ABTN revisits Glasgow-based travel technology company Real Time, now on a quest to turn new university research in advanced voice analytics into a commercial success which could bring major changes to business travel
When ABTN last spoke to Real Time in June it was rolling out its FirstPass mobile boarding system on Austrian Airlines. Also, the RT Queue Bluetooth tracking system was beginning to help airports such as Luton and Frankfurt monitor passenger flow and queues in real time.
But Real Time is continuing to innovate with two new airline check-in systems in the pipeline, one being trailed now, the other six months away in development. Alaistair Deacon, Real Time's chief technology officer, said these innovations could bring fundamental changes to the way business travellers operate.
He said that while boarding passes scanned from mobile devices was "still cool technology", there was certainly room for improvement and a chance for airlines to take an active role in getting travellers to check-in online.
He said: "One of the issues with the basic mobile boarding pass is you still have to go online using the browser on your iPhone or PDA and interact with an airline's website. That requires you as a user to go to the airline to get that boarding pass. The airline is quite passive in the process."
According to a recent survey by consultants PhoCusWright, seven out of ten business travellers now have a smartphone, be it a BlackBerry, iPhone or PDA. But three out of ten travellers still do not have such a device and, without an effective mobile browser, are unable to access airline mobile ‘micro-sites' to check-in.
Coverage is also an issue. Checking-in online through a mobile website can only work where there is 3G coverage, or where the native network is sophisticated enough. This is where Real Time's new ‘three button' text message-based check-in system, currently being trialled on Austrian Airlines, comes in to its own.
Mr Deacon said: "Essentially, rather than an airline waiting for a passenger to come to them to get his boarding pass, Austrian Airlines can go out directly to the user by text message. We've taken out the need for the passenger to go to the website."
The system automatically assigns a seat number to a passenger and then texts him or her the details. The users can then reply ‘Yes' or ‘No' to confirm they are happy with the seat and check-in is complete. Mr Deacon said in theory it could take just three clicks to complete a check-in. The boarding barcode can then be sent to the phone and picked up when network coverage improves.
The next step on for Real Time is its work with one leading Scottish university and its research into advanced voice analytics. The as yet unnamed system, still six months away in development, takes advantage of a long forgotten function of the all singing, all dancing mobile device.
"It's a natural language processor which takes away the need to press any buttons," said Mr Deacon. "In days gone by I used to have to phone ahead to check-in. Mobile browsing to check-in is fine when you're in the back of a taxi but it's no good in a hands-free situation when you're driving."
The new system should not be mistaken for the voice recognition used on some customer support help lines. Real Time's product is aimed at natural language interaction. Rather than answer ‘Yes or No' to closed questions, a user could ask any number of things. In theory a user can converse naturally with what is essentially an automated computer system.
The voice system, while improving on a low tech use for mobiles, also takes advantage of multimedia applications and new high-bandwidth download speeds. The use of specific, multimedia information targeted at users according to their location is one important development in mobile technology which looks set to reshape business travel.
Mr Deacon said: "It's not ‘press one for restaurants at your gate' it's giving you an actual dialogue, and that also allows us to push information directly to the handset. For example on the iPhone, it could automatically bring up the terminal map alongside the menu and restaurant reviews etc. It's being pushed to your handset in real-time as you have this dialogue."
Mobile browsing to check-in was seen as a step forward from having to speak to an operator. Improving what is basically voice recognition could be seen as a move in the wrong direction. But again mobile internet is not always an option for all business travellers, and there will always be a situation where 3G coverage is lacking or a person is unable to get to a normal laptop or desktop computer.
But this is also an important example to the travel industry of a product that will qualify new and important university research with a practical, real world application.
Mr Deacon added: "There's no reason why it couldn't still be processed by a human, but we maintain close links with the universities and try to commercialise new research that's coming out. This is one that we're working on right now and will hopefully be ready in six months on a production basis."
Mr Deacon argued that the new text and voice check-in systems could spell fundamental changes in the way business travellers think.
"What it does is it opens up the ability to change your business process and that's when you've got to go back and think it through. For example why do I need to go to a website, why do I need to go on to a mobile phone to browse? Just send me my boarding pass or can I speak to someone," Mr Deacon said.
But he said there was a natural limit to what airlines could achieve by exploiting mobile technology. The technology is in place for airlines to offer upgrades, up-sell seats and award and redeem frequent flyer points through mobile devices.
"While airlines can all have these ‘whizzy' functions, it has to boil down to what the passenger would actually use and what is sensible," Mr Deacon said.
"You can waste an awful lot of money on very advanced mobile websites but there was a lesson to be learned from WAP version 1. The experience has got dramatically better with 3G speeds, but you don't want to oversell mobile capabilities and waste time."
With both systems still some way off from widespread use, it is yet to be seen whether they will make any lasting impact on business travel. But these two products, text-based and voice check-in, are examples of the industry's continuing attempts to capitalise on the growing mobile market.
Andrew Gough
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