to or triggers new trends in the market. It brought many innovations that (amongst others) facilitated traditional operations at Events and Trade shows. The time where attendees and exhibitors brought notepads and pens to the event has long gone. Even heavy notebooks have been left behind at offices in the last years as more convenient solutions appeared on the market.

The company Apple with it´ s innovative products such as the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad has contributed to the fast development of this industry.

The iPad for example enjoys great popularity in the event industry since its release in April 2010. A new version of it, the iPad3, is going to be released in only a week (March 7). Therefore we dedicate this month´s blog to the iPad and discuss its usefulness for the events industry.

As commonly known the iPad is a small tablet computer with a touch screen (24.5 cm). Compared to the iPhone no phone calls can be made with it but it has a larger screen with a high resolution (even double as high for the iPad3!) and thus offers great opportunities for event planners, speakers, visitors and other members of the industry. Its lightness invites users to take it with them wherever they go. The examples listed below explain in which way the iPad can facilitate operations in the events industry:

The problem	The solution
The conference program is being updated regularly. So it happens quite often that people print out the program on one day and have to throw it away the next day when it is already outdated. Considering the fact that it is a big document and will be thrown away after the event at latest one might consider it a waste of natural resources (wood, paper) and money. Besides, the conference program is quite heavy so that no one is keen on carrying it round during the event.	Attempts to solve this problem via the use of smart phones have been successful: Nowadays the conference program can be downloaded with the help of applications. However, the small screen of the iPhone limits its usefulness. With the iPad you can not only get access to the conference program but you can also benefit from links (to handouts or  information about the speakers, issues, other events) and videos (of speeches and slides) (www.quickmobile.com)
Handouts and course notes help attendees to remember what they learned during the event. To preserve the environment, however, they are no longer used for events or are only distributed in form of a pdf.	With the iPad participants can download these handouts to their iPads before the event starts. During the events they can take notes with it and store or share the files. The annotation tool iAnnotate enables this function (http://www.ajidev.com/iannotate).
Those of you who have already conducted a survey know that it can be quite annoying to run around with a clipboard and a pen hunting for people who are willing to give their opinion. Usually a large pile of questionnaires has to be completed and some papers fall off your hand when you´re busy. Besides, it takes for ages until you put all the data onto your computer where it is finally processed and interpreted.	Clipboards and questionnaires can be replaced by the iPad. The screen is almost as big as an ordinary page of a questionnaire and you can conduct as many surveys as you want without having to deal with a large pile of paper. The data will be stored at the same time it is entered. With the appropriate software it can be analyzed right after the survey was conducted. (http://surveyanalytics.com)
In former times attendees were bound to the booth of the exhibitor to get information and see demonstrations no matter how crowded or uncomfortable it was. Apart from that lead tracking (getting information about other participants) was less convenient. You had to queue up to get the barcode equipment and the barcode scanner was also bound to the relevant booth.	Using the iPad the attendees can profit from self- service information demos no matter where they are at the exhibition. As the light iPad can be carried around easily exhibitors can show their presentations to prospects independent of where they meet. An app can be downloaded to get further information independent of the location of the attendee. The same appears for the lead tracking: The exhibitors can download an app and type the badge number of the relevant prospect into the tablet to receive information about him/her. The screen of the iPad has an optimal size for this purpose and it can be used anywhere at the exhibition.
Exhibition guides are heavy and expensive documents that are often updated after they have been print out.	With the iPad and a relevant application people are able to find a certain exhibitor or a product category at the event just by entering a keyword into their iPad. Via the GPS function of the iPad they can find out where they are at the event and where they want to go next- to another booth or even to the neighborhood around the venue.

Another benefit of the iPad is (as we already know from the iPhone) that it can be used by delegates to post questions to speakers during their presentations. Using the iPad delegates can benefit from several applications of Web 2.0 as for example blogging, tweeting or other social networking.

In our opinion the iPad can indeed facilitate the work of event planners and attendees but there are also other alternatives on the market that should be considered. A tablet from another brand could be just as useful and might have other features but cost less. A tablet of the brand Samsung (Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1) for example allows the user to take notes with a special pen and thus might seem more appealing to some industry professionals. Besides, despite the many qualities of the iPad people still may prefer to use their smart phone for events as it is smaller and lighter. Other people may wish technology had never progressed and wish themselves back to former times where no system error could delete all their work in only one second.

What do you think?

Sources:

http://www.corbinball.com/articles_technology/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_av&artID=8502

http://www.macwelt.de/artikel/_News/380433/das_kann_mit_ipad_3_kommen/1

Pictures: http://www.ipadshouse.com/apple-media-event-in-february-expected-to-introduce-the-ipad-3/

http://strobefun.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

App Hotels

Have you ever thought to have information about your favorite hotel, in your hands?
Now it’s possible directly on your smart phone with a simple click thanks to the innovative AppHotels!

