Servicing NDC with confidence
As the industry embraces new approaches to merchandizing and technology standards such as NDC, the one thing that must be at the center of everything we do is our ultimate customer, the traveler.
Travel sellers strive to provide the best customer service before, during and after the journey. So, it's of critical importance to us to make servicing capabilities available in our NDC-enabled solutions to help our customers stay on top of their game.
Personalization and enhanced service are important right across the industry - but are a particular focus for the business and the retail travel segments.
These travel sellers have the highest expectations towards what a scalable solution requires in terms of functional scope and its integration into existing travel management infrastructures. Post-booking servicing, reporting and other more complex capabilities are all part of a minimum viable product, especially in the corporate space.
With NDC, great opportunity lies for all travel sellers as it will bring greater personalization of air offers to travelers. For example, it could help define more granular corporate travel policies by considering ancillaries to build tailormade trips that meet specific corporate needs. However, it is not very useful to the business traveler unless the booking can be serviced, modified post-booking and duty of care can be provided. Servicing is equally important for retail agencies. It's important for these agencies to be top of mind in their customers' eyes and provide exceptional customer service. They also count on efficiency tools to increase profitability for any type of content including NDC.
This is why we're placing great importance on getting the servicing layer right. Through our NDC [X] program, we have supported the travel industry to enable full, rich content, product differentiation and servicing operations. To do this, we've enhanced our NDC-enabled solutions by integrating important capabilities like cancelling or changing an order, so travel sellers can book and service content with confidence. We want to make sure that our travel sellers can compare all content whether it is sourced from NDC, EDIFACT or API connections - and also service these bookings as travelers plans change before or while on the road.
Servicing NDC bookings in Amadeus Selling Platform Connect
To realize the benefits of NDC, we're getting the Amadeus Selling Platform Connect solution NDC-ready. As a travel seller, this means you'll be able to shop, order and pay for flights and related services and service bookings using the NDC standard. So, how will it work for travel sellers to service NDC bookings in our leading travel agency solution?
Despite the complexity taking place behind the scenes when bringing together NDC content alongside other content, we have made it simple for agencies to make changes before or after payment of the NDC order and also cancellations, to allow for a void or refund. There are a number of automated features that simplify the day to day tasks of all travel agents. As we evolve our NDC-enabled solutions, and the NDC standard is further defined, we will make more capabilities available.
At Amadeus, we want to make booking content via an NDC-connectivity is as seamless as possible, so travel sellers can deliver travelers the most personalized options with the best service. In this video, we'll show you how travel sellers can use some of the essential servicing functionalities for NDC bookings.
In line with this, we're happy to have recently received the Level 4 NDC certification, both as an IT provider and as an aggregator, from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Level 4 enables a more in-depth integration of content into the travel agency ecosystem. It addresses a broader range of travel sellers' business needs by going beyond the prime booking flow to offer servicing functionalities. With the Level 4 certifications, we're working hard with industry players to ensure we deliver on the required servicing needs - in line with the priorities of our travel seller customers.
The Level 4 certifications and all the work that we're doing around the servicing element are a testament to the progress that we are making. We are beginning to see the industry getting closer to the industrialization of NDC.
Stay tuned for more updates on NDC and our NDC-enabled solutions on our dedicated webpage.