SmartAssist Whitepaper 4 · technology, the solution leverages the power of location-based services and Near Field Communication (NFC), all packaged together on a sleek user interface

An end-to-end solution for Airlines to manage mobile coupons and redemptions on a customer’s smart phone

SmartAssist

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SmartAssist: An end-to-end solution for Airlines to manage mobile coupons and redemptions on a customer’s smart phone

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Mobile marketing has been increasing in popularity ever since the advent of mobile phones, and has today, become an integral part of corporate strategy. With increasing levels of adoption of smartphones and availability of services, consumers are looking at new ways of leveraging smartphone capabilities especially when it means that they can save money. One of the key reasons that mobile marketing is gaining popularity is because of its potential to connect with targeted customers effectively, as against traditional marketing methods. In this context, the usage and adoption of mobile coupons as an effective means of targeted promotions deserves special mention.

According to Juniper Research, mobile coupon usage will exceed 300 mn users globally by 2014 [1] and mobile coupon redemption value will approach $6 bn globally by 2014 [2].

Overview of Mobile Marketing

Traditionally, ancillary products are advertised through paper, magazines, emails or other electronic forms of communication. The new paradigm shift is to offer mobile coupons on a passenger’s smart phone directly, an electronic token that can be redeemed against an offer or promotion. The mobile coupon contains electronic information about the product or offers like an id, product details, expiry date etc, and can be categorized as ‘Dollar-off ’, ‘Item-Free’, ‘Buy-one-get-one free’ or any other. The concept can use various technologies to receive or distribute coupons in the form of NFC, Bluetooth, MMS SMS, barcode or mobile application. Similarly, coupons can be redeemed at the point-of-sale counter by producing the coupon on the mobile phone.

The popular usage of mobile coupons as an effective channel of mobile marketing is due to:

?A focused and wider reach, targeted at specific groups of customers.

?Direct communication with customers at the right time.?Quick and easy redemption.?Doing away with cumbersome physical paper coupons.

Mobile coupons – Paradigm shift



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The aviation industry constantly faces challenges of rising fuel costs, flight fares and competition from peers, and hence is especially focused on finding new ways of increasing ancillary revenue and retaining customer loyalty. In today’s world of the ultimate customer experience, airlines and airports take on a more meaningful role than just being a medium of transporting passengers, or being a place where people wait for their flights. In order to leverage the mind-set of the new, smartphone-savvy traveler, there is a need to establish direct communication with passengers by providing personalized services through mobile technology. An effective mobile marketing strategy that helps understand the target customer, structure promotions and discounts and evolve new value-added services to enhance customer loyalty, can bring about significant increase in ancillary revenues and manage brand loyalty.

Targeted mobile promotions in aviation

Mobile coupons – Airline vs. Passenger

Airline Passenger

Coupon CategoriesNew revenue sources

Increase ancillary revenue.

New distribution channels

Promote offers to widergroup

Enhance customerexperience & Loyalty

Create more customer value and trust.

Promote travel

Increased customer spend

Reward for travelling

Increased Loyalty.

New Promotions & Offers

More attractive alternate options

Personalized promotions and offers

Enhanced Experience

Information at your finger tips

Anytime, anywhere.

FREE COUPON

%DiscountCOUPON

%DollarOFF

BUY 1GET 1FREE

SmartAssist is an end-to-end solution that can efficiently manage mobile coupons and redemptions on your smartphone. Based on cutting-edge technology, the solution leverages the power of location-based services and Near Field Communication (NFC), all packaged together on a sleek user interface that can work on android, iPhone or iPad. An airline can offer rebates or offers through mobile coupons to targeted customers, enabling them to redeem them at their convenience, anytime, anywhere. These rebates or offers can be bar-coded or based on NFC. Customers can view and save these coupons according to their interest onto the smartphone for later use. The coupons can be redeemed at any select outlet where the offer is valid for redemption by presenting the coupons stored in the phone.

