travelling to a particular airport in a particular manner, they can provide me with the best experience at the airport but also create a value exchange. “We create a higher-value exchange
for the airports, the companies that operate in the airports and for our wider customer base within Collinson. “This is where you start to create a better
This is where technology really makes a difference as
it will enhance, augment and replace some of what we do
view of the online-offline interactions and start to bridge the gap between the digital and physical experience.” Colllinson is exploring its own digital twin and has already got
the data foundations in place for it. The team has done some very early work in its alpha release, as well as the core intellectual property that it is trying to build into the experiences and products. While there are no predictions for when the technology
will land, the team presents regular demos to Shakarchi on this and many other exciting new innovations, and he says the pace they are moving at is “encouraging”.
STARTUP PARTNERS
To realise its vision, through its strategic investment arm of the business, Collinson is continually looking to identify “high-growth startup companies that are looking at something similar, so we can accelerate the value for the consumer and, ultimately, for our customers as well”. “This takes our innovation ambition to the next level,” says
Shakarchi, as once a company has a proof of concept and proof of value that Collinson can scale, that’s when they’ll work with them and say “great, let’s get after this and really accelerate it for the industry”. Collinson will ensure it can compute power in a more sustainable
way, as well as having the right data in a “compliant and ethical way”, alongside the ability to understand the foundations of the journeys they want to enhance. Though it’s early days for computation
sustainability, Collinson is working with its tech providers to find the optimal version of compute power through experimentation. As a family-run business that puts customer experience first, the company aims to stay
ahead of its competition by nurturing a culture that brings out the best among its 1,600 employees across Collinson and sister companies.
STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Collinson’s chairman and board push from the top down when it comes to ensuring the company is delivering the right innovation. Combined with the “right level of investment”, this
gives the company “license to lead trial, experiment and learn around some big-bet hypotheses”. A human-centric view across product and innovation
doesn’t go amiss either. The mindset at Collinson is not to do technology for technology’s sake but to “bring humankind up a level across the next generation of travel”. Shakarchi adds: “This is where technology really makes a
difference as it will enhance, augment and replace some of what we do. But there’s a lot more that we need to do, that we don’t do in travel, that we can then drive, allowing us to provide that human touch for a digital and physical experience.” The goal is to give the travel intermediary more free time to focus on the consumer, so they get the best possible experience at the right time.
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OLUTION.COM — OCTOBER 2023 — 21 — OCTOBER 2023 — 21
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