Apphotel is the first app for iPhone and Android dedicated to the hotels and accommodation’s world.

There are three different types of App Hotels, which are characterized by different contents, with reference to three types of hotels (Tourist, Business and Luxury).

For each type of hotel you can personalize colors and all styles inside the same skin.

There is a section with in-app with which tourists can get information on events, monuments, museums, taxis, metro, weather and much more.

The welcome page allows the immediate access to all the functions of AppHotels.

·       Booking: Direct access to the               

booking system

·       Services: Direct access to all

     services offered by the hotel.

·      Info: This section collects all

information relating to public

interest about the hotel.

·      Public: Services offered by

AppHotels directly to the

final user to take advantage of

the app during the stay in the territory.

The Quick Bar is a shortcut in order to access to the sections of AppHotels longer used.

The Booking area allows the customer to book directly the room from its smartphone.
There are two standard ways for the granting of this powerful instrument:
● Web panel of availability management with insertion by the hotel structure.
● The hotel provides an XML flux that the customer must insert into the booking.

In the Services section you can consult and buy all the services that the hotel offers. The page is dynamic and is managed through a touch panel (Back Office) that allows you to decide what and how services operate.

The Info page is a section dedicated to all the information that the Hotel wants to provide its customers. In fact it is possible to insert:

● Contact
● Payment
● Facilities
● Meal
● Distance
● Hotel Fact
● Photo Gallery

The Publish section contains a series of online services that AppHotels inserts into their applications. These App are “App in App” to help you during your stay.

There are also very important services concerning the safety and first aid to the user.

This section is in constant evolution and will allow all Hotel to provide its clients support for travel, for transports (train, metro, taxi), for info on the most interesting places around the hotel and many other things.

Customers will always have in their pocket tourist and useful information about the destination to enjoy a better experience.

This type of app could reveal itself extremely useful. In particolar it’s important for last minute reservations, when people don’t have too much time to pay attention on the site or services. This app can give them all information they need in a very safe and fast way.

It’s also very important to have an app on cellphones that give the opportunity to check different destination and hotels and to choose the best one, even if a person is not in front of his personal computer.

Also, the number of people that use internet through thei smartphone or tablet is increasing and it supposed to be higher than the number of people that use internet through their personal computers, And the hotels that use this type of app will have some advantages, obviously: they will satisfy their guests more than other hotel as well a sto improve customer loyalty and more disintermediation. Guests can have some advantages as well, like, lower prices or personalized services.

Source: http://www.apphotels.com/index_eng.html

Key Words: App, Hotel, Tourist information, service, accommodation, smart-phone.

Created by: Francesca Nocerino, Carmine Andrea D’Orsi, Barbara Esposito. 

When will iTravel hit the road, Jack?

Some images are worth a thousand words, at least some leaked screenshots from the US Patent Department that represent the new travel app that Apple may be developing.

Although the information is not new, the expectancy is growing between bloggers and IT followers. It seems that Apple wants to achieve with iTravel what they did with iTunes and convert the Ipad or Iphone in the main tool to make bookings and organize trips.

The detailed patent documentation arises suspicions about a prompt release.

http://www.ausbt.com.au

The app has a global approach and aims at covering pre, during and post phases in travelling. It would provide bookings and access to a wide database of suppliers and its services, promotions and offers.

Other features help planning the itinerary and coordinating all data, added to paperless ticketing and wireless check-in systems. According to the website Australian Business (www.ausbt.com.au), this solution is similar to Qantas Next-Generation Check-in.

During the flight, the mobile would connect with the in-flight entertainment system to play online or decide which film you are going to watch.

After the flight, when the customer is close to the destination, the GPS will notice his presence and send some alerts or messages to the hotel, for example.

Touristic guides can easily be downloaded through iTravel (on commission), and one of the issues that have surprised us is that the mobile can be transformed into a digital wallet.

After the entrance of Google into the travel distribution system, we assume that Apple wants to share the piece of cake to hoard market share with some selected suppliers.

Apple’s position of strength will help this travel App to gain quick reputation, moreover because nowadays there are numerous applications who offer specific solutions but none that integrates all the processes in one. This is undoubtedly an added value.

Besides, if Apple decides to integrate distribution channels as OTAs, price comparison sites, metasearch engines, etc.

In iTravel, consumers would benefit from a product portfolio with competitive rates.

