In a recent discussion, David Turton, Chief Technology Officer at Branchspace, shared valuable insights on how airlines can embrace modern retailing. Here are three key strategies he recommends for airlines to implement today:

1. Decoupling Legacy Systems with Pragmatic APIs: A crucial consideration is the abstraction of details and the implementation of pragmatic APIs to disconnect from legacy environments. This ensures a seamless separation between the consumer-facing digital experience and the underlying infrastructure. By achieving this decoupling, airlines can facilitate the replacement of various components over time, streamlining the transition to modern retailing.

2. Embracing Modularity in Digital Ecosystems: Turton emphasizes the importance of building modularity into the digital ecosystem. Airlines should be prepared for varying transition speeds – from swift, total replacements to gradual step-by-step approaches. To accommodate these differences, it's essential to ensure that digital experiences, solutions, and technology components are modular and easily activatable or connectable. This includes thinking about abstraction layers and implementing versatile capabilities such as adaptable shopping carts capable of interfacing with diverse offer and order management systems.

3. Future-Proofing for Varied Transition Paths: Recognizing that each airline possesses unique infrastructure, partnerships, and risk appetites, Turton underscores the importance of tailoring strategies to individual circumstances. The transition to modern retailing may unfold differently for each airline, and flexibility is key. Anticipating and preparing for these diverse pathways involves considering factors like evolving abstraction layers, resilient capabilities, and connectivity to different offer and order management systems as they evolve or get replaced over time.

David Turton's insights shed light on the dynamic nature of the aviation industry's journey towards modern retailing, emphasizing adaptability, modularity, and strategic planning as essential components for success. Airlines that proactively address these considerations will be better positioned to navigate the evolving landscape of digital customer experiences and stay ahead in the competitive market. 🌐✈️

Branchspace as a new generation tech and consulting company supports all the mentioned strategies with its dynamic retailing platform Triplake and Transform services supporting airlines on their digital journey.

This video was part of the webinar by The International Air Transport Association (IATA), September 2023.

#digitaltransformation #innovation #airlineretailing

About Branchspace:

Founded in 2013, Branchspace aims to be the most forward thinking and trusted technology partner for airlines and other travel companies to break barriers of legacy systems technology and thinking. It allows clients to create and manage personalised, data-driven digital commerce experiences to increase direct distribution and take greater ownership of the end-to-end customer journey.

The company secured £5m investment in August 2023 to accelerate commercial opportunities for its airline partners by advancing the development and deployment of the modular Triplake dynamic retailing platform, delivering the best possible end to end experience for travelers and increasing flexibility and speed to market with more pre-integrations.

Branchspace is also an active strategic partner of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on its journey to unlock value creation and shape the future of the industry and recently participated in the PoC for global contactless travel across borders.

Branchspace is headquartered in London, with further offices in Krakow and Lisbon. Existing customers include Aegean, Air Malta, Oman Air, Air Mauritius, British Airways, Lufthansa Group, TAP Air Portugal, Finnair, Air France/KLM, Turkish Airlines.

www.branchspace.com
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