How can the retail revolution unlock double-digit gains for airlines?

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Short runway, big payoff

Airline technology trends

Recalibrating celebrations in uncertain times

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The 2022 holiday shopping and travel report 

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COVID-19 is reshaping how consumers plan to shop, work, and travel.

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2020 Holiday shopping and travel trends

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Helping airlines take advantage of the future disruptive computational power of quantum computing

It’s the quantum decade. Our insights and use cases help visionary companies begin to realize business value from quantum computing.

Quantum

Quantum - Research, reports, and insights

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Exploring quantum computing use cases for airlines

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Airlines and hoteliers that prioritize customer needs could gain volume and loyalty advantages that help them outperform the competition.

Navigating travel in the wake of COVID-19

Our patented custom survey method and toolset enable us to provide meaningful and accurate comparisons of performance tailored to each client’s priorities

Performance data and benchmarking

Benchmarking

Information technology

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We found one third of cybersecurity incidents at travel companies are IIoT related. Read why some companies are more resilient than others.

Our studies show how innovative enterprises are combining IoT with AI and automation to yield powerful data insights and putting them to use.

Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT - Research, reports, and insights

Our studies equip technology experts with comprehensive analyses of evolving cybersecurity trends, enabling them to devise robust strategies against escalating threats.

Security

Security - Research, reports, and insights

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IIoT cybersecurity for travel companies

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Simplifying the supply chain can improve the customer experience and deliver a competitive advantage.

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Data sharing across transport ecosystems

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Blockchain can help brands build trust now and in a post-pandemic world.

We look at how leading companies use blockchain to create new business models through trust, transparency, and data synchronization.

Blockchain

Blockchain - Research, reports, and insights

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Forging the future of hospitality

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The 2021 holiday shopping and travel outlook

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Vaccines, variants, and deja vu

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Explore how AI is reshaping travel and transportation by optimizing operations, enhancing logistics, and personalizing the traveler experience.

Airlines have long aspired to become great retailers. If they can deliver passenger experiences that mirror what customers enjoy in other sectors, improved revenue and profit margins can flow. Yet rigid legacy systems and uncertain paths to progress have frustrated these ambitions. Airline executives can’t help but wonder, what will it take to succeed this time around?Already, cutting-edge airline distribution solutions are reshaping how the airline industry brings their products to market—enabling them to personalize offers, engage customers directly, and streamline travel experiences. Airlines can now rearchitect customer offers, orders, settlement, and delivery—OOSD for short—enabled by the New Distribution Capability (NDC) and ONE Order, which are modern data transmission standards developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).While these evolving standards are by no means perfect, they offer a path for better, cheaper, more personalized air travel distribution, all while increasing strategic flexibility, improving decision-making, and eliminating vendor lock-in.<blockquote>Airlines can now bundle optimally priced offers targeted to individual customer interest, preferences, and loyalty.</blockquote>&nbsp; With more service-oriented platforms and new technologies, airlines can also improve customer satisfaction, grow revenue, and reduce operational and IT complexity. Longstanding aviation industry data anchors, including passenger name records (PNRs), tickets, and electronic miscellaneous documents (EMDs), will become redundant and irrelevant.In the offer and order management domains, the emerging solutions have more in common with e-commerce technologies than traditional airline systems and are better suited to interact with AI chatbots to drive revenue. And advancements in offer and order management solutions enable the move to retail-hardened solutions for settlement and delivery, helping airlines reduce both cost and complexity. They also help airlines deliver more consistently and settle with partners and other providers in more timely and accurate ways.<blockquote>More than 90% of airlines expect to make widespread changes to their distribution systems by 2030.</blockquote>&nbsp; To better understand this critical moment—and how airlines are responding to evolving technology trends—the IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed 200 leaders from large global airlines in the second and third quarters of 2025, in partnership with Oxford Economics.What business results can airlines expect from modernization? According to our research, airlines that say their order management transformation initiatives are almost complete expect up to 17% higher revenue improvements and up to 24% greater cost reductions from these efforts. Airline executives also anticipate improved customer intimacy and satisfaction (69%), increased revenue growth (66%), and reduced dependence on a single IT provider (48%).The advantage early leaders have gained is likely to compound if other airlines continue to delay forward-looking upgrades or stand on the sidelines waiting to see how this industry transformation will unfold. &nbsp;Percentages reflect financial improvements executives expect across OOSD solutions by 2030.<figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:3000/2766;" src="/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/uploads/en/o_Y6_MAYGZ_Krx_Auf_H3_N_Cgji_B1_D_8b085d343f.png" width="3000" height="2766" alt="Airline executives expect revenue improvements and cost reductions across offer, order, deliver, and settlement by 2030."></figure> &nbsp;<h3>Time is of the essence.</h3>More than 90% of airlines expect to make widespread changes to their distribution systems by 2030. And according to our research, some are far ahead: roughly 40% of airlines have already made big strides toward transforming their OOSD solutions.By shortening time-to-market for new promotions, allocating resources more strategically, and optimizing cost structures as market conditions change, forward-looking airlines are building a clear competitive advantage. Integrating OOSD systems also lets airlines provide seamless customer experiences.<blockquote>Airline CxOs cite legacy systems as the top barrier limiting modernization and thwarting innovation.</blockquote>&nbsp; What will it take for airlines to operate more like modern retailers? It doesn’t have to be al all-or-nothing gamble. By prioritizing specific areas of improvement and tackling business model changes incrementally, airlines can minimize disruption to their existing operations while still making meaningful progress.For example, focusing on AI-powered personalization can help build the customer loyalty that delivers better returns. Or rolling out a mobile-first platform for delivering travel documents can improve the travel experience by letting customers check-in and access boarding passes, hotel vouchers, and rental car confirmations on their mobile devices.Artificial intelligence also gives airlines the opportunity to combine analytics from customer relationship management (CRM) systems with data from their ERP platforms to inform each customer interaction, building offers that adequately account for both demand and overall customer value. This level of customization lets airlines bundle offers in a way that will be most attractive to individual travelers—at their ideal price point. In addition to boosting sales in slow periods, offer personalization can help improve Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and ancillary revenue per passenger.<blockquote>Improved customer intimacy and satisfaction and increased revenue growth are the top benefits airline executives expect from transformation.</blockquote>&nbsp; Another top priority is integrating passenger data across touch points, including third-party retailing platforms, which lets airlines offer tailored ancillary products and dynamic pricing. Hyper-segmentation and personalized pricing have been elusive goals for most airlines, but AI-driven capabilities finally put them within reach. With emerging technologies and standards, advanced data analytics, and machine learning algorithms airlines can optimize pricing and revenue management, considering factors such as demand, competition, and customer behavior.Download the report to learn how the next phase of digital transformation can enable real-time offer creation, management, and distribution that cuts costs and drives revenue growth.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Travel and Transportation

Travel and Transportation - Research, reports and insights

The Internet transformed commercial transactions between travel companies and their customers in the late 1990s. Today, social media, mobile devices, analytics and cloud are ushering yet another new era of change into the travel industry. Collectively, these digital developments are transforming how travelers interact with the companies that serve them. Travelers are more connected and empowered, increasingly seeking digital engagement with greater transparency. What&rsquo;s more, many travel companies face competition from different areas.

In a manner reminiscent of the dot.com boom, the use of social media by consumers &mdash; as well as its adoption by corporations &mdash; is exploding. At the same time, a mobile revolution is well underway, presenting a steady stream of improvements that make customer-company interactions more timely and relevant. Both these developments are already proving transformative, and both are expected to generate vast amounts of new data that will fuel yet another wave of revolutionary change.

The power of analytics is indisputable, even as travel companies are learning how to fully tap into that power. And in adjacent indus&not;tries, cloud is not just enabling business &mdash; it is redefining consumer value while sparking innovative operations and business models. All this portends a significantly different, and far more digitally enabled future for travelers and the providers that compete for their business.

In other industries, analytics, cloud and additional emerging technology innovations &mdash; including 3D printing, nanotech-nology and biotech applications, and more &mdash; have begun driving major economic, societal and business shifts. Digitally-enabled technologies empower and connect individuals more easily and more regularly with businesses, governments and other institutions. In turn, these innovations are transforming organizational models, introducing new sources of competition and increasing the expectations of empowered consumers. Travel companies should watch these developments closely because similar developments are bound to impact the travel ecosystem as well.

The internet revolution of the late 1990s has produced an army of uber-connected consumers seeking 24/7 access and complete transparency. More recently, with the advent of social media, a growing subset of these always-on denizens has also come to expect greater personal influence and participation. Given this backdrop, it is no surprise that 63 percent of the 1,100 executives we surveyed expect consumers to gain even more power and influence over their businesses. Surprisingly, only 41 percent of travel executives share this sentiment, which may suggest that travel executives are targeting different consumers, or they are not picking up on the same trends as their counterparts in other industries.

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The culmination of all of these forces creates the reinventionimperative. Most organizations, but especially those in the travel sector, have not yet fathomed the full implications of these new technologies. When asked what kind of digital strategy their enterprise has, more than 60 percent of CEOs surveyed in our 2012 CEO survey told us they lack an inte-grated physical and mobile strategy.1 This finding also held true in our conversations with travel industry CEOs.

