In the premiere episode of Verify This, Product Marketing Lead Lucie MacNeill sat down with Gillian Jones. Gillian is a Senior Business Development Manager at Condatis with over 10 years of experience working
within the tech industry, particularly early-stage technology.
Passionate about identity and its importance and prevalence across commercial settings, Gillian co-chairs a Travel & Hospitality Special Interest Group with the Decentralized Identity Foundation. She collaborates with travel industry partners to establish the art of the possible using emerging technology.
Gillian’s expertise in Travel and Hospitality made her the perfect speaker to discuss what’s being hailed as ‘the seamless traveller experience. ‘
With seamless experiences becoming an increasing demand for consumers across industries, we wanted to delve into how digital identity can be used not only for access management but also to build loyalty among customers by using hyper-personalisation. Let’s unpack what was covered.
The travel industry has long grappled with inefficiencies and stressors stemming from its fragmented nature, compounded by the complexities of navigating international boundaries. Gillian notes that while seamless travel remains an elusive goal, recent digital advancements offer hope for transformative change. The episode calls out key challenges, such as the difficulties of synchronising multiple stakeholders across a given journey while navigating stringent identity verification requirements at country borders. However, the emergence of decentralised identity presents an evolutionary paradigm shift. By empowering individuals with control over their digital identities, decentralised systems make reshaping the travel landscape possible. Placing identity ownership in travellers’ hands can streamline processes and foster smoother, more personalised experiences. Ultimately, our discussions with Gillian make clear that the path to seamless travel lies in travellers reclaiming responsibility for their digital identities and exerting control over their journey.
The benefits of decentralised identity adoption
Observing a big change to what’s been done to date within the industry, Gillian and Lucie cover the significant business benefits that are brought by adopting decentralised identity. The technology promises to streamline and enhance customer experiences, particularly in industries like travel, where individuals must share their identity with multiple stakeholders.
By consolidating this process into a seamless solution, businesses can cultivate repeat custom and address the challenges inherent in the current identity-sharing landscape. Moreover, embracing decentralised identity allows companies to bolster their brand reputation by framing data as a means to enrich customer experiences.
Gillian notes that this approach safeguards businesses from the risks associated with storing sensitive customer information, eliminating both the need and cost of storage. Organisations can redirect these savings towards initiatives aimed at further improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
However, Gillian points out the opportunity for change right now. Referencing our current work with a progressive green field site in the Middle East with a decentralised identity journey already in the works – foundations need to be put in place with legacy systems to prepare for this innovative change in how the hospitality industry operates.
Organisations can take small steps toward this ultimate end goal by improving initial aspects of the experience, such as leveraging external identity to make the booking process seamless and secure.
We concluded the episode by discussing how businesses can get started with decentralised solutions at scale, from how to strategise to defining trust across issuers, holders and verifiers to move toward live deployment.
The key takeaway from this episode is to understand the aim and ambition of the desired seamless ecosystem and ensure the technology is in place to support it. The final note is that the transformation of the hospitality industry experience is fast and forthcoming, and organisations should look to move quickly to avoid missing out.
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