HCL’s Solution: SmartAssist



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Location Based Services (LBS):LBS provide information based on the geographical position of the user’s mobile phone. SmartAssist provides a friendly option for a customer to select a stored coupon from the smart phone and seek nearby stores or locations where the coupon can be redeemed. The innovative use of LBS does away with the need to manually search for stores since the application provides store locations if available. Similarly, using LBS, airlines can also push coupons related to the stores closest to the customer’s current location.

Near Field Communication (NFC): NFC is a wireless technology that enables short-range communication between electronic devices. Of late, the adoption of NFC as a technology is gaining popularity, especially in the context of mobile marketing as more smartphones are being launched with in-built NFC enablement. Nokia announced that all its smartphones will be NFC-enabled from 2011.



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Solution Highlights

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?Ability to provide offers when the customer is in the immediate vicinity of the store.

?NFC enabled - Interact with Smart Posters for enhanced experience.

?Redeem coupons by easily scanning them at stores through the smartphone.

?Search coupons by categories, scan coupons, capture external bar-coded coupons from print media to mobile phone.

?SOA-based architecture to support seamless integration with backend systems.

?Extensible to support multiple technologies – SMS/MMS, Bluetooth, Barcode and NFC.

?Personal catalog folder to save coupons for redemption at a later time.

Designed for iPhone, iPad and Android.

SmartAssist provides the opportunity for customers with NFC Smart phones to interact with Smart Posters with embedded NFC tags by simply “tapping” or bringing the phone close to the poster to download active coupons, hence bringing alive the latest in customer experience.

Benefits for Airlines

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?Target the right customer at the right time through personalization.

?Flexibility of redemption, anytime, anywhere. ?Enhanced customer experience.?Reduce paper usage and go green.

Increase ancillary revenues and retain customer loyalty.

References

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people globally by 2014 says Juniper Research,

?Note [2] Mobile Coupon Redemption Value to Approach $6bn globally by 2014, According to Juniper Research

Note [1] Mobile Coupon usage to triple exceeding 300 million

http://juniperresearch.com/viewpressrelease.php?pr=169

http://juniperresearch.com/viewpressrelease.php?pr=162

Author

Venkata Pani Ravi Chander is part of the VerticalSolutions Group of the Travel, Transportation and Logistics Vertical at HCL.

Contact us: [email protected]



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HCL Technologies is a leading global IT services company, working with clients in the areas that impact and redefine the core of their businesses. Since its inception into the global landscape after its IPO in 1999, HCL focuses on ‘transformational outsourcing’, underlined by innovation and value creation, and offers an integrated portfolio of services including software led IT solutions, remote infrastructure management, engineering and R&D services and BPO. HCL leverages its extensive global offshore infrastructure and network of offices in 31 countries to provide holistic, multi-service delivery in key industry verticals including Financial Services, Manufacturing, Consumer Services, Public Services and Healthcare. HCL takes pride in its philosophy of ‘Employees First’ which empowers our 73,420 transformers to create real value for customers. HCL Technologies, along with its subsidiaries, had consolidated revenues of US$ 3.3 billion (Rs. 15,160 crores), as on 31 March 2011 (on LTM basis). For more information, please visit www.hcltech.com

ABOUT HCLHCL Technologies

HCL is a $5.9 billion leading global technology and IT enterprise comprising two companies listed in India - HCL Technologies and HCL Infosystems. Founded in 1976, HCL is one of India's original IT garage start-ups. A pioneer of modern computing, HCL is a global transformational enterprise today. Its range of offerings includes product engineering, custom & package applications, BPO, IT infrastructure services, IT hardware, systems integration, and distribution of information and communications technology (ICT) products across a wide range of focused industry verticals. The HCL team consists of over 80,000 professionals of diverse nationalities, who operate from 31 countries including over 500 points of presence in India. HCL has partnerships with several leading Global 1000 firms, including leading IT and Technology firms. For more information, please visit www.hcl.com

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SmartAssist Whitepaper 4 · technology, the solution leverages the power of location-based services and Near Field Communication (NFC), all packaged together on a sleek user interface

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