Following travelers into a radically different tomorrow

The digital reinvention of travel

Digital reinvention of travel

3D printing is a hot topic in many industries and a source of uncertainty. From the perspective of transportation providers, however, if just one industry &ndash; or even a small portion of many industries &ndash;embrace 3D printing, it could have profound impacts on size and shape of demand for transportation services. 
 
A 3D printing-based production process circumvents many of the challenges and limitations of traditional manufacturing, especially those that lead to trade-offs between production and design and between production and transport. While 3D printers cannot make every imaginable product, the inventory of what can be produced is astonishing. 3D-printed products include those made from materials as diverse as plastic, metal and human tissue, and as complex as replacement joints, consumer clothing and engine parts. The number and complexity of products continues to grow rapidly. 
 
Of course, 3D printing it not on a clear trajectory to overturn the decades of development and investment in traditional manufacturing and the robust supply chains that support it; there are significant impediments that must be overcome before its future will be secured. 
 
The existing supply chain, with all its inefficiencies, is deeply entrenched. More important, 3D printing production, while more efficient and straightforward in theory, is not yet supported by its own supply chain. This gap may actually be an opportunity for transport providers, which can play a vital role in positioning inputs and products where they are needed in a 3D printing-centric supply chain.

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The pillars of modern consumption, design, production, transport, selection and final delivery, are inexorably linked. The practical constraints inherent in each step in this chain of activities are inherited by the entire process. For this reason, beautifully designed plans that cannot be built are about as commercially useful as masterfully crafted prod-ucts that cannot be not delivered. This fact gives rise to the demand for transportation services of all sorts &mdash; for moving raw materials, transporting intermediate goods and parts, and, of course, for delivering finished goods to wholesales, retailers and consumers who buy them.

Another more subtle consequence of this deep interdepen-dence is that radical leaps forward in any one of these pillars have the potential to dramatically impact the others and change the way the whole system of consumption works. On its face, 3D printing could change the funda-mentals of modern consumption and alter the role trans-portation companies play within it.

Understanding the implications of 3D printing on the global transportation industry

Shifting transport paradigms

3D printing in the transportation industry

Building a cognitive approach to travel loyalty

In the first installment of the travel loyalty series, &ldquo;Discount discontents: How loyalty programs can deepen engagement, improve profits and drive brand allegiance,&rdquo; we concluded travel providers should balance popular loyalty rewards with specific enhancements to engage travelers.1 In this report, we extend the concept by asserting that leading-edge, cognitive-computing tools can be used to increase intimacy with both the most frequent travelers and oft-overlooked occasional travelers. Our recent survey reveals travelers &mdash; even loyalty-program members &mdash; often feel estranged from a travel provider&rsquo;s brand. In response, providers should focus on building loyalty programs that facilitate a cognitive version of travel self-service. This can be accomplished by harvesting data from a wider variety of sources, assessing the collected data to generate specific insights about traveler preferences and patterns, and delivering these insights to all relevant touchpoints. This cognitive approach to loyalty can lead to more personalized interactions and help travel brands form meaningful relationships with more loyal travelers.

Most travel providers have placed an outsized share of attention and investment on top-tier travelers for decades, lavishing them with everything from well-stocked private lounges to service by more highly trained and available employees. Since top travelers drive a disproportionate share of both revenue and profit, such strategies seemed sensible. This concerted focus, however, left the larger group of relatively infrequent travelers to suffer the countless indignities of cost-reduction efforts. While travel got better for the loyal elite, service, comfort and convenience deteriorated for everyone else.

The advent and success of travel loyalty programs, and the subsequent emergence and growth of travel self-service, allowed providers, in theory, to counter-balance the service and experience inequities between so-called &ldquo;elite travelers&rdquo; and &ldquo;the masses.&rdquo; Self-service solutions for everything from booking to check-in were designed to be the great equalizer by providing infrequent travelers access to the same tools and processes as those enjoyed by the elite. Loyalty programs ,with their non-travel spend rewards, offered occasional travelers the opportunity to earn some of the perks and privileges enjoyed by the most seasoned travelers, who use frequent travel to gain access to airport lounges and executive floors.

Unfortunately, neither of these programs worked. Top-tier travelers ended up sharing &ldquo;their&rdquo; privileges, and infrequent travelers were still reduced to sitting in the backs of crowded planes or trying to sleep in hotel rooms next to noisy elevators. The result? Loyalty programs have failed to improve traveler allegiance, and self-service has deepened the rift between travelers and brands.

Enhancing loyalty programs to connect with all travelers, not just million-mile mavens

Travel loyalty: Cognitive connections

In this, the third and final installment of the IBM Institute for Business Value travel loyalty series, we examine how loyalty programs can create a lasting legacy of highly personalized benefits and services for all customers, ranging from the million-mile elite to the occasional traveler. To do so will require providers to change the orientation of their programs from volume-based discounts to customer-insight driven programs attuned to individual customer desires, as well as extend the reach of loyalty by working with ecosystem partners and loyalty program coalitions.

The first two installments in our travel loyalty series made strong arguments that loyalty programs, even the best ones, have significant room to improve. In the first report, <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/travel-loyalty" target="_blank">&ldquo;Discount discontents: How loyalty programs can deepen engagement, improve profits and drive brand allegiance,&rdquo;</a> we concluded that travel providers should balance popular loyalty rewards with specific enhancements to engage travelers. In our second report, &ldquo;Cognitive connections: Enhancing loyalty programs to connect with all travelers, not just million-mile mavens,&rdquo; we extended our thinking by asserting that leading-edge cognitive computing tools can be used to increase intimacy with both the most frequent travelers and oft-overlooked occasional travelers. In this final installment, we will examine how, with less of a focus on discounts and more emphasis on travel personalization and customer relationships, travel providers can engender a new era of genuine traveler loyalty.

Today, few loyalty programs are actually engaging travelers in meaningful ways, and even fewer are using the insights they glean from traveler/brand interactions to improve future experiences through personalized communications and offers. Overcoming these limitations should be a top priority for travel leaders and the executives that manage loyalty programs.

But companies that master the art of traveler engagement, and even those that apply leading-edge cognitive analysis tools to help unlock the secrets and insights hidden in traveler transaction data, will need a better loyalty model. They will realize that, even with better data and more meaningful insights about traveler preferences, their current systems of engagement are only capable of delivering personalization to a handful of the most elite travelers. They are not structured to deliver personalization at scale to consumers at the bottom of the loyalty pyramid. This is because only a handful of variables exist against which they can deliver customized services. To make matters worse, most of those variables require manual intervention from staff, or are limited to scarce assets, such as hotel suites or first-class seats.

Building a cognitive approach to travel loyalty

Travel loyalty: Loyalty’s legacy

Travel: Incumbents Strike Back

Analytics: The upside of disruption - Travel and Transportation Industry Point of View

Cognitive innovation in transportation

Contact Center Metrics: Travel Hospitality Benchmark Portal North America Report

Expedited delivery: How transportation companies can thrive with blockchain - Chinese

Expedited delivery: How transportation companies can thrive with blockchain - Japanese

Hotel 2020: The personalization paradox

Hotel 2020: The personalization paradox - Chinese

Incumbents Strike Back: Insights from the Global C-suite Study - Transportation

Incumbents Strike Back: Insights from the Global C-suite Study - Transportation - Chinese

Incumbents Strike Back: Insights from the Global C-suite Study - Travel

Incumbents Strike Back: Insights from the Global C-suite Study - Travel - Chinese

Making connections: Using SOA to enable collaboration in travel and transportation

Mobile mavens: Leading the travel experience revolution - Chinese

Redefining Boundaries: Insights from the Global C-suite Study - Travel and Transportation

Shifting transport paradigms: Understanding the implications of 3D printing on the globaltransportation industry - Chinese

Smarter Enterprise Transportation Point of View: Transforming the Transportation Industry

The digital reinvention of travel: Following travellers into a radically different tomorrow - Chinese

The millennial monsoon: Improving returns from a young generation of travelers

The millennial monsoon: Improving returns from a young generation of travelers - Chinese

The smarter railroad: An opportunity for the railroad industry

The smarter railroad: An opportunity for the railroad industry - Chinese

Travel 2020: The distribution dilemma-Enhancing collaboration to enrich the traveler experience and improve profitability

Travel 2020: The distribution dilemma-Enhancing collaboration to enrich the traveler experience and improve profitability - Chinese

Travel loyalty – Discount discontents: How loyalty programs can deepen engagement improve profits and drive brand allegiance - Chinese

Travel loyalty: Cognitive connections Enhancing loyalty programs to connect with all travelers, not just million-mile mavens - Chinese

Build Your Trust Advantage: Transportation point-of-view

Build Your Trust Advantage: Insights from Global C-suite Study - Travel PoV

COVID-19 Recovery Planning Guide for Travel Providers

COVID-19 impact on individual perspectives, perceptions and behaviors

Shifting toward Enterprise-grade AI in Travel: Resolving data and skills gaps to realize value

Navigating travel in the wake of COVID-19: Four ways the industry can rebound - Chinese

For decades, transportation executives viewed the industry as a cut-throat competition to win the business of global shippers. In this view of the market, the ongoing battle for freight volumes defined most interactions in the supply chain. Prevailing incentives justified the frequent addition of complex and costly services to win contracts, the near-constant undercutting of freight rates, and almost any sacrifice that would increase market share.

