Page 8 - Express Travel World

IN THE NEWS

'Oracle’s AI powered chatbots make

travel more relaxing'

Prasad Rai, vice president,Applications, Oracle India highlights how an increasing number of
travel companies in India are leveraging the power of emerging technologies to achieve
groundbreaking success

By Sudipta Dev

What are the key solutions of been able to shorten the time a much efficient process taking etc.
Oracle for the travel and for new product launches -- only six days. Behind the scenes, AI tech-
tourism industry, particu- from months to weeks. Oracle solutions and serv- nology is helping marketing
larly for the India market ? ices help customers provide a teams analyse customer data
The digital India wave has Which segments of travel and differentiated experience to the to create tailored offers; and
affected almost every industry, tourism industry are you fo- Indian traveller. In fact, Thomas AI-based algorithms are the
and the travel and tourism in- cused on in India ? Cook India, after evaluating al- reason that many customers
dustry is no exception. Indian The landscape of the travel most six CRM vendors in the see fine-tuned online search re-
travellers today are demanding and tourism industry is ex- market, chose Oracle Cloud on sults, based on their previous
speed and convenience when pected to drastically alter with the basis of solution functional- preferences. In fact, machine
booking online. Due to this, the digital intervention of ity, look and feel of the applica- learning is even helping to re-
there is an immense pressure emerging technologies. Antici- tion and the company’s experi- duce delays by optimising flight
on companies to look out for pating this trend, Oracle is set ence in the industry. landing paths.
new ways to deliver the quick- to offer new age solutions Prasad Rai
est, most convenient experi- based on AI and machine Please give more information How can these AI products
ence to consumers - from on- learning that enable enhanced about your AI travel prod- help the travel and tourism Not just this, technologies
line booking to on-ground travel experience for the Indian ucts, and where do you see sector in the country ? like AI, machine learning and
services. masses. more adoptions in the Oracle’s solutions are espe- big data are also contributing
Oracle is playing a signifi- For instance, Oracle Mar- industry ? cially designed to facilitate and behind the scenes. They are
cant role in this journey by en- keting Cloud comprises tools Many travel businesses in enhance a traveller’s experi- helping analyse customer data
abling the travel industry to in- that enable the hotel industry India are already witnessing ence at every touch point in to create tailored offers for dif-
novate through cloud solutions to not only provide customers ground breaking success by in- their journey. Oracle’s AI pow- ferent people, and are fine tun-
that minimise disruptions and ing search suggestions in ac-
keep websites up and running; cordance to their individual
that enable the most cutting- preferences.
edge ticketing and reservation The future of travel technology will witness
systems; and that deliver indi- In the future do you foresee
vidualised service to local and consumers’sky-high travel ambitions,and hence any revolutionary trans
international customers. AI demands.In the not-so-distant future we might formation in travel and
and machine learning also play tourism driven by technology ?
a role in giving travellers a bet- even see blockchain solutions helping passengers The future of travel tech-
ter experience – from chatbots nology will witness consumers’
that make it easier and quicker authenticate their identity with less hassle! sky-high travel ambitions, and
to book online, to automated hence demands. In the not-so-
technology that rapidly identi- distant future we might even
fies and resolves glitches, so with a customised experience, vesting in emerging technol- ered chatbots make travel see blockchain solutions help-
that online travel shoppers do but also helps in ensuring that ogy, including cloud. Many ho- more relaxing from start to fin- ing passengers authenticate
not get frustrated and book travellers get seamless experi- tels have already started ish by offering customised their identity with less hassle!
elsewhere – Oracle has a solu- ence across various touch looking for AI powered conver- services. For example, chatbots We can anticipate the intro-
tion for all. points of their journey. Indian sational chatbots that can help can suggest to customers, the duction of augmented reality
For instance, Oracle with its Hotels, collectively known as guest check-in and check-out top things to try while they are maps, so visitors can find their
service cloud has enabled the Taj Group, are using Ora- using a mobile device. This in a particular town. They also way around a new city; and
Make My Trip (One of India’ cle EPM Cloud, which has en- makes the check-in process offer instant assistance in local voice-based AI tools for easier
top travel-service provider) to abled them to ensure effective hassle-free. Additionally, chat- language while booking. In travel planning via a mobile de-
handle 47 per cent of India’s on- time management - like re- bots can also play a role in pro- addition to these, they update vice. By making the most of
line travel booking. With Ora- ports to senior management viding a convenient travel expe- the customer about flight cloud technologies now, travel
cle’s solutions, Make My Trip which were earlier dependent rience by enabling automated changes and reminds them companies and their cus-
has halved the average call- on people delivering them and updates to customers regard- about check-in and security tomers can power the future of
handling time and has also took 15 days, now has become ing changes in flight schedule, procedures. adventure.

8 EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD
February 2018