Covid-19 hastens digital transformation of hospitality industry

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 3): The Covid-19 outbreak has without doubt impacted many businesses and the travel and hospitality industry is one that felt the full force.

And to remain alive, businesses had to go through a “digital transformation”.

Adobe’s managing director for Southeast Asia Simon Dale told The Edge Malaysia in a recent report that the virus pandemic “has accelerated digital transformation across industries, forcing businesses to adopt digital technologies to sustain and survive”.

Dale revealed that the way businesses operate, especially those in the travel, hospitality, retail and dining industries, “has drastically changed”.

“Covid-19 has forced an inflection point as it relates to interfacing digitally first with customers and employees, and only using physical interactions to augment where appropriate,” he said.

“For travel and hospitality brands, providing good experiences starts long before their customers’ trip begins. Consumers today are relying more on digital channels and platforms for all their travel needs, from researching to booking.

“Businesses need to consider what they can offer from every perspective and how to make it more meaningful, exciting, helpful or pleasant for their customers,” Dale told the weekly.

Adobe can “provide the tools to guide consumers along an ideal journey with the brand and keep them coming back for more,” he explained.

“By leaning into data and offering personalised digital experiences in real time, airlines, hoteliers, cruise liners, travel agents and restaurants can contribute to serve their customers, earn trust and loyalty, and recover faster.

“Adobe has innovations to help travel brands create compelling content, deliver personalised experiences for customers and measure the impact.

“We help businesses integrate their content, data and personalisation efforts to transform their digital infrastructure into an intelligent, real-time customer experience powerhouse — giving businesses the tools and technology to provide personalised customer experiences at scale,” he added.

Adobe also has “a strong legacy in the travel and hospitality industry”, with nine of the 10 biggest hotel chains and seven of the 10 largest airlines “leveraging Adobe Experience Cloud to craft their customer experiences”, Dale said.

Adobe supports APAC travel, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, the Singapore Tourism Board and Cathay Pacific’s frequent flyer programme called Asia Miles.

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Read the full report in this week’s The Edge Malaysia