Fortunately, at the insistence of ever more powerful global shippers, the industry has been shaken out of this destructive paradigm and forced to consider ecosystems as an alternative to counterproductive rivalries. The transportation industry is quickly recognizing that working together in ecosystems has set the industry on a course toward happier customers, more profitable providers, and a more sustainable future for the entire industry.

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Ecosystems deliver value for customers by smoothing over operational choke points.
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Global supply chains have typically been highly complex systems of interdependence and mutual exchange. Visionary leaders, the very leaders that forged the earliest examples of transportation ecosystems, know that thriving in the transportation market demands cooperation among partners, competitors, and even rivals. Isolated operational efficiency gains that do not translate into noticeable improvements for shippers fail to win new business or generate price premiums.

Because so much of what global shipping buyers depend on is driven by interactions and hand-offs among transportation service providers, improvements made by individual transport companies rarely translate into significant efficiency gains to the overall supply chain. Transportation leaders have come to understand that ecosystems offer the potential to deliver the types of improvements customers require.

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52% of ecosystem experts expect ecosystems to improve cross-partner collaboration and interoperability.
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The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), in collaboration with Oxford Economics, conducted a comprehensive survey of providers who participate in transportation ecosystems. Data was collected from executives from 500 transportation providers across 14 countries between November 2019 and January 2020. In this report, we share the insights, strategies, and future plans of study participants, as well as our recommendations on how other transportation providers can optimize the benefits of transportation ecosystems in the years ahead.

Transportation ecosystems can offer a competitive advantage 

In the recent past, the word &ldquo;ecosystem&rdquo; was rarely uttered in the halls of global transportation providers. The concept, according to prevailing wisdom, applied to cutting-edge technology companies, not to the companies that use heavy machines and diesel fuel to move cargo around the globe. It is stunning how quickly and how completely this paradigm has shifted.

Today, because ecosystems are so deeply embedded in the strategies and plans of the global transportation industry, not a single respondent to our ecosystem survey suggested that ecosystems would quickly fade from view or decline into irrelevance. In fact, while a small handful of respondents (1%) believe ecosystems will not gain much more traction in the next 5 to 10 years, the vast majority (88%) expect that ecosystems will either continue to gain traction or will quickly come to dominate market interactions in the industry. Ecosystems, it seems, are here to stay.

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The growing popularity of transportation ecosystems may be helping to spread new revenue with a broader base of industry participants.
</blockquote>

The growth of ecosystems in the transportation industry is partially explained by the fact that companies find them &ldquo;addictive,&rdquo; and then often subsequently increase the depth and breadth of their ecosystem involvement. Indeed, 80% of transportation companies that are involved in an ecosystem today plan to maintain or increase ecosystem involvement in the next 3 years. Even more telling is the fact that fully 10% of companies plan to start a new ecosystem in the same period.

Investment plans also point to continued growth in transportation ecosystems. Transportation companies are currently directing about 9% of their investment capital toward ecosystems. Companies that start down the ecosystem path continue to increase their financial commitment to ecosystems each year, leading 11% of corporate investments toward ecosystems in the next 3 years.

Spreading like wildfire: 67% of respondents expect ecosystems to gain traction slowly and steadily.

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Read the full report to see what separates ecosystem experts from their peers, and to&nbsp;discover how ecosystems can improve the customer experience.

In the wake of COVID-19, restaurants, hotels, and airlines have to focus on meeting today&rsquo;s most pressing need: making customers and employees feel safe and cared for throughout an entire hospitality experience.&nbsp;

Forging the future of hospitality: Blockchain for trust now and in a post-pandemic world - Chinese

In the wake of COVID-19, restaurants, hotels, and airlines have to focus on meeting today&rsquo;s most pressing need: making customers and employees feel safe and cared for throughout an entire hospitality experience.

In <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/covid-19-future-business">a recent survey</a> customers and employees viewed &ldquo;businesses having clear plans for ensuring sanitary and COVID-safe environments&rdquo; as the top priority in order for them to resume in-person visits or a return to the workplace. The availability of COVID-19 vaccines has added another variable to this trust equation. Beyond the question of testing, have workers and customers been vaccinated, and how can this be verified to reinforce trust in a particular travel or hospitality environment?

While earning that trust won&rsquo;t be easy, it&rsquo;s a necessary precursor to higher revenue. <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/navigating-travel-covid19" target="_blank">Recent survey results</a> predict a slow return of customers to travel, with a majority not planning to travel in the near future. Many doubt they will fly or board a cruise ship even after the virus wanes.

<blockquote>
It&rsquo;s the time for the hospitality industry to rethink what&rsquo;s possible.
</blockquote>

In fact, acknowledging there will be no speedy return to the way things were reveals an essential opportunity confronting the hospitality industry. It&rsquo;s the time to rethink what&rsquo;s possible, reengage with customers based on what they really want, and reimagine how best to deliver an experience that engenders trust enough to generate demand.

Transparency and trust across the experience

Companies that rethink and retool now will emerge in a more competitive posture than those who focus solely on survival. They will be leaping ahead of the pack by pursuing what is, in fact, a new opportunity: better informed, more engaged customers and staff will help drive increased sales, loyalty, and overall satisfaction.

To accomplish this, a &ldquo;go-it-alone&rdquo; strategy won&rsquo;t be viable. A customer may feel safe in a hotel. But if they don&rsquo;t trust how they&rsquo;ll get there&mdash;airport, flight, transfer to the hotel&mdash;they won&rsquo;t be staying, nor will they be frequenting any of the restaurants, theaters, or sports venues nearby. Conversely, brands that collaborate to offer transparency and integration that support safety, security, and trust will capture greater market share.

<blockquote>
Brands that collaborate to offer transparency and integration that support safety, security, and trust will capture greater market share.
</blockquote>

Viewed another way, in order to guarantee an outstanding customer experience that&rsquo;s dependent on so many actors, all the parts must act as a whole. As with a rowing crew where everyone rowing in sync wins&mdash;and just one person not pulling their weight can drag the entire boat down&mdash;transparency and consistency across an entire experience is the key to unlocking customer trust.

Hospitality businesses will need to consider how to establish and participate in &ldquo;platforms of trust;&rdquo; active ecosystems that provide simple, integrated, consistent, safe experiences for a customer. The hospitality industry should also actively seek to learn from other industries&mdash;healthcare, for example. In healthcare, blockchain has been used to infuse speed, accountability, and transparency across the vaccine distribution system and help maintain public trust in a vaccine&rsquo;s efficacy.

Blockchain offers a secure way to share customer data

Perhaps most importantly, successful hospitality companies will redefine for themselves what it means to know their customers and how to build seamless experiences that cater to them. Prior to the pandemic, many were beginning to understand how best to use customer data and were focused, understandably, on personalization.

But the pandemic has accelerated the need to be more sophisticated. One way is by integrating customer data with self-service apps in real time. Another is by exploring opportunities to share data in ways that maintain privacy but improve and expand the scope of the customer experience across the entire hospitality ecosystem.

<blockquote>
Blockchain will be a key ally in helping the hospitality industry coordinate more securely with partners across the value chain.
</blockquote>

Daunting, to say the least. But there are technologies&mdash;blockchain, in particular&mdash;that can assist. In fact, blockchain, working in concert with other exponential technologies, such as AI and IoT, will be a key ally in helping the hospitality industry thrive by reassuring customers and staff to make them feel safe and well-cared for, as well as enabling ways for partners in the value chain to coordinate more securely with each other.

Touchless travel platforms create a safe and seamless customer journey

<img alt="Touchless travel platforms create a safe and seamless customer journey" height="348" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/bc3a83deb22e4c9a958a17b1a3296963.jpg" width="730" />

Read the full report to learn how blockchain can help your company create compelling experiences that will attract loyal customers in a post-pandemic world.

The travel industry is still reeling from the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. News regularly surfaces about financial restructuring plans, government support packages, bankruptcies, and layoffs in every sector. Many airlines, hotels, cruise operators, travel agencies, and rental car companies are in the throes of crisis management. But even as critical decisions continue to consume corporate boards in the travel industry, industry leaders need to get to recovery planning.

A 2020 IBM Institute for Business Value Market Research Insights Survey of 5,054 U.S. adults predict a slow return of travelers: 62 percent of respondents say they won&rsquo;t travel in the next six months, and many aren&rsquo;t willing to attend conferences (55 percent), visit theme parks (43 percent), or attend live sporting events (45 percent).&nbsp; Even when new cases of the virus wane and curves flatten, 18 percent say they will never again travel by plane, and 36% won&rsquo;t board a cruise ship.

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Optimism is not a viable strategy. Travel providers have to avoid the temptation to &ldquo;wait it out.&rdquo;
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This crisis is different 

The industry survived a decline in air travel after the 9-11 attacks on the US, a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 that crippled Asian tourism, and consumer belt-tightening during the 2008 global financial crisis. Each of those events impaired the industry&rsquo;s ability to supply travel services. Yet in all but the immediate aftermath of prior crises, underlying travel demand was relatively stable.

