Chatbots on Bluemix, Lufthansa’s Approach to New Customer Channels for Best Prices and Service

lufthansagroup.com

Digital Transformation:Session DES-5199Chatbots on Bluemix – Lufthansa’s Approach to New Customer Channels for Best Prices and Service

Ivonne Engemann, Deutsche Lufthansa AGIBM InterConnect 2017 Conference

Digital Transformation DES-5199Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German Airlines

Ivonne EngemannLufthansa German AirlinesIT Project ManagerSales & Digital Customer Experience

Product Owner Chatbots @ Lufthansa Group

Developer

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About the Lufthansa Group

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Passenger transportation is the core business of the Lufthansa Group. The airlines Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines operate from the hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna. In point-to-point traffic, Eurowings is set to become number 3 in Europe.

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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How our customers perceive Lufthansa today

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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We need to go where our customer is

“Mildred, I would like to visit the Eiffel

tower in May”

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Messenger ServicesInstant messaging, e.g. WhatsApp, iMessage, Skype,Facebook Messenger

ChatbotComputer program which conducts conversation via auditory or textual methodsMakes use of Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Mildred lives in Facebook Messenger and helps with Best Price Search

Digital Transformation DES-5199Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesPage 7

booking classes

knows airport codes

understands landmarks

very fast and friendly

handover to booking

knows holidays

speaks German and Englishbased on best price search

forgives typing errors

remembers preferences

What is Mildred capable of?

© One

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Mildred is built on a mashup of APIs

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Mildred deployed in the IBM Bluemix Cloud

compose

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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“Natural Language” covers a wide range

I want to fly to New York on first Tuesday in May starting from Frankfurt

and returning on Memorial Day. In premium eco if possible

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Natural Language Processing: intents & entities

location:destination

location:origin

datetime

intent

datetime:return

cabinclass

RequestPrice

Frankfurt

New York

05/02/2017 00:00:00

05/29/2017 00:00:00

Premium Economy

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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We listen to our customers to understand their language

“Premium Economy Class”

“PEY”

“Economic Plus”

“in Y+”

“premium eco”

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Continuously evolves based on our customers’ feedback

I would love to ask for connecting tickets like "from PMI via FRA to

VNO"

Can I search for a maximum price? e.g. FRA to Spain max 100 EUR?

I was actually surprised how fast

the search was done

What about one-way?

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Journey to Digital Transformation

Agile development

Small autonomous team

Cross-domain responsibility

DevOps

Fail-fast and adapt

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Listen to your customers – establish feedback loops and enhance the service permanently

Embrace “Everything-as-a-service” – build for resilience, not robustness

Just do it – bend existing processes and ways of working

Think about how your brand is perceived.Bots allow you to learn what the real needs are

Key Learnings & Takeaways

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Lufthansa Chatbots – Outlook

New search and service options

Improve accurateness

Chatbots could become an ubiquitous service for the Lufthansa Group

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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Lufthansa Chatbots will continuously enhanced

New search and service options

Improve accurateness

Chatbots will become a ubiquitous service for the Lufthansa GroupThank you – visit Mildred at mildred.lh.com

Ivonne Engemann, Lufthansa German AirlinesDigital Transformation DES-5199

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