The Conundrum inside an airport!

Over the last 12 months, I have only realized how complex an #airport is as an organization, dealing with the most complex resource of all, all the time- #people . Thus, when they tread the road to prepare, for the #futureoftravel , or Future of #customerexperience , it is all-the-more crucial for them to realize the role of #automation in complimenting their daily modus operandi, to utilize their resources efficiently and effectively.?

What we understand is that an airport is a massive organization with its verticals that are separate units altogether with priorities ranging from #cloud adoption to #digitizing all touch points from kerb to gate for the passengers. While as a passenger we only get to view components such as Retail, Safety & Security, #PassengerOperations, #baggagehandling & #cargoservices and #facilitiesmanagement , there are teams working up and down 24*7*365, managing operations around #businessadministration, External Parties (Airport Authority, Airlines, #governmentagencies, #groundhandling Companies, etc), #airtrafficcontrol , #Airfield Service, #aeronautical operations and overall Commercial Management to ensure that the business keeps growing.

As highlighted in my previous blog, personalization is the key, and is getting impacted by two things the most:

-?????????One the consumers wanting their experiences with the airlines and airports, to be at the same level, as the experience they get on their productivity tools coming from Apples and Samsungs of the world,

-?????????Second, the aviation players pushing to deliver this level of experience in the most efficacious and effective way.

Hence, it is a no-brainer that #endtoend #automation is key to making #processes well-structured and defined, to streamline internal stakeholder focused tasks, and also to manage external stakeholders, from airlines to passengers to contractual service providers.

For example, even today, airports are dabbling with pen and paper, to carry out simple tasks like managing guest relations, following up with internal teams for approvals, on-the floor management activities and lot more! Recently, during a conversation with a leading international airport in India, I witnessed the flurry of emails, physical forms, and in-person visits needed to issue an AERODROME ENTRY PERMIT (AEP). And it was not only for me, who was visiting the premise on an official visit, but observed that it is a daily routine for multitude of vendors, contract workers, airlines stakeholders (who need to renew their passes) and even the retailers and their stakeholders. It just clicked to me that, if this is the state of affairs in one of the top airports of the country, one can only imagine the state in tier-2 and tier-3 airports across the country. And surprisingly, this was no alien issue for the international airports globally as well.

As Zvolv, we are working to build a fully automated system for the airport to target this menace. Few of the features that the system would have are as follows:

-?????????Digital forms- to streamline the process of receipt of requests from different stakeholders and automating the collection of required documents of proofs

-?????????Integrations- Through secured & seamless integration with internal and external system of records automatic processing of the requests and data storage ?

-?????????Data Analysis & Forecast- Maintenance and analysis of historical and current data, and analysis of recurring cases for AEP and AEPAF requests, thereby improvising the modus operandi, etc.

-?????????Workflow Streamlining- Once end-to-end process has been automated, tasks like tracking of advance payments from airlines and retailers, need for recharge by agencies, and payments from vendors, et al would be done automatically with a built-in notification system to intimate any upcoming expiry date for AEP or AEPAF. This system would also help chase those people who have not submitted their AEPs back to the department post their tenure for airport visit is over and raise red flags in case of delays

-?????????Dashboards- Automated dashboards would be made available for management reviews

In spirit, this is an example of how Hyper-automation, would bring in efficiency into this process. Eventually, the intent is to remove manual work, utilize human resource efficiently and effectively with reduced costs. As a low-code, no-code player, we would be able to deliver the solution in a much shorter timeline, thereby adding to the value to the client.

David Lavorel, CEO of SITA at Airports & Borders, said in one of his interviews in 2022: “The industry faces pressure from all sides with an urgent need to reduce costs by optimizing operational efficiency while also adhering to new operational hurdles connected to COVID-19... Smart technology, automation, and digitalization are the only ways our industry can thread the needle between profitability, safety, and sustainability.”

McKinsey’s latest survey of more than 5,500 air travelers around the world emphasize that #sustainable measures would be crucial across all airports- from construction to developing holistic recycling initiatives, energy saving measures, and sustainable printing practices.

While Ready-to-go cloud-based airport management capabilities help optimize resources and support collaborative processes and decision-making, need for personalization puts the onus on the sector leaders to identify what will be essential to them to thread the needle between passenger satisfaction, capacity, and profitability. Hyper-automation could be one of the ways to course-correct in these fast-paced times, as otherwise revival of the revenue scorecard would be all the more difficult for this sector.?

Do you think otherwise? Would love to know what are the other ways in which you have been witnessing digitization and digitalization efforts in this space to keep up with the pace of evolving Customer experience.