COVID-19 created a severe, global, and sustained demand shock for travel services. SARS wasn&rsquo;t a global event and smaller in magnitude, and 9-11 a short-lived and localized supply shock. The global financial crisis, too, had little impact on travel demand or supply. But recovery from COVID-19 will come. We suggest four essential priorities to help travel companies get there: engage, differentiate, optimize, and reimagine.

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For travel companies, enterprise survival versus long-term viability isn&rsquo;t the same thing.
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Engage: Interact with travelers 

Getting it right will require new procedures, robust communication, and more traveler use of personal mobile devices and other self-service technologies. The first order of business is to engage travelers in ways that help them feel safe.

Differentiate: Forge lasting relationships 

Winning back the traveler isn&rsquo;t going to be enough. Post-pandemic structural industry changes will result in substantially different competitive conditions. &ldquo;Me-too&rdquo; products and services&mdash;after all, airlines buy aircraft and seats from the same few providers and offer similar services onboard&mdash;may not motivate customers nor justify premium pricing.

Optimize: Adjust operations to maintain cost discipline 

During the initial impact of COVID-19, many hotel companies moved quickly to cut costs in the back office. Immediate cuts included furloughs and staff layoffs; stopping projects that were non-essential to core operations; negotiating with service providers to defer payments on large technology investments; selling debt, and using loyalty points as collateral.

Reimagine: Recreate business models as elastic

Some industry leaders view the recovery period as an opportunity to restructure debt burdens and justify painfully, but often long overdue, cost reduction campaigns. Travel providers that do a good job at shifting from fixed to variable costs will be better positioned in the future, which is why most are intent on bringing more elasticity to their highest cost departments and operations.

Find your essential: How to thrive in a post-pandemic reality - Travel PoV

Find your essential: How to thrive in a post-pandemic reality - Transportation PoV

The business of social business: Travel and Transportation

Accidental agitators: Digital Reinvention in transportation - Japanese

Here, there and everywhere: Digital Reinvention in travel - Japanese

Here, there and everywhere: Digital Reinvention in travel - Chinese

Accidental agitators: Digital Reinvention in transportation - Chinese

Travel Experience Index

Global Industry Agenda - Travel

Global Industry Agenda 

Global Industry Agenda - Transportation

Redefining Boundaries: Insights from the Global C-suite Study - Travel and Transportation - Chinese

Cloud Transportation POV: IBV Cloud Industry POV series - Chinese

Cloud Transportation POV: IBV Cloud Industry POV series

Many travel executives understand the power cognitive computing has to transform their industry. However, even the most advanced travel companies are only making initial forays into cognitive computing by experimenting with chat-bots and robots &ndash; a good starting point for much greater cognitive opportunities. Based on a survey of travel and transportation executives, we developed a vision for the industry&rsquo;s cognitive future and a set of recommendations for realizing that vision. We found that, after aligning cognitive priorities with core strategic objectives, travel companies can embrace their organizations&rsquo; data complexities to generate cognitive insights, deliver those insights to frontline staff and apply lessons from cognitive-ready travel leaders. These actions can help travel companies create cognitive programs that improve the travel experience, streamline travel operations &ndash; or do both.

When we initiated a survey of global travel executives on the topic of cognitive computing, we expected to find many companies whose cognitive efforts were blazing a trail in the travel industry. Instead, we found an industry that is just starting to explore this transformational technology. For the most part, companies in the travel space are implementing cognitive solutions in the form of chat-bots and robots, neither of which have matured enough to advance crucial strategies in the industry or demonstrate the technology&rsquo;s full capabilities. For now, most of the industry is in a wait-and-see mode, with just a few players conducting fairly small-scale, low-risk cognitive projects.

Fortunately, several travel companies we surveyed have enough experience with cognitive computing to provide useful lessons to others. These companies tend to view cognitive investments as part of a larger strategic agenda. They are also more likely to focus time and energy on both the solution design and data quality associated with their cognitive plans.

Perhaps not surprisingly, cognitive-ready travel leaders favor an iterative approach to solution development, eschewing the big-bang approach to projects that tends to dominate the industry. Finally, cognitive-ready travel leaders believe that success is a function of time-tested project management fundamentals, such as empowering well-motivated teams and using project management metrics that link to desired financial and customer-related outcomes.

It is the great ambition of travel leaders the world over to apply cognitive computing to every aspect of their businesses: from inspiration and marketing, to shopping and distribution, to provisioning of services and post-trip traveler engagement.

The promised industry transformation would bring travel providers closer to their customers by exploiting the mysteries locked away in big data. Simultaneously, it would transform current complex operational and business-decision-support mechanisms into more automated, efficient systems, run on and improved by artificial intelligence. Collectively, these are bold claims, and while any one of them may be on the near horizon for a few travel companies, most travel executives feel that the companies they manage are a long way from realizing these lofty ambitions.

Most of the respondents in our survey believe that industry transformation is possible and that other companies are doing it fairly well today. More precisely, 43 percent of travel executives we surveyed can describe a cognitive project or program that could transform their company or the travel industry in general. What&rsquo;s more, 35 percent of travel executives say they can describe a company in the industry whose cognitive efforts they admire. Clearly, the potential for cognitive computing is now well understood in the travel industry.

Delivering on the cognitive promise in travel

Exploring the unrealized potential of cognitive computing in the travel industry

Tailoring Hybrid Cloud for Travel - Chinese

Tailoring Hybrid Cloud for Travel

Winning Cloud Strategies for Travel

Assembling Your Cloud Orchestra: A Field Guide to Multicloud Management for Travel & Transportation

Cloud Travel POV: IBV Cloud Industry POV series - Chinese

Cloud Travel POV: IBV Cloud Industry POV series

Winning Cloud Strategies for Transportation

Automation Integration and Analytics: Charting Change in the Container Shipping Industry

APQC and IBM Airline Process Classification Framework (PCF) v6.1.0 and v7.0.5

CBM - Component Business Modelling maps for Airlines - PCF & Metrics Mapping

In 1964, the Sabre airline reservation system was released, and it quickly became the largest private, real-time <a href="https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/sabre/" target="_blank">data processing system in the world.</a> Then, in the late 1990s, the internet transformed the travel industry again. Passengers are more connected than ever, but the systems that once propelled the travel industry forward now often hold it back. Inflexible, cumbersome travel processes can be difficult to use compared to other industries.

In 2017, mobile will account for 40 percent of <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Drives-Growth-of-Online-Travel-Bookings/1016053" target="_blank">US digital travel sales.</a> A growing number of people are using smartphones to plan their trips. Digital travel sales in the US will reach $189.62 billion this year, and 40 percent of those sales will come <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Drives-Growth-of-Online-Travel-Bookings/1016053" target="_blank">from mobile devices.</a> As of 2013, 75 percent of the world&rsquo;s travelers use tablets and smartphones while traveling, so connectedness is nearing ubiquity. Those numbers are expected to grow over time because travelers who don&rsquo;t have smart phones aren&rsquo;t able to access important information about flight delays and hotel upgrades. This type of up-to-the minute information is mainly available only to those passengers who are connected.

Like many industries, travel is made more meaningful through personalization. But to personalize effectively, the provider must be aware of travelers&rsquo; individual preferences, including their preferred channels. For an increasing number of people, that channel is mobile. In 2017, 57.5 million US adults will use a smartphone to book a trip. This figure is up 14.1 percent over last year and represents 81.2 percent of <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Drives-Growth-of-Online-Travel-Bookings/1016053" target="_blank">all mobile travel bookers.</a>

Because digital interactions with passengers generate accurate and timely insights, they are a great way to gather and apply customer prefer-ences. But many travel companies could be doing better at this core skill. Many travelers are less pleased with the digital experiences deliv-ered through airline websites, mobile apps and social channels than they are with experiences delivered by employees.

In fact, according to a survey by the Atmosphere Research Group for the International Air Transport Association, 39 percent of leisure passengers and 45 percent of business passengers believe they use too many websites <a href="https://www.iata.org/en/programs/airline-distribution/ndc/#tab-2">and apps to find flights.</a> And according to the IBM Travel Experience Index, airlines and hotels should seek to improve digital interactions by mimicking the most personalized human-<a href="https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/PKPWGPZX" target="_blank">delivered traveler interactions.</a> By applying customer preferences and data from previous customer interactions, travel providers can personalize their services and offers.

Mobile technology has the potential to dramatically increase customer satisfaction through deeper engagement and personalization, and by empowering employees to connect with travelers

Leading the travel experience revolution

People feel deeply emotional about travel. While banking, shopping and similar experiences are important and personal, discussions about miles, suite upgrades and boarding privileges tend to strike a deeper cord. Over the past 20 years, the global travel industry has been at the vanguard of digital innovation. And it is also leading the way in terms of ecosystem evolution. But the industry&rsquo;s technological leadership has become a two-edged sword. By leading with experience, the industry has conditioned its customers to expect experience leadership. And customer expectations are destined to become more comprehensive and demanding. By embracing the philosophy of Digital Reinvention&reg;, the travel industry can work to sustain its momentum by meeting and eventually exceeding travelers&rsquo; most personal aspirations and deepest desires.&nbsp;

Whether due to the astounding success of customer affinity programs or, perhaps, because of something unique about the travel experience, people have deeply personal feelings about how they move from place to place. At the same time, since the commercialization of the Internet in the 1990s, the travel industry has been a clear leader in digital adoption and disruption. Through its drive to rapidly adopt technology for operations and processes, new products, services and experiences, and paradigm-shattering business models, the travel industry has led the way.

