Imagine a conference room filled with delegates from all over the world listening with spellbound attention to the leading expert in their field of practice.
Imagine that you pat yourself on the back for pulling off this hugely successful event … without having booked a single flight or hotel room, without having negotiated and managed a heavy venue contract, without having briefed any AV providers, without any registration tables or nametags, and without having ever met any of the speakers and delegates in person. While the scale of this imaginary meeting is not yet a reality, elements of it are rapidly becoming mainstream. The adoption of technology and innovative processes are threatening the traditional role of travel agent and meeting buyer as middleman. These professionals now have to redesign the role they can play as client expectations shift to hyper-personalised, dynamically changing experiences that are devoid of any painpoints door-to-door. Hyper-personalised With machine-learning, booking systems are able to not only anticipate a traveller’s needs, but create on-the-spot suggestions to make the experience perfectly enjoyable. These suggestions can range from the type of entertainment available in flight, to customised dining options, to the type of pillows preferred. Due to its nature, artificial intelligence is great at matching historical booking and preference data of clients and matching it to offers and options available. Dynamically changing Frantically searching for an internet connection in a strange airport to rebook a flight or arrange unplanned ground transport because of unforseen changes to travel plans is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. With a rise in Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, the latest travel systems can seamlessly amend connecting flights and other related bookings based on where a traveller is and is predicted to be at during their journey. These rebookings require no human insight or interference and is completed in mere seconds. Devoid of painpoints door-to-door As artificial intelligence receives data on a traveller based on booking patterns and preference requests, it builds a hyper-personalised customer profile that can enable travel and meeting buyers to – within split seconds – view options that extends right across their client’s entire trip. This will reduce the amount of time spent on searching for and creating options that has to go back and forth via email numerous times before being able to clinch the deal. With the rise in biometric access and digitally enabled travel documentation, clients will also soon have more access to an entirely humanless travel experience. This is already made possible in part by online bookings that can be completed with a smart phone or tablet at any time of the day. Adding to this humanless experience are pop-up hologram customer service agents in airports and info kiosks present only in projected hologram form activated only when requested by a traveller, self-driving cabs e-hailed by the traveller, and self-check in capabilities offered by accommodation providers. Holding on tightly to the belief that people will always want to involve other people in their travel process won’t extend the existence of the world as you know it. All industries that have resisted change based on “this is the way it’s always been” have found themselves obsolete as clients build ways around the obstacle these industries have inadvertently become. Only when travel and meeting professionals accept the notion that their future isn’t secure or predictable, can they start playing a part in designing it. Gone are the days of customer service consisting of treating buyers with common courtesy. Customer service has been disrupted by an expectation of a total customer experience that is dictated by the customer, not company policies. The disruption to the age-old practice of keeping customers happy resulted from a combination of technological advancements and societal changes. These collided into a perfect storm that is leaving companies breathless as they try to balance what customers want with what they can reasonably offer. Omni-channel Customers shape their own experiences by combining several methods of gathering information on a company and its products or services. It’s not strange to find someone standing in front of a shelf in a retail store, checking the reviews and price of the same product online, and even purchasing the product from a competitor’s online platform … all while in the store. Companies offering services rather than products have also not been spared in the digitisation of the customer experience. Customers expect the same offering – or at least something very similar – whether they interact with a brand via online platforms or in a physical space. In addition to customer service training companies now need to invest in understanding how customers use online platforms to shape their total experience. Omni-hours The always on nature of the omni-channel customer experience has brought with it several challenges. Companies that have traditionally been used to having some time to regroup, restock, and rest now have to create procedures that have to adapt to a customer habit of instant gratification. An auto-responder with an estimated timeline for feedback might generate some patience. Chatbots powered by artificial intelligence are however quickly rising to the rescue of brands struggling to deliver to their desired level of excellence at all hours. These tools can help to answer basic queries and might even be very effective in resolving complete matters. Omni-advice Customer experience is shaped by touchpoints with a brand across multiple channels and over a longer timeline than just the actual buying decision. The total experience is also shaped by what their circle of influence – friends, family, and an extended online network – has shared about their own experience with a brand and its products or services. Buying decisions are therefore made with much more than product specifications or service delivery promises in mind. Customer service respresentatives these days have to be able to not only solve product or service related issues, but also be able to win the trust of a customer whose mind might have been made up by a spread of user-based comments posted online. Omni-cycle Customers shaping their own experiences with channels and inputs that are not dictated by brands have also had a significant impact on the traditional sales funnel. Instead of linear thinking that develops an opportunity into a lead and eventually into a sale, customer experience agents have to adopt a matrix thinking approach. This approach allows for fluidly moving back and forth between the phases of the customer journey based on the preferences of each customer. The age of industrialisation has allowed for the creation of many standardised policies and procedures focused on increasing profits and reducing expense by keeping customers happy. The age of information now demands that brands allow for the flexibility that is required as the customer truly becomes king. |