So good afternoon and thank you ATPCO for having me here. I'm just so excited
right now that I did not trip up those stairs, so if that gives me brownie
points I hope so. So my name is Jodie Novotny and I am the head of global
sales for OAG and I work with our travel technology customers. So OAG, what is OAG?
We're the largest provider of air travel intelligence. We equip the entire travel
ecosystem--including the airlines, the airports, the major travel tech
customers, the startups, anyone that's in this travel ecosystem--we provide the
data and the analytics that they need to compete, innovate, and thrive.
Specifically, we work with our clients to help them grow their business, streamline
their operations, and delight their travelers. So at OAG we believe that
innovation starts with collaboration, and having the best data possible. We provide
the data, the experience, the expertise to help you create, innovate, and take the
solutions to their next level. So this is a really exciting time in this industry.
We've seen a lot of well-established companies that are starting to be
innovative and come up with new solutions, to some of the startups. And so
it's just really cool what's going on in the industry. So what am I here to
talk about? We recently surveyed over 2000 travelers to find out what do they
want. So while robots and biometrics is really
cool and it definitely is a smart investment and it's where the future is
going, that's not what the travelers want right now. So what they
want is, they want real-time data. So 78% of the travelers that we surveyed, they
want flight prediction data. They want to know when their flights going to be
delayed or canceled. In fact, they want it predicted for them. 75% of them want
real-time updates on expected boarding times. 75% of travelers want turn-by-turn
GPS instructions how to get to the gate, and then 77% of travelers also want how
long are they going to be expected to wait in those security lines. So the real
takeaway from our survey is real-time information and intelligence
is still the best way to delight your travelers and improve the the travel
experience. So if you were to look at the analytics chain and you go up, you see
predictive, what's supposed to happen. And the next one up on the chain
is prescriptive. And there's a reason why it's the highest one up there. It's got
the highest value but it's also the most most difficult to achieve. Why is because
it enables actionable items. So I'm gonna tell you guys a couple of use cases that
we see at OAG and how different companies within the industry can use
prescriptive data. So the first one being for a passenger. So let's say a passenger
arrives at the airport and they receive a notification that their flight is
delayed or possibly cancelled. Prescriptive data will tell them which
flight they should book or rebook, I should say, and that's going to actually
get them to their destination and make that meeting. So prescriptive opportunity
for an airline. So an airline can make a profit-driven, customer-centric decision
on when to cancel and rebook a delayed flight, or even hold that
aircraft for a traveler that's running late due to delayed connection. By doing
this you are building further customer loyalty because you're keeping the
customer happy because you've rebooked them on another flight or you held that
plane for them. Another opportunity, for an OTA. So an OTA can use prescriptive
data to take advantage of last-minute travel planning. So how do
you price those flights for those last-minute travelers? Can you price them
higher? Will prescriptive data tell you that you can actually do that? So TMCs
can use prescriptive data to help customers with their travel
effectiveness. So if you have a customer that is always being booked on delayed
or canceled flights, prescriptive data will help you pick the right flights in
the beginning so that you can increase and improve their travel effectiveness.
So here's a couple of companies that we work with and a couple of companies that
we're looking at that do things with predictive and prescriptive data already.
One of the companies I'm sure you guys have all heard of, Freebird. So Freebird,
you booked a ticket. If your flight is delayed or cancelled
they will rebook you at no cost on another flight, therefore being
prescriptive and getting you to your meeting on time. Lumo uses predictive
data. They have a risk score on a flight so that if your flight is at a high risk,
let's say an 8, before you even get to the airport you know that you have a
likely chance of that flight being delayed and let's go ahead and rebook
you on another flight, therefore again building that customer loyalty and
getting rid of that whole "I got to be at the airport and go stand in that
line and wait to go get rebooked." A couple other companies. Assaia. Assaia
is really interesting. They actually put video cameras at the gate and they're
taking real-time information and they're watching how long does it take for a
plane to deplane? How long does it take for catering to be on board? How long
does it take for de-icing? What this information will do is help the airlines
predict how long a plane's at the gate and possibly get rid of some of those
delays and possibly cancellations. And then we have a company called Flyr that
uses predictive data to predict pricing flights--oh boy, I got dinged! But you know
what, I'm done so that's actually good. Really quick, last thing I wanted to say
before they kick me off is, although this is really new technology it is the wave
of the future. I hope you all embrace it, and thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
Thank You, Jodie, for that. So you're now in the hot seat.
I'm in the hot seat.
Okay, so you've made a good point about what comes after predictive analytics is
prescriptive analytics. So what, for companies out here, after they get
prescriptive analytics capabilities, what can they do, what comes next?
So, you know, it becomes more of a what do you do with it, with the data. So predictive is
all about what's supposed to happen. Prescriptive is how do you make smart
decisions for future. So having the right data and looking at those historical
trends is going to be really important.
You mentioned a bunch of different cases from TMCs, airports,
and others. Some companies have held back from this because they feel like they
need to have a lot of data scientists or some level of sophistication
Do you have any views or opinions to talk to people who are hesitant about
embracing prescriptive analytics?
Yeah. I mean, it is tough, there's so much
data out there, right? So you have to make sure that you're getting good data but
don't be afraid of it, because what it's gonna end up doing for you and for your
travelers is making them loyal by having that data and going one step
further from just predicting what's gonna happen. Actually giving them an
actionable item is key. I mean you're you're really building customer loyalty
whether it's a TMC, an OTA, or an airline. By giving those actionable item steps.
Okay, fantastic. Well, Jodie, thank you so much for your presentation.
Thank you.