And the pace of change in global travel is only increasing. Innovation from across the technology spectrum continues to reshape the industry. For example, industry leaders such as Airbus have embraced 3D-printing technology to improve tooling, prototyping and part-making &ndash; initially for high-complexity, low-scale items, but increasingly for lower-complexity, <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2016/04/28/a-printed-smile" target="_blank">higher-scale components.</a> Air France-KLM now provides a personal digital travel concierge, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), to <a href="https://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2017/02/air-france-klms-customer-intimacy-strategy/" target="_blank">select customers.</a> Global hotel chain Marriott is using virtual reality (VR) to help customers enjoy intimate travel stories about unique destinations around the world from the safety and <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Marriotts-Virtual-Reality-Transports-Guests-Around-World/1013409" target="_blank">comfort of their own homes</a>. And Japan-based Henn-Na Hotels now employs intelligent robots to carry luggage, staff luggage lockers and <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/digital-transformation/wp-content/blogs.dir/94/mp/files/pages/files/dti-aviation-travel-and-tourism-industry-slideshare-updated.pdf" target="_blank">provide housekeeping services.</a>

Using cognitive computing and AI, global hotel chain Hilton is piloting a service named &ldquo;Connie&rdquo; to engage with guests about topics such as local tourist attractions, <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3042401/meet-connie-hilton-s-smart-robot-concierge.html" target="_blank">dining recommendations and hotel features.</a> And the Sydney Airport in Australia is employing predictive analytics to help reduce parking congestion, improve passenger lounge access and optimize flow-through in its <a href="https://cloudtweaks.com/2014/04/big-data-can-help-advertisers/" target="_blank">duty-free shops.</a> Another Australian travel business, Webjet, is transforming the way hotel bookings are made using blockchain technologies, which can increase transpar-ency, security and accuracy. And Thomson, the UK&rsquo;s largest tour operator, is trialing a new chatbot tool using natural language processing (NLP) capabilities to engage with tourists in and around the <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3427071/thomson-creates-travel-search-chatbot-with-ibm-watson.html" target="_blank">travel experiences.</a>

This confluence of technological innovation is creating both new challenges and new opportu-nities for the travel industry. As with other industries, including retail, customers of travel services are demanding more comprehensive and consistent experiences.

The pace of change in global travel is only increasing. Innovation from across the technology spectrum continues to reshape the industry. 

Digital Reinvention® in travel

Cruise lines have a difficult course to chart. Increasingly, potential guests would like to arrange their trips digitally, and yet travel agents continue to own a substantial share of cruise ship bookings. To connect with guests more efficiently and personally without undercutting travel agents, cruise lines need to evolve and optimize their distribution channels. This executive report considers the challenges and presents steps for navigating this transformation.

The entire travel industry is at a distribution inflection point. Cruise companies in particular have an enormous opportunity to enhance their distribution channels by learning from airlines and hotels about balancing digital consumer requirements with travel agent relationships. While traveler shopping behaviors are changing and moving toward digital channels, agents continue to play an important role in the expanding cruise market, leaving cruise companies to balance competing demands.

Cruise companies should enhance digital distribution to meet travelers in their channel of choice by adding features such as virtual reality (VR) and enhancing content. Cruise lines can also satisfy travel agents by using their front-line knowledge to staff online chat channels. Cruise companies can further enhance the guest experience by partnering with agents to collect data about their guests&#39; entire trip and create rich, dynamic profiles and experiences for guests. Beyond these guest-facing enhancements, cruise companies should look to streamline their distribution costs. This balanced approach will help them continue to grow at accelerated rates and set the tone for distribution across the travel landscape.

Cruise lines face challenges on several fronts. Travelers have changing expectations about how they will plan for and purchase their trips, and these expectations are sometimes at odds with those of travel agents. As a result, cruise companies must navigate a path that balances the needs of both of these important groups.

Today&rsquo;s travelers have changed the way they shop and think about travel. Thirty-four percent of Millennials say that apps are the most helpful tool when shopping for a travel service provider. Fifty-one percent of travelers believe they can get the best deal on a cruise <a href="https://www.mmgy.com/services/research-data/portrait-of-american-travelers/" target="_blank">through the provider&rsquo;s website.</a> Mobile, digital-first shopping has become the norm, and travelers are even beginning to experiment with shopping via chat. However, when it comes to shopping for cruises, many travelers are encountering a poor digital experience and often have to go offline to receive support and book their voyage.

Travelers expect authenticity and personal connections from their travel providers. About 50 percent of travelers believe that the best experiences are those that are adapted to their preferences. Travelers want a cognitive connection &mdash; a conversation that incorporates their specific context. Traveler history should be used to make every experience more personalized; travelers don&rsquo;t want the equivalent of a generic direct mailing. The contextual interaction travelers desire is becoming easier now that guest-management systems are beginning to collect and compile structured and unstructured data, and data analytics capabilities are becoming stronger.

Cruise companies have an enormous opportunity to enhance their distribution channels by learning from airlines and hotels about balancing digital consumer requirements.

New directions in shopping and booking for the cruise industry

Digitization has redefined the global transportation sector like few others. In what was until recently one of the last bastions of analog processes and entrenched inefficiency, transportation across road, rail, sea and air is experiencing profound redefinition and invention. In personal transportation in particular, prominent startups have shattered traditional industry value chains by introducing new digital platforms that simultaneously break down entry barriers and <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2016/01/09/the-driverless-car-sharing-road-ahead">redefine how markets operate.</a>

These successes are motivating innovation elsewhere. In service areas as disparate as sea, rail and air, business leaders are recognizing how susceptible traditional business models are to external disruption, and many are choosing to become disruptors themselves. For example, Memphis-based global logistics giant FedEx is using intelligent robots as mailroom attendants and <a href="https://qz.com/955576/fedex-is-using-autonomous-robots-to-essentially-replace-the-mailroom-clerk/">mechanical assistants in its repair facilities</a>. France&rsquo;s national railway business SNCF has employed Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices to more accurately predict when repairs are required to trains and equipment, increasing not only efficiency, but <a href="https://internetofbusiness.com/railway-sncf-ibm-watson-iot/">system reliability and train safety</a>. And Atlanta-based global delivery company UPS has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbot that mimics human conversation to help users more conveniently find UPS locations, get <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/05/15/984906/0/en/UPS-Revs-Up-Customer-Experience-Integrates-Chatbot-With-UPS-My-Choice.html">shipping rates and track packages</a>.

A majority of transportation industry leaders recognize the forces impacting their sector and the imminent challenges ahead. Fifty-one percent of global transportation executives responding to a recent survey on changing industry dynamics told us that the traditional value chains in their industry are being replaced with new value models. Forty-nine percent said that the boundaries between transportation and other industries are blurring. And fifty-five percent said competition from new and unexpected sources is impacting their traditional businesses.

Digitization has been fundamental to this change. IoT devices, for example, are flooding transportation enterprises globally. Enabled by what is rapidly becoming ubiquitous cloud-based connectivity, IoT is rapidly yielding what was, until only recently, inconceivable levels of integration, coordination and alignment. Open, data-rich business environments are supporting not only new operating and organizational environments, but fundamentally different new business models

Digital Reinvention® in transportation

Accidental agitators

Analytics: The speed advantage Why data-driven organizations are winning the race in today’s marketplace Travel and Transportation Industry Point of View

Transportation: Incumbents Strike Back

The transportation industry has a long history of resisting all but the most essential innovations. In the face of security threats, logistics inefficiencies, and general uncertainty and volatility, transportation companies have moved at a snail&rsquo;s pace&mdash;if at all&mdash;to digitize processes, incorporate emerging technologies, such as cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT), or increase connectivity and automation.

This historical reticence aside, transportation companies are realizing the status quo is no longer sustainable. The profound implications of security and transparency in the digital age are requiring even the most reluctant organizations to adopt new technology. Both transportation service buyers and end users are demanding more accountability from the companies and institutions with which they do business. Correspondingly, transportation companies are beginning to invest in digitization for faster, more seamless supply chain operation. They are increasing connectivity and collaboration and are embracing automation.

Blockchain is a natural fit for inherently fragmented industries, such as transportation, in which close coordination with multiple parties is essential. A distributed ledger technology, blockchain provides a more transparent and secure way to conduct business, resulting in immutable transaction records, finality in tracing ownership and payment, and substantially improved coordination and efficiency. It has the potential to mitigate some of the transportation industry&rsquo;s most persistent challenges. For example, blockchain technology can help provide:

Enhanced security. The ability to access key transaction information through a private, secure and transparent shared ledger can allow transportation companies insight into those parts of their businesses where fraud and manipulation are routine&mdash;service contracts in the shipping container industry, for example. Blockchain also can help reduce fraud and manipulation of contract terms through the immutable recording of conditions agreed upon by all parties.

Trust in digitized data. By digitizing important data and posting to a blockchain, companies can decrease, or even eliminate, the need for unnecessary paperwork. A streamlined, digitized process can provide all parties safe and secure access to information, prevent fraudulent activity and increase trust.

