34 SPECIAL FEATURE
34 SPECIAL FEATURE TECHNOLOGIES Every Click Leaves a Trace EasyJet – the first company to leverage the advantages of Amadeus Light Ticketing Big Data: a key resource for advanced customer needs and added value The collection and processing of data has undergone massive transformation in the past few years, moving from more of a “pull” to “push” model. In his keynote address today, Harald Eisenächer, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sabre Travel Network looks at what rules of business intelligence can be used to attract customers, strengthen relationships and add value. We asked him to tell us a little more… Trend researchers used to have to interview people on the street and statistically project answers – today travellers and customers provide this data themselves. They leave a digital footprint in cloud services, websites & apps from online travel agencies, hotels and airlines, music or video streaming portals. A decade or so ago, “best practice” was to put data that needed analysing into a data warehouse where it would need to be “structured” into tables before analysis could be done, and the results used. This cycle was not very efficient, fast, or usable, and innovation was limited to the volume of data you selected and analysed. Technology now allows us to process and analyse data where it exists – a very different approach that opens up the volume of data you can play with and brand new insights into the data itself. But Big Data is not a value in itself – the true value is how you act on it. It’s about the creative and smart application of the information by filtering recurrent patterns, gaining insights from the visualization, deriving predictions and recommendations. We need to go from Big Data to Smart Data. In my presentation I want to inspire the audience about Big Data possibilities. I’ll provide a glimpse into what data exists today, look at companies taking advantage of Big Data in interesting ways. And we’ll take a look at what a data-driven world will look like in the next decade. How important do you feel ITB Berlin is in developing and fostering thought leadership in areas like this? Very important. Technology is constantly changing and evolving, and this has had an enormous impact on the travel industry. ITB Berlin is a great forum for the industry to come together to hear, learn, see and discuss this transformation. The eTravel World’s move to Hall 6.1 means that this segment, which is popular with Internet fans, will allow even more travel technology discussion. I want to encourage ITB Berlin to engage more with Berlin’s “Silicon Allee”. The digital start-up scene in this city is unique, hyperactive and incredibly creative – there’s much potential to foster thought leadership here. Harald Eisenächer Senior Vice President, EMEA, Sabre Travel Network WE NEED TO GO FROM BIG DATA TO SMART DATA Hall 8.1 Stand 125 New Harmonies in Travel Tech Light Ticketing and TravelTainment spearhead offering at Amadeus stand While Amadeus is reported to be launching a new logo at ITB Berlin 2014, there are a number of new developments on offer. Among new products, Amadeus Light Ticketing opens new channels for low cost operators; with EasyJet being the first to use the system. According to Bernd Schulz, Managing Director, Amadeus Germany, “Light Ticketing is really the solution to bring the low-cost carriers into the GDS. For the agents, we now have the look and feel of a typical GDS product, also for the low cost carriers. So it’s a win-win for the agent and for the local carriers because the GDS market is very attractive to them. And with Amadeus Ticket- Less Access, we can bring these altogether to great effect.” The Amadeus e-Marketing Suite is also sure to arouse interest at ITB in Berlin. Targeting small to medium-sized agencies, it allows them to handle data from all their customers in a more convenient way. “It has automatic built-in reminder functions. It also has built-in automatic functions to email customers, and it supports the old marketing process of the agents,” added Schulz. This year, TravelTainment is prominent on the Amadeus stand. This search and compare tool, originally designed for the German travel industry, is spreading throughout the continent, with new product on offer for travel agencies and OTAs. TravelTainment will be leveraging ITB Berlin to spread into new territories, having already entered Austria, Switzerland, France and Spain. The success of the system was demonstrated recently when it had to process, on one single day (a Sunday), 90 million search queries, which led to more than 12,000 bookings. Hall 5.1 Stand 125 B ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 5 th March 2014 www.itb-berlin-news.com
35 HOSPITALITY / RESTAURANTS / BARS WHERE TO GOIN BERLIN WWW.WHERETOGOINBERLIN.COM CLUBS / EVENTS / SHOPPING / CULTURE 2014 is a special anniversary in Berlin as it’s the 25 th anniversary of the Wall coming down. We asked Berlin’s Governing Mayor, Klaus Wowereit, how he felt visitors might best retrace the history of this edifice and which one place, for him, stands out as a place of remembrance… Berlin’s Governing Mayor Welcomes You to His Wonderful City Klaus Wowereit Governing Mayor of Berlin You can find traces of the Wall in various places – for instance, at the Martin-Gropius- Bau, Checkpoint Charlie, and East Side Gallery. However, the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse captures the horrors of the Wall in the most powerful way. This historical site in the middle of Germany’s capital city recalls the years of German division. The border between two Berlin boroughs, Wedding and Mitte – one in West Berlin and one in East Berlin – ran right along this street. The border created a unique situation here: the houses on the southern side of the street belonged to East Berlin, while the sidewalk in front of them was in West Berlin. The first victims of the Wall died on this street. This is also where the Church of Reconciliation was detonated, after the Wall left it inaccessible and isolated in the middle of the “no man’s land” between East and West. These events gave Bernauer Strasse tragic notoriety. What is your key message to the attendees of ITB Berlin 2014? I’d like to start by extending a very warm welcome to all of the visitors who are coming from all over the world to Germany’s capital city. Berlin has undergone incredible changes in the last quarter of a century. It’s a city where things are constantly happening, also thanks to the fashion designers, artists, and entrepreneurs from around the world who admire Berlin and have moved here. Berlin has a wealth of cultural attractions – from worldclass museums, opera houses, and countless theaters to an avant-garde cultural scene and many different subcultural trends in art, music, fashion, and clubs. At the same time, everyone here is free to be whatever he or she chooses. Difference is not only tolerated, but welcomed. That’s what makes Berlin so attractive. Hall 12 Stand 101 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 5 th March 2014
