The idea of robots – automated computer-powered humanoids - has a hold in contemporary culture, from the boxy things in cult sci-fi movies of the 1950s to charming C-3PO in Star Wars and the spine-chilling BladeRunner’s replicants. But in real life, robots like these heroes have not fully changed our lives in the way that some future-gazing TV producers thought they would yet. However, we are getting there, and the technology behind the machines
The idea of robots – automated computer-powered humanoids - has a hold in contemporary culture, from the boxy things in cult sci-fi movies of the 1950s to charming C-3PO in Star Wars and the spine-chilling BladeRunner’s replicants. But in real life, robots like these heroes have not fully changed our lives in the way that some future-gazing TV producers thought they would yet. However, we are getting there, and the technology behind the machines – what we know today as ‘robotics’ – is now ready for prime time, as a must-have gamechanger to simplify your business.
From science fiction to business reality
While progress has been made in mimicking human activity in robots, they are not yet part of our everyday personal life. Industrial use for robots took an early lead over household use in the 20th century. “Hand-built by robots” was the tagline used by carmaker Fiat in an award-winning TV advert from the late 1970s, reflecting how it had embedded automation on the assembly line. Automation in manufacturing is now globally accepted and widely implemented.
Now, robots are ready to make their presence felt in renewing travel. But rather than your next R2-D2, our robots are of the virtual kind - computer-coded software and programs ensuring you get the most out of your business and giving flexibility to your human staff.
NOW is the time
Due to the impact of the pandemic, travel sellers of all size and shapes find their operational performance and sales productivity challenged in the short-term and beyond. High turnover has left many industry players in the process of rebuilding with less staff. Disruptions and cancellations are still looming, and the complexity of customers’ service needs have intensified - this is a vital moment for travel companies to consider introducing or scaling up robotic process automation.
Great news - robots are here to do the “dirty” work. To provide relief. They are the backend heroes who can easily knock out dreary, administrative, non-revenue-generating tasks in a blink of an eye. They provide flexibility in terms of the when, what and how, also outside working hours. Consider them a reliable, virtual extra pair of hands – or rather plenty of them – allowing your human workforce to focus on what they do best and what brings value.
Time is precious – spend it on what really matters
How much more amazing service could you give your customer if you had an extra 15 minutes per booking? What if you could free up two hours per day for extra sales? And increase the quality of the service delivered to customers in the process? By letting robots like ours constantly monitor, validate and update queues and bookings, you can reduce 50% of the manual work normally managed by your agents.
Delegating non-revenue admin-driven tasks to robots allows us to focus our human efforts on servicing customers with the best travel experience and even exploring new business opportunities, such as additional safe travel services or in-trip activities.
With this principle in mind, Amadeus Robotics was designed to integrate seamlessly into the travel agency operations. Based upon our decades-long experience of developing consumer-facing and in-house systems and working hand in hand with travel sellers, we identified clear pain points and bottlenecks that are most effectively automated.
How to reap the benefits?
In a sea of opportunities, we identified three core areas where robotics is already making a notably high efficiency impact for business and leisure travel sellers:
- Cleaning queues: One of the most painful and redundant daily activities for every travel agent is to “stay tuned” to queue updates, such as: navigating, sorting, identifying what critical actions to take first, cleaning up and validating PNRs. Artificial intelligence is “always on”, so your staff does not have to be. Giving you the confidence that your PNRs arrive where they need to be at the right time.
- Processing PNRs: Making travel agents deal with the administrative burden to complete a booking cannibalizes the time they can spend taking care of customers. Errors from PNR processing also penalize reporting analytics and weaken delivery processes. Automation is travel sellers’ best ally in helping shape operations towards perfection.
- Schedule changes: Last minute schedule changes leave little time to react and could mean negative consequences to travel sellers‘ bottom line and front-line servicing if not attended. Travelers count on your team 24/7 to ensure their trip is flawless, but who wants to be “always on”? Rely on robotics to help you take customer satisfaction to the top while having peace of mind too.
In the coming months we will share a lot more about the tangible benefits that robotics can bring to travel sellers in these three areas.
So, while we are not surrounded by cyborgs or walking-talking auto-bots as predicted in the sci-fi movies, robots still play a huge role in improving our lives. While game-changing, commercially beneficial robots in travel are invisible, they do the heavy lifting that steadily improves bottom lines with increased efficiency. Automation with robotics is the helping hand you need to enjoy more restful nights and productive days, while making timely sales and happy travelers. Protect the gold mine that is our human intelligence – and let the robots do the dirty work!
See how Amadeus Robotics can simplify travel agency operationshere .
TO TOP