Improved logistics management across the ecosystem. Leveraging blockchain technology increases visibility and transparency along the entire supply chain for all stakeholders, allowing companies insight into chain of custody, payments information and the location of goods from initial acceptance to delivery. The increased tracking capabilities allow companies to more accurately assess and react to unforeseen circumstances that could potentially affect the supply chain.

More efficient industry interactions. Smoother, more efficient interactions among suppliers, freight forwarders, consumers and other stakeholders can be facilitated by blockchain. For instance, accessing the same source of truth for all counterparties can improve dispute resolution and foster a sense of trust and collaboration among industry players.

To understand how blockchain can revolutionize the transportation industry, the IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed 202 transportation executives in 16 countries. The study, &ldquo;Expedited delivery: How transportation companies can thrive with blockchain,&quot; shows that 77 percent of transportation respondents&mdash;the most of any industry we have surveyed&mdash;plan on having blockchain in production in three years. Fourteen percent of those we surveyed are working with and investing in blockchain now. First Movers will set the stage for those that follow. But the initial learning curve is steep.

First Movers have more business expertise than technical knowledge. Further, our experience within the industry indicates that business professionals, such as those in strategy and finance, are much more open to the potential impact of blockchain than their technological counterparts. Perhaps the technologists do not fully understand or appreciate how blockchain technology can improve the provenance and traceability of the shipment data their systems provide. Blockchain means more than just having data: it means having data that can be trusted.

For the transportation industry, blockchain has the potential to improve security, trust in data, and logistics management

Blockchain drives transformation in transportation

Travel distribution is broken. Providers offer divergent, often conflicting, technology to travelers, leaving them overwhelmed and confused. Travel providers are now coalescing around a few common solutions, but this isn’t nearly enough to remake the market. 

Travelers remain frustrated and companies don’t derive the profits they could be seeing.

The market continues to exist in this fragmented manner because companies adopt defensive postures, rely on incremental thinking, and deploy divergent strategies. Added to this is the disconnect between the aspects of the travel journey customers most enjoy and those from which companies derive the most profits. Companies report travel shopping and time at the destination are most profitable, while travelers enjoy dreaming about and planning for their trips.

Clearly, the travel distribution market needs to see major improvements. Most travel-market experts agree. In fact, 51 percent of surveyed organizations expect travel distribution to see transformative change over the next five years. 

The next phase of travel distribution should be the perfection of personalized selling that uses a mix of shared profiles, customized products and prices, targeted communications, and artificial intelligence. We call this next phase Travel Distribution 3.0. 

This next era will facilitate competition on the basis of the overall travel experience. Travelers will distinguish competitors not only on the promises they make, but on how well they actually deliver on those promises.

In this report, we describe three travel distribution priorities and five strategies companies can take to get to Travel Distribution 3.0. 

The travel distribution market remains fragmented. Providers must collaborate on new technologies, such as cloud and AI, to win travelers.

The bizarre bazaar of travel transactions

From discounts to true brand loyalty

Born out of the competitive crucible of the airline fare wars in the 1980s, travel loyalty programs have enjoyed meteoric membership growth. In fact, they have become a central feature of successful companies across the travel sector. Our recent IBM survey confirmed that many travelers are both happy with, and responsive to, loyalty programs. Nevertheless, too often, the programs are simply complicated discount schemes that exacerbate price-based competition, while doing little to foster deeper, more meaningful customer-to-travel brand engagement. To gain true customer loyalty, travel loyalty programs must reward travelers for more profitable decisions, incentivize a broader set of interactions between travelers and brands, and experiment with a diverse set of loyalty personalization opportunities.

Travel loyalty programs are a highly successful component of the modern travel ecosystem. They are popular with consumers, who willingly sign up for &ndash; and use &ndash; multiple programs, and are revered by travel executives and shareholders for the revenue and profits they produce. Increasingly, other travel provider departments are benefiting from the traveler insights that loyalty programs deliver to their data-hungry systems and employees.

But in spite of all their many contributions, travel loyalty programs have yet to achieve their full potential. To better understand and identify specific ways travel loyalty programs can be improved, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) surveyed 3,833 travelers from 13 countries between May and August of 2015. Analysis of survey responses enables us to see past the success of travel loyalty programs and explore actions travel providers can take to bring a revolution to these critical corporate engines of customer insight and engagement.

Our research reveals that while travel loyalty programs do a good job of tracking customer spending and rewarding desired behavior through discounts, they do little to develop true loyalty. We discovered that current program models work well for most travelers, but many travelers are also open to experimenting with new models. In addition, our findings show that overall interest in travel is high, and many travelers are eager to engage with travel brands. In this report, we explore the current state of travel loyalty programs and outline three areas in which travel providers can improve customer engagement, drive greater brand advocacy and position themselves to increase profitability.

How loyalty programs can deepen traveler engagement, improve profits and drive brand allegiance.

Travel loyalty – Discount discontents

While global travel and travel workforces have been reduced as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, threat activity against the aviation sector has not. A case in point is a March 2020 data breach disclosed by the San Francisco International Airport. Reportedly, <a href="https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/san-francisco-airport-attack/">the attack</a> was perpetrated by Russia&rsquo;s state-sponsored hacking group Dragonfly. This group typically targets organizations in critical infrastructure sectors with the objectives of reconnaissance, lateral movement, and cyber espionage.

Sustaining and securing critical infrastructures &ndash; such as those shared by travel and transportation companies &ndash; have always been challenges. The addition of COVID-19-related concerns has strained companies&rsquo; security, resiliency, and continuity plans to their limits. While the industry will recover from COVID-19, it may never be immune to cyber attacks. Overcoming this global challenge requires adaptability and innovative security and risk management practices.

<img alt="" height="542" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/c3807ae9fe544f2fa2cbf1149b36c74e.png" style="float:left" width="280" />The travel industry is an attractive target for malicious actors. The reliance on information technology (IT) to facilitate operations, the ubiquitous need for integration of third-party vendors, and the global scope and integration of the travel supply chain represent a large, diversified attack surface.

IIoT benefits&hellip; and risks 

Many travel providers rely on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions to manage complex operations. Use of these IIoT platforms and services increases the potential for unauthorized access to proprietary data and critical systems that can disrupt physical assets.

Numerous travel companies also are dependent on legacy IT systems, some with critical software vulnerabilities. Because they are difficult to update, these systems are inherently vulnerable, yet firms connect IIoT devices to them for operational applications, including some used by travelers.

Whether executed by financially motivated cybercriminals or politically motivated nation-states, a successful attack on a segment of the travel industry can result in severe cascading effects that can influence aggregate travel demand and, thus, the entire global economy. As attack vectors multiply, and critical vulnerabilities are exploited in short order, risks grow exponentially &mdash; often rapidly and without precedent.

In addition, as ecosystems grow, companies become even more vulnerable. And continued innovation across the industry makes it likely the travel ecosystem will continue to expand and evolve. To prepare for the future, travel organizations should focus on improving their cyber resilience today.

The travel industry security landscape

To better understand what makes some organizations more secure and cyber resilient than others, the IBM Institute for Business Value, in cooperation with Oxford Economics, surveyed IT and operational technology leaders from travel organizations across the globe. Our findings confirm the rapid adoption of IIoT technologies in a wide variety of functional areas.

Many companies are applying these technologies in their supply chain and logistics processes &ndash; for fleet management, predictive maintenance, and location management. However, executives are apprehensive about the security of information flowing between their operational, corporate IT, and IIoT networks. Gateways and gateway-related connectivity represent almost half of the most vulnerable IIoT components reported by travel companies.

<img alt="Many travel companies continue to deploy IIoT technologies faster than they can secure them." height="61" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/a72dac7475374fb49a764d28579da296.png" width="540" />

While travel providers might be aware of the risks, many continue to deploy IIoT technologies faster than they can secure them. We found that almost two thirds of surveyed executives say they have, at a minimum, the capabilities to provide new IIoT-enabled offerings and services, yet only half say they can do so in a secure manner.

Learning from security leaders

Using our survey data, we identified a group of companies we deem &ldquo;security leaders&rdquo; based on their IIoT cybersecurity budgets, known vulnerabilities addressed by security controls, and response and recovery times. What truly differentiates security leaders from the other companies from the survey is their cyber resilience: they are able to detect, respond to, and recover from IIoT-related incidents at least twice as fast as other companies.

<img alt="We recommend a two-phase approach to help improve IIoT cybersecurity postures and resilience." height="62" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/6c4aed64a01341688129f883d2096a88.png" width="650" />

Using our study data and analysis of the security leaders, we identified ten security controls and AI-driven practices that can positively impact IIoT cybersecurity performance. Read the report for recommendations on&nbsp;how travel companies can implement them as part of a two-phase approach to improve their IIoT cybersecurity postures and resilience.

&ldquo;Quantum advantage&rdquo; is the point when we can definitively demonstrate, in certain use cases, a significant performance advantage over today&rsquo;s &ldquo;classical&rdquo; (conventional) computers. By &ldquo;significant,&rdquo; we mean that a quantum computation is either:

&ndash; Hundreds or thousands of times faster than a classical computation&nbsp;

&ndash; Needs a smaller fraction of the memory required by a classical computer, or&nbsp;

&ndash; Makes something possible that simply isn&rsquo;t possible now with a classical computer.