All in all, the fact that Apple will start commercializing touristic products is just a question of time. The industry will have another competitor or an allied to consider, and the Ipod or Ipad holder will benefit from a tool that will accompany him through the whole trip, from booking to playing on board, from paying services as an electronic wallet to reviewing hotels and attractions. All in the palm of your hand!

http://www.ausbt.com.au

http://www.ausbt.com.au

http://www.ausbt.com.au

Key words: iTravel, Apple, Application, Patent, bookings, self check-in, digital wallet

Source (text and photos): www.ausbt.com.au/up-close-apple-s-secret-itravel-app-for-the-iphone-and-ipad

Posted by: Vanessa Morales, Sabina Bartikova

New Features in Your Mobile Application for Voyages-SNCF.com

Connecting more than 5 billion people, mobile is the most widely used technology in the world, and it is growing – quickly. That means more and more people are use their mobile service every day to searching online, reading the news, finding directions, finding directions, watching videos and networking. This market is very huge. How attract more customers from this potential market is an urgent priority for any industry.

This month, from SNCF news we know that there are new and more features in mobile applications for SNCF.

(Image and information source: http://www.voyages-sncf.com)

1. E-ticket: Your train ticket is recorded directly to your phone as a barcode.
2. Sharing Facebook: Stay connected with friends and family by sharing your trips on Facebook and Twitter.
3.  Alert Calendar: add your data or your travel options outstanding on the agenda of your phone.
4.  Favorites: Store your favorites and book trips with a few clicks you travel most frequently.
5.  Good Deals: Discover the new “Small Price” to go on last minute at the best price!
6.  Your reservations: Check your bookings on all SNCF sales outlets under “My Tickets”. 
7. Traffic conditions: Find real-time traffic information for your reservations the day of departure. 

Train can be late or on time, journey can be easy or complex. Sometime you know where here to go, some time you do not know. Voyage-SNCF.com new features of mobile app makes the train journey perfected. It shares travel information in real life, and takes all customers’ specific needs into consideration and make it into practical.

The E-ticket function is very convenient for the smart phone users. You do not worry about if you have taken the ticket or not. What you only need to do is take your phone with you. In some degree it is a way of protecting environment, because it saves the material of paper which made of trees.

For the new feature of sharing Facebook, the SNCF might notice the importance of social website, and realize mobile users tend to visit Facebook to communicate with their friends and families. This new feature offers a platform for the travelers to share their experience. As we know, friends’ recommendation is more persuasive than advertisement.

According to the alert calendar, it can remind the user time the travel schedule as some people would forget the detail time of the journey, and this app is very helpful for this kind of people. This function can make you know exactly the time about the travel.

The favorites feature is similar to the computer function of ‘favorites’. It can collect and keep the record of the trip which you like to click.

In terms to the good deals, we think it fits for the price sensitive client, but if you have an opportunity to buy a cheaper ticket than others, why not? So this feature will be welcomed by the consumers.

It seems that ‘your reservations’ just likes the package for you bookings which have all your detail of ticket.

The SNCF director uses geolocation technology to give you directions to your nearest station. This app has radio to broadcast regional service information.

What makes we like this app is that it can be applied in all kind of smart phones, not only exists in App Store, but Blackberry App World, Android market and Windows phone. What is more，this sound app is free. We believe this modified app will attract more clients for SNCF as it really convenient and useful.

Key Words: new features, Mobile application, mobile market, SNCF

Source: Voyages-SNCF.com.

Retrieved: February 28, 2012, from

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/train/mobile/M7_nov2011.html?Prov=NL&prex=T_D1P2_1202_249763_Mobile_J_gif_cbl

Conversation that matter

Did you ever have the same experience that before going to the concert, you are excited to see what is going to happen at concerts or sharing and interacting with those who aren’t at the concert with live-streaming?

Smirnoff Ice Nikki Beach concert which was held in Miami had created a lots buzz before the event. By participating in pop quizzes on Twitter and by checking in on Foursquare to mention Smirnoff Ice, or uploading videos to Smirnoff Ice’s YouTube Channel or Facebook page, fans had the chances to win VIP entry and passes to an after party event.  In less than three weeks, “Samir” gained more than 100 fans for the upcoming concert. During the concert, guests even sported temporary tattoo barcodes, which enabled guests to share the concert experience with other Smirnoff drinkers who weren’t at the party.

Even though it seems like an incredible tool, social media are not magical; if customers don't think twitter is cool for example then they won’t use it, and promoting you event on Twitter would be useless. Event planners have to know how to use social media, but they also have to know how to “make it cool”, how to educate people to “leverage it”, says Stephanie Marcus in her article; teach them how to use this social media, show them the infinite possibilities it offers. Possibilities and benefits also, not only for the event planner or the person who wishes to hold an event, but also for the participants (networking).

