ICEbreaker, June 2018

Hello and welcome to our monthly newsletter, ICEbreaker from ICE, the travel technology consultants.

This month’s highlights include windowless planes, deep sea data, DevOps and a man sacked by machine.

Lately we have been thinking a lot about the difference between Managed Service and IT support so have started a series of blog posts on our Innovation Hub which is worth a look. Read the first one HERE.

We also enjoyed the TTI Summer Forum, ‘It’s all about blockchain’ and the TTE Start-Up Summit at IBM’s London HQ. Meanwhile, we’re happy that our CRIBB Cyber Security collaboration with KVH on Cyber Security at Sea’ has been winning lots of awards and accreditations. 

Needless to say it’s been a busy month in the world of ICE. We ran our first discovery workshops in New York for Lindblad Expeditions’ major transformation project. It promises to be an exciting year ahead as Lindblad embarks on this epic expedition with our consultancy team. We’ll have more exciting news to share next month.

Until then, 

Ian Richardson (Richie) and Conor Byrne
(ICE's founders)

Quote Of The Month

  “DevOps has absolutely
changed the way
software testing works. ”

Derek Weeks, Vice President at Sonatype.

Number Of The Month

$0.06 per km

Articles Of The Month

We Like Friction

Concerns over privacy and security are making consumers uneasy about ‘invisible’ payments, according to new global research from the Paysafe group. Despite benefits like convenience from low-friction payments, consumers aren’t ready to lose visibility of the payment process.

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Garbage In, Garbage Out

There are three types of ‘bad data’ that will damage your business’s attempt to personalise an experience for customers. One, incorrect data – can you trust your data sources? Two, outdated data – can your data keep up with real-time? Three, inadequate data – do you have an individual’s full story?

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The Future Of Travel Loyalty

The days of one big brand owning a customer relationship are over. Supporting mobile wallets, integrating loyalty programmes and just some of the ways travel businesses can become smarter about loyalty data and technology in the future.

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AI Ringing The Changes For Digital Travel

With some travellers visiting 38 sites before booking travel, online search is the first step for many potential customers. Yet, 43% of leisure travellers and 51% of business travellers want to spend less time searching for flights. Enter stage left, Artificial Intelligence and deep learning, offering the opportunity to become more creative targeting travellers.

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Where Is Your Data Centre?

Microsoft has submerged a data centre 120 miles off the coast of Scotland. The submarine-like Project Natick is a 40-foot long tube with 12 racks and a total of 864 servers. It could become a game changer if it works out, with similar underwater installations taking just 90 days, rather than two years to install.

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P&O Ferries Goes Mobile

Delighted to share the news that one of our clients, P&O Ferries is forging ahead with digital. The introduction of a new mobile app will mean customers no longer use paper tickets. The app will also feature an interactive guide to ferries and on-board offers.

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Windowless Planes

Emirates’ new first-class suite has no windows but projects virtual views instead. Emirates president, Sir Tim Clark said the innovation will enable aircraft to fly higher, faster and burn less fuel and the ultimate aim is to have no windows at all

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Learn, Listen, Ask

Did you know that in Bulgaria, people tend to shake their head to mean “yes”, rather than nod? Another excellent HBR article on working across cultures. There are three things you can do to identify cultural differences on a global team – learn, listen and ask.

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Man Sacked By Machine

Forget about the robots taking our jobs, the machines have started firing people! A simple automation mistake in his organisation’s system caused everything to collapse for one Californian software developer. A cautionary tale - stay safe out there people.