With the acceleration of efforts to increase the computational power of quantum devices, quantum advantage is on the horizon. Today, during what IBM calls the &ldquo;quantum ready&rdquo; phase, the focus is to enable clients to be prepared to take advantage of the future disruptive computational power of quantum computing. Key insights can already be developed by executing versions of future use cases that are small enough to run on current systems.

As the technology continues to improve, industry application developers will grow the scope of these use cases and leverage quantum computing for business advantage.

In the next twenty years, air travel is expected to double, increasing operational complexity.&nbsp; In the future, we expect quantum computing will play a crucial role in solving airlines&rsquo; complex business problems. It will produce new opportunities, mainly through higher computational speed, greater accuracy of data-driven actions, and the creation of new algorithms and systems capabilities to address challenges that classical systems cannot solve. This report identifies three use cases where quantum advantage may be a game-changer for airlines to optimize operations and improve customer experience.

&nbsp;

Edge technologies can transform transportation operations, but introduce risk

Transportation is uniquely positioned as a conduit between business and consumers. Transportation providers rely heavily on third parties, and many industries are entirely dependent on transportation providers for continuous operations and delivery of goods and services. The global scope and integration within transportation supply chains represent a large, diversified attack surface, which makes the industry an attractive target for malicious actors.

IIoT solutions promise revolutionary changes to industry operations, particularly in managing globally distributed fleets of assets that are increasingly connected and ubiquitous. This expansion introduces operational challenges and new attack vectors. The idea of driverless semi-trucks independently navigating highways is both exciting and terrifying. As connected, autonomous, and smart devices move to production, transportation companies need to re-examine their security operations.

With increasing dependence on IIoT platforms and data services that enable insights and automation, the potential for unauthorized access to proprietary data and critical systems is growing, placing physical and digital assets at risk. As connected services and ecosystems become essential components of critical infrastructure networks, the scope of this risk extends to the entire value chain (see &ldquo;Insight: Travel and transportation share critical infrastructures&rdquo;).

Whether executed by financially driven cyber criminals or politically motivated nation-states, a successful attack on any segment of the transportation industry is dangerous for myriad reasons. The potential impact on public safety and the economic consequences of disruption can be particularly severe.

Based on key IIoT cybersecurity metrics, some organizations are more cyber resilient than others. They are better at not only protecting their organizations from IIoT-related attacks, but also detecting, responding to, and recovering from breaches when they occur.

Through our research and analysis, we identified a set of highly effective controls and practices that are instrumental to achieving this level of performance. These controls and practices are based on Center for Internet Security (CIS) Critical Security Controls and AI-driven practices from IBM IoT security research.

For transportation industry providers, order to cash, inventory management, fulfillment, and logistics services form the core of the business. Many providers are successfully applying smart, adaptive technologies to decades-old industry problems in areas such as route optimization. For more insight into the latest industry dynamics, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) conducted a survey in cooperation with Oxford Economics. Our study explored how transportation providers apply IIoT technologies, how well they understand the associated cybersecurity risks, and the maturity&mdash;and effectiveness&mdash;of their capabilities to mitigate them.

Our analysis revealed a respondent group of &ldquo;top security performers&rdquo; who perform better on security key performance indicators (KPIs). They are also more confident that their vulnerability management capabilities protect them from the latest threats.

For more information, download the IBV Benchmarks Insights report.

IIoT technologies can leave transportation providers vulnerable to cyber attacks, but three steps can help them respond and recover. 

IIoT cybersecurity for transportation companies 

The holiday season is normally a time for joy and rejuvenation. People cross great distances to see friends and family, or to explore a new horizon. They give gifts that delight their loved ones&mdash;and buy a little something special for themselves. Then they rest and recharge so they can start the new year strong.

But 2020 hasn&rsquo;t exactly been normal. And the holiday season promises to be a bit different, as well.

As global coronavirus cases continue to hit new highs, consumers are stymied. <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/covid-19-consumer-survey" target="_blank">Health concerns and economic constraints</a> weigh heavy on their minds&mdash;and they&rsquo;re trying to plan for the holidays in a state of constant flux. Restrictions and regulations are changing by the week, making it tough to tell what celebrations might be safe&mdash;or even possible&mdash;when the holidays roll around next month.

<blockquote>
Unsure of how to spread holiday cheer without spreading the virus, consumers are opting for a more subdued season spent closer to home.
</blockquote>

To better understand how the pandemic will impact consumer behavior over the holidays, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) surveyed more than 12,000 adults across eight countries. We asked how they plan to shop, work, and travel this holiday season, and how these expectations differ from years past.&nbsp;

Overall, we found that people are downsizing their celebrations. They plan to give less, spend less, and travel less, all while they plan to work more. Unsure of how to spread holiday cheer without spreading the virus, consumers are opting for a more subdued season spent closer to home. Holiday parties and religious services are off the table for a majority of individuals, many of whom are opting for video conferences with friends and family instead. Nearly a third say they&rsquo;re not even sending holiday cards&mdash;perhaps because they don&rsquo;t have as many exciting stories to share.

Global consumers are downsizing their holiday plans 

People are planning to celebrate differently than they did last year.

<img alt="Global consumers are downsizing their holiday plans " height="464" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/3daf4726bc344dd6bd774a5e8acfa918.png" width="720" />

But it&rsquo;s not all bah, humbug. Our research implies that consumers are opting for a more intimate holiday season. While they&rsquo;re spending less on luxury items and social outings, they are investing in the comforts of home. And they&rsquo;re dreaming big for the future. 1 in 5 consumers say they&rsquo;re saving their time off for 2021, when they expect to safely enjoy their favorite places once again.

While many sectors will see a downturn in consumer spending this season, there are bright spots where the holiday spirit shines through. This year comes with one unique gift, as well. Companies have a rare opportunity to show people who they are.

<blockquote>
71% of consumers say that if they believe a brand is putting profit over people, they will lose trust in that brand forever.
</blockquote>

Those that listen and respond to the needs of their customers and employees have the chance to build a brand identity that money can&rsquo;t buy. And those that don&rsquo;t could suffer. <a href="https://www.edelman.com/research/covid-19-brand-trust-report" target="_blank">According to Edelman</a>, 71% of consumers say that if they believe a brand is putting profit over people, they will lose trust in that brand forever. The key to success in this climate is understanding what people want&mdash;and need&mdash;for the holidays this year.

Consumer spending: Less is more

While many things have been cancelled this year, online shopping is not one of them. As of May, online spending was up 77% year-over-year, and some experts say the pandemic has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/06/12/covid-19-accelerated-e-commerce-growth-4-to-6-years/?sh=44362653600f" target="_blank">accelerated e-commerce</a> growth by 4 to 6 years. This trend is going to continue through the holiday season, when more than 60% of consumers plan to shop online. This is a huge upswing, as e-commerce accounted for only <a href="https://nrf.com/insights/holiday-and-seasonal-trends/winter-holidays/winter-holiday-faqs" target="_blank">20% of holiday sales in 2019.&nbsp;</a>Much of this growth is driven by Baby&nbsp;Boomers, who plan to buy online 116% more than they did last year.

<blockquote>
While many things have been cancelled this year, online shopping is not one of them.
</blockquote>

All of this online shopping also jumpstarted the holiday season. By the end of October, 1 of every 3 global consumers had already started their holiday shopping. Usually consumers in the US wait until Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, to start their shop-a-thons. This year they started earlier, but with the same goal in mind&mdash;getting the best deal. Amazon Prime Day, a two-day sales event offered in 19 countries, gave consumers around the world early access to Black Friday prices, encouraging them to snap up in-demand items ahead of schedule. Alibaba, China&rsquo;s online retail giant, also moved up the start of its <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/12/singles-day-2020-alibaba-and-jd-rack-up-record-115-billion-of-sales.html" target="_blank">Singles Day promotion</a> to 1 November, stretching the sale across 11 days.

It makes sense that sales would be particularly impactful this year, as more than half of global consumers have seen their discretionary spending decline. That has translated to tighter budgets and shorter gift lists. On average, global consumers are buying for 33%&nbsp;fewer people than they did last year, and they&rsquo;ve slashed their holiday budgets by 25%. Of course, some people are spending more than others. Upper-income consumers in the US are only reducing their spending by 7%, and people across income brackets in Germany plan to spend just 12% less.&nbsp;

<blockquote>
On average, global consumers are buying for 33%&nbsp;fewer people than they did last year&mdash;and they&rsquo;ve slashed their holiday budgets by 25%.
</blockquote>

People are also willing to spend more on things they can enjoy at home. While global consumers expect to spend 20% less on dining out and 11% less on&nbsp;local outings this holiday season, they will spend more on toys and games&nbsp;(+9%), electronic goods (+13%),&nbsp;digital/streaming services (+39%), and&nbsp;even furniture (+33%).

Consumers are shifting their spending toward products they can enjoy at home

Compared to last year, people are spending less on outdoor activities and more on indoor entertainment.

<img alt="Consumers are shifting their spending toward products they can enjoy at home" height="505" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/3a6dd04431dc4f5589795e9a45d18dde.png" width="720" />Purpose-driven consumers: A sustaining force

There was a time when convenience was king. Even this year, more than 40% of <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/consumer-2020" target="_blank">global consumers</a>&nbsp;named price and convenience as their top priorities. However, almost as many consumers say they are purpose-driven, meaning they seek out products and services that are aligned to their values.

