Ambition APAC continues this week in Dublin hosted by Enterprise Ireland, with the highlight – the Ambition Asia Pacific Conference – attracting 150 senior business leaders to the Aviva Stadium today. Datalex was delighted to take part in the aviation sector breakout sessions, which took part in the afternoon of the conference.

Opening the conference this morning, John Ferguson, Enterprise Ireland’s Director of Country Forecasting at The Economist Intelligence Unit, noted that of the world’s 30 largest cities, 21 are in Asia. This poses huge potential for globally ambitious companies to look East and enter and scale these economies, which are assuming the position of the main growth engine of the world.

Welcoming the delegation to Ireland, Irish Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market & Data Protection Pat Breen said that Ireland’s dynamic approach to embracing innovation and technological change has been a key factor in helping Irish companies to win business and form strategic investment partnerships in global markets.

In the afternoon, Datalex’s Ornagh Hoban took part in the aviation sector breakout ‘Futureproofing Ancillary Revenue for APAC Low Cost Carriers’, with a lively panel making for an interesting and entertaining conversation. Other panellists included Dr Narudh Cheramakara of Nok Air, Mauricio Ramirez of HK Express, and Colin Lewis from OpenJaw Technologies.

Commenting on the question of how to approach ancillary revenues in Asia, Ornagh Hoban said that having experience working with such a huge range of global carriers at Datalex, many seek to build platforms like Amazon or Alibaba to compete in a platform economy. That is, a platform business which delivers multiple products and services with precision while leveraging the network effect of a rapidly expanding digital supply chain.

In Asia, which is fast becoming the world’s largest aviation market, the platform economy is growing and airlines seek to leverage a network which comprises of major digital retail marketplaces such as Alibaba, OTAs such as Ctrip, and super-apps such as WeChat. She cited the example of Air China who use digital promotions to drive significant revenue straight to mobile and through super-app channels like WeChat.

Today, many airlines can manage an extensive volume of air and ancillary products and services through multiple channels using the Datalex Digital Commerce Platform, including indirect channels using NDC Offer and Order Management, which is an integral part of the Datalex Digital Commerce Platform. By leveraging the capabilities of the platform, travel retailers are can control and optimise offers and provide a consistent customer experience across all sales channels.   

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