This holistic approach by using social media brought brand to life through experiences that are interactive, social and generate buzz.

Recently, we talk a lot about technology and social media. But we cannot forget that this is a world where people naturally congregate because we want to be together, where we enjoy the age-old process of good conversation, where we’re not afraid to talk about things that matter most to us.  And a world where we learn that the wisdom we need to solve our problems is available when we talk together. So that’s why we need to understand what social media mean for us.

People are not interested in the basic use of social media anymore, i.e. sharing photos, status, sending instant messages, etc. all social media do that. They want more; they want relevant, engaging and clever content. It is the role of event planner to use social platforms in a creative way that will bring material to the users. Give them objectives and allow them to see the results of their participation. Enable the users to connect with each others. When we talk about users, there are not only the attendees of the event, but they are also people who could not come and who are “following” the event through a social medium. This type of users “did not exist” before the revolution of social media. Now they are an integral part of the event; and if you think about it carefully, they also can promote your event, and may have a lot of influence.

The goal of social media is to engage attendees in conversation before, during and after the event. It’s an innovative approach that integrates social media throughout the entire process. Social media is not just a tool to promote the event, but also making social media as a part of the event and conversation.  We believe that the social power is to make the event alive. Social media are so much more than sharing your mood and photos with your “friends”.  It’s a tool to build strong relationship with your customers, your partners, the attendees, all your stakeholders. It enables you to measure the impact of an event during its entire process, “to take the temperature” as Laura Parkinson says in the article.

Social media is not even for events, but also for event planner as well. Some event planner also has their personal blog to chat with their clients, audients or peers. By updating photos, videos of the event that you organize should be a good way to show that you are the right person to plan your client’s event.  

Key words: Social media, event design, engagement, event planner 

Source: http://mashable.com/2010/10/04/event-planning-social-media/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGoNBbzucms

 France, Miki

5 technologies which are going to change the business tourism

      Technologies are made to facilitate our day life. In order to ameliorate it considerably, all around the world engineers are working to find new solution.

Some researches lead us to talk about 5 technologies that will change and ameliorate the day life of business travelers.

The voice as a research tool:

Source: deplacementspros.com

The aim will be to replace the keyboard by the voice recognition when doing research on Google about hotels, flights, restaurants…

On the future this technology will be the only way to research information and it will also propose a new dimension of services with the possibility to choose exactly the hotel room, to check in and check out without going to the reception or to select the seat for a flight or a table at a restaurant.

Near Field Communication (NCF) more than a tool for payment:

Source: deplacementspros.com

Nowadays smartphones permit us to check in for our flight or to use them as ticket for transport. With this new technology people will be able to open hotels rooms - their phones replacing the key – or to unlock the minibar and inform the system about what has been consumed. This technology will also be able to pay taxi services and the bill will be sent directly to the company. Another aspect will be the voice recognition to accommodate the different schedule changes that may be encountered during a business trip. The smartphone will directly manage to prevent a contact of a delay or it will reschedule your rail or air booking.

Intelligent aircraft seating:

Source: deplacementspros.com

Tomorrow, aircraft seats made with intelligent textiles will take into account any allergies or medical contraindications of passengers, stored and transferred to the support by their cellphones. This system aims to ameliorate the health and the comfort of the customers.

A tool to help and anticipate problems:

Smartphones will be able to postpone a meeting or a flight itself and also send flower or card to the contact of the user for special occasions such as birthday, Valentine’s Day, noted on his agenda.

A way to protect yout health:

In the future, hearth rate, hypoglycemia, overwork… will be measured in real time by our smartphones that would indicate any failure to a medical server. They will also be able to offer us a list of recommended drugs or intelligent textiles.

In our opinion these new technologies could bring big changes to our lives and they would free us from typing on a keyboard to do a research or from carrying around cash, credit cards, keys, traditional ID cards... All of that would be stored on our phone, and we could make payments or open our hotel room or anticipate a flight delay by simply carrying this phone.  

However, there are obvious security and privacy issues to be addressed. Even if we use systems more and more efficient against piracy, we are never safe. Still in 2012, important websites such as the one of the FBI or the White House have been hacked. Another important issue is the dehumanization that these new technologies engender. Human contact is increasingly forgotten. We increasingly feel that the digital substitutes for humans. And yet, the human presence reassures people.

If we are not able to trust in humans anymore, what will be their role in the future on this planet?

Lantris, P. (2012, January 9). Les 5 technologies qui vont bouleverser le voyage d’affaires. Retrieved February 2012, from Deplacementspros.com: http://www.deplacementspros.com/Les-5-technologies-qui-vont-bouleverser-le-voyage-d-affaires_a13026.html