Can you believe the end of 2018 is nigh upon us? The year has flown by with lots of exciting developments. The most exciting of which was the launch of our new branding TheICEway.
If you haven’t noticed we have separated our services into 6 separate companies, all owned by Ian and Conor. Our goal is to help people understand all the types of services offered by ICE. Take a look one www.TheICEway.com to find out more.
In February, we again exhibited at the Travel Technology Show where we officially launched TheICEway. As there has been a lot of hype about many of the future technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Virtual reality, we decided to showcase some of this emerging technology.
Visitors to the ICE stand were able to experience for themselves Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Chatbots, and the crowd favourite emotion recognition. The ICE team were able to help business conceptualise how these technologies could be introduced into a business and how to use them to increase revenue and the customer experience. Not to mention how to avoid the pitfalls that come with being early adopters to exciting technology.
Oh, and a highlight for Ian Richardson was being interviewed for TV.
ICE also welcomes a number of new clients into TheICEway family. It has been a busy year on-boarding our new clients and a special welcome goes out to AC Tours, Axis & Globe, Coro Capital, Lindblad Expeditions, Paterson Restorative Services.
Alongside welcoming our new clients, ICE has also undertaken a substantial investment in new technology for our Private Cloud offerings. This came about as a number of our clients were looking for the “next generation” of hosting services without wanting to dive completely into the Public Cloud world of Azure and AWS.
Our Private Cloud and Hybrid cloud offerings now include:
- Faster Response Times with the introduction of leading edge technology
- Lower Carbon Footprint but increased processing power
- Sand Alone DR solutions
- Smarter pricing options
Of course, we have also assisted a number of our clients to move to the Public Cloud platforms of AWS and Azure, and almost all our clients now utilise the Microsoft 365 portal for email services.
TheICEway continues to focus on its key verticals of Travel, Cruise, Hospitality and Retail and have attended a number of events through the year. Ranging from many CLIA events in London, Miami and Lisbon, the AI showcase in Amsterdam and the Interferry conference in Cancun.
One key event this year is the launch of the inaugural CLIA Technology Initiative (CTI). Ian Richardson from ICE was asked to Chair this new initiative with the first CTI conference on 29th November 2018. This is the first time cruise lines and cruise vendors have met as an industry to discuss critical technology issues facing the whole industry.
The key technology trends of 2018 have been very much about GDPR and future technology. As we move into 2019 here is what TheICEway sees as the hot topics for business.
- Security, Security, Security
Hackers are getting more sophisticated, governments are getting more regulatory, and big companies are being exposed. This topic won’t be going away any time soon. TheICEway clients can turn to CRIBB Cyber Security arm to find out more about staying protected. - Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud
As company’s physical hardware starts reaching end of life, and applications start to utilise some cloud services, it makes sense to look at the cloud. But it won’t be as simple as turning on a server and it manages itself. TheICEway engineers have invested a lot of time and energy looking for the best hybrid solutions to meet client’s requirements. - Re-Evaluating Systems
As travel systems play catch up to the available cloud technology the way applications are designed are radically different from even 3 years ago. As system vendors start offering more cloud options, clients will be asking for due diligence on their investment. Making sure if they re-commit for a further 3 – 5 years, they are not locking themselves into old technology. TheICEway consultants have a number of projects already lining up in 2019, so if you want to do a review, you better book it in quick. - The Customer Journey
Continued emphasis will be taken on how technology can be used to create unique customer experiences. This will include not just the actual travel experience, but the way the customer is engaged. - Data Analysis
TheICEway team has a number of Data Warehouse reporting projects on the go throughout 2018 /19. As clients’ upgrade systems, it is an opportunity to look at integrating data from multiple applications to create better reports and views of your customer.
Well that’s a wrap until next year, TheICEway team wishes to thank all our clients for letting us be a part of your team. To all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you in 2019.
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