While the pandemic has caused many households to tighten their belts, these purpose-driven consumers have stayed committed to their principles. Attributes such as health and well-being, environmental responsibility, trust, and authenticity are continuing to be important when consumers choose a brand amid the pandemic, according the results of our September <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/covid-19-consumer-survey" target="_blank">consumer survey</a>.

<blockquote>
Half of consumers say they are willing to change their holiday purchasing habits to help reduce environmental impact.
</blockquote>

When shopping for the holidays, 4 in 10 consumers will be considering sustainability to a great extent when they choose brands this year. What&rsquo;s more, 1 in 2 consumers say they are willing to change their holiday purchasing habits to help reduce environmental impact. This figure is even higher in the emerging markets (74% in India, 74% in Mexico, 66% in Brazil), demonstrating that sustainable shopping has become a powerful global trend.

Travel itineraries are limited

Exciting end-of-year adventures are not on the docket for most travelers this year, as a combination of safety concerns and logistical issues limit holiday travel options. Two-thirds of global consumers usually travel during the holidays, but more than half of those plan to travel less this year. However, 1 in 5 were still undecided about whether they would travel, and 13% say they will travel more. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 4 in 5 of those planning to pack their bags are under the age of 40.

People who do plan to venture out this year largely expect to stay within their own borders. Globally, only 12% of holiday travelers plan to leave the country&mdash;though 49% remained undecided about their travel destinations. Travelers in India are most likely to go abroad, with 24% planning an international trip this holiday season.

<blockquote>
1 in 5 consumers were still undecided about whether they would travel this holiday season&mdash;and 13% say they will travel more than usual.
</blockquote>

Travelers are also opting for automobiles over planes and trains. While people are expecting to fly 43% less this year, they are planning to rent cars 51% more. And the number of people choosing to drive personal cars is up 27% over last year.

However, the factors influencing these decisions aren&rsquo;t always related to COVID-19. In fact, more than half of travelers said they will choose the mode of transportation that is most convenient&mdash;or just travel the same way they always do. Only 1 in 5 travelers said they chose the mode that makes them feel the safest.

COVID-19 isn&rsquo;t the only factor influencing travel choices

Almost a third of consumers say they&rsquo;re acting out of habit.

<img alt="COVID-19 isn’t the only factor influencing travel choices" height="293" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/df66e84176954f1d8e6175fe92d69322.png" width="720" />

All work and no play is taking its toll

The isolation and stress of the pandemic has been tough to manage&mdash;and some people are taking it harder than others. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932a1.htm#:~:text=Overall%2C%2040.9%25%20of%205%2C470%20respondents,reported%20having%20started%20or%20increased" target="_blank">According to the CDC</a>, COVID-19 has had a notable impact on mental health in the United States, with 40% of adults reporting mental or behavioral health issues.&nbsp;

But rather than slowing down to process everything that&rsquo;s happened this year, employees have actually taken less time for themselves. Although respondents, on average, took a slightly higher number of paid time off (PTO) days this year than they did last year, a large portion of that time was used to deal with COVID-19-related issues, such as caring for a family member or recovering from the illness themselves.

<blockquote>
Global employees, on average, will leave half of their remaining paid time off days unused in 2020.
</blockquote>

As such, employees are feeling the fatigue as 2020 comes to a close&mdash;and there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be much relief in sight. On average, respondents have 13 days of PTO left this year, but are planning to leave half of those days unused. And their reasoning reflects back on their employers: Half of global employees won&rsquo;t take time off due to job-related concerns. Nearly a third of employees say they have too much work or that their work schedule is too restrictive, and 18% say they&rsquo;re worried about their job security if they take time off. However, 1 in 5 people simply have a bleak outlook&mdash;they aren&rsquo;t taking time off because they have nothing to do and nowhere to go.

Employees aren&rsquo;t planning to use all their remaining PTO 

People aren&rsquo;t taking time off due to work restrictions&mdash;and a lack of interest.

<img alt="Employees aren’t planning to use all their remaining PTO " height="385" src="https://s3.us-south.cloud-object-storage.appdomain.cloud/ibv/3f598069449c450a85af00d8cfbd4109.png" width="720" />Leaders have the opportunity to ease these burdens on their employees&mdash;but few are jumping at the chance. In fact, even as the pandemic has underlined the importance of health and safety in the workplace, organizations seem to be focusing less on employee welfare. In our recent study on the future of human resources, 61% of US HR executives said employee wellness was emphasized in the organization&rsquo;s culture. This year, that number curiously dropped to 48%.

In the same breath, nearly two-thirds of CHROs say their culture is important to their ability to recruit and retain critical talent. And they aren&rsquo;t wrong. Today&rsquo;s workers understand that they are expected to bring their whole selves to work&mdash;and that the line between the workday and personal time has been blurred. But they also expect more holistic support in return. In an increasingly volatile business landscape, in-demand talent will be drawn to companies they believe will take care of them in a crisis. When the global labor market recovers, the organizations that can demonstrate how they supported their employees through the pandemic will likely have a competitive edge.

<blockquote>
When the global labor market recovers, the organizations that can demonstrate how they supported their employees through the pandemic will likely have a competitive edge.
</blockquote>

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, companies have the opportunity to step up and show their employees what they&rsquo;re made of. By focusing on the employee experience, and <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/hr-3" target="_blank">transforming their people practices</a>, organizations can distinguish themselves from their peers&mdash;and become an employer of choice. While executives may think they&rsquo;re doing well enough in this area, given everything they&rsquo;re juggling, leaders need to check in with their employees to make sure they&rsquo;re on track. <a href="https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/closing-chasm" target="_blank">Recent IBV research</a> found that while 80% of executives think they are supporting the physical and emotional health of their workforce, only 46% of employees actually agree.

In 2020, companies saw their cultures play out in real time. Leaders made tough choices&mdash;and their actions separated their true values from lip service. As the holiday season approaches, weary employees are watching. And they won&rsquo;t forget what happens next.

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Supply chain and logistics professionals have been stretched thin over the past several years. An increasing amount of uncertainty&mdash;from labor shortages, to extreme weather, to pandemic-fueled changes in supply and demand&mdash;has increased logistics complexity exponentially.

The solution to this complexity requires a broader perspective. Silo-based, function-based, or even enterprise-wide optimizations no longer provide the cure for supply chain and logistics challenges. Instead, businesses need supply chain optimizations that account for the full complexity of the entire ecosystem. They need quantum logistics.

<blockquote>
Quantum computing could provide the solution for persistent supply chain and logistics problems.
</blockquote>

But accounting for the complexity of an ecosystem so vast requires a level of real-time coordination among partners, governments, and shippers that current optimization solutions&mdash;using classical computing&mdash;cannot fully provide.

The maturation and development of quantum computing, however, could change this equation significantly. If individual transportation providers, regulators, and customers can better share insights and collaborate to optimize operational decisions, quantum computers could deliver seamless service and provide better overall outcomes for the entire supply chain&mdash;and for humanity.

Three use cases come to the fore:

1. Quantum algorithms for last mile delivery? Game-changing potential.

By supporting global routing optimization and more frequent re-optimization, quantum computers could help significantly reduce door-to-door freight transportation costs and boost customer satisfaction. IBM worked with a commercial vehicle manufacturer to show how a mix of classical and quantum computing could optimize delivery to 1,200 locations in New York City. Using a route-based approach, the team factored in the need for 30-minute delivery time windows, while recognizing truck capacity constraints&mdash; all while reducing the total cost of delivery.

2. Quantum-enabled disruption management can put uncertainty on notice.

Classical systems are mainly rule-based, consisting of manual and ad hoc processes. Siloed and sequential, they provide limited insight for supporting flawless recovery decisions.

Quantum computing could support better decision-making by simulating more disruption scenarios and quantifying their impact on various parts of the network. Quantum computers performing risk and impact analysis may be able to reduce the number of &ldquo;what if&rdquo; simulation scenarios necessary, helping improve recovery times, lower costs, and lessen operational and customer service impacts. In addition, quantum machine learning may enable more precise classification and prediction of disruption events.

3. Quantum computing could help sustainable maritime routing make a quantum leap.

With contingencies that include large fleets and uncertainties such as weather and demand fluctuations, many optimization challenges in shipping operations can&rsquo;t be precisely solved exactly using classical computers.

ExxonMobil is exploring how blending classical and quantum computing techniques might solve big, complex, pressing global challenges as it ships liquefied natural gas (LNG). Teams at IBM Research and ExxonMobil Corporate Strategy Research have collaborated to model <a href="https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/exxonmobil/">maritime inventory routing </a>on quantum devices, analyzing the strengths and trade-offs of different strategies for vehicle and inventory routing, and laying the foundation for constructing practical solutions for their operations.

Planning for tomorrow&rsquo;s logistics, today

Organizations in the transportation and logistics arena could be among those with the most to gain from quantum computing&rsquo;s groundbreaking capabilities. An organization&rsquo;s path from initial investigation of quantum computing to actual readiness for implementation can span a few years.

A wait-and-see approach could mean the difference between being disrupted and being the disruptor. That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s important to begin building quantum readiness sooner rather than later.

To learn what steps to take now, download our report.

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