NDC: Why Consumer-Driven Content is King

This is the second of a three-part blog series on NDC. In the first, we talked about the future of how airlines and the industry will distribute content via New Distribution Capabilities, or NDC.

In today’s offering, we'll look at why consumer-driven content is the key to driving NDC adoption, and lay out the steps needed to ensure that the promise of a truly rich and differentiated NDC content that benefits business travelers is realized.

Let’s start with the obvious: Massive investments are currently being made by all industry players to make NDC a reality. It is therefore only prudent to ensure that this capital is put to its intended use, which begins and ends with delivering content that the customer not only needs and wants, but also benefits from seeing.

So what does this rich new content look like?

To date, the enhancements being considered revolve around providing a consumer-grade user experience, access to new bundling opportunities and ancillaries, such as early boarding, preferred seating, and special meals, and adding personalized content.

These are the types of services that can be enabled through NDC, and the benefits can only be realized through industry-wide collaboration that puts consumers’ interests at the center.

Using a test and learn approach, driven by corporate traveler feedback, ensures that the industry is building a product and capability that consumers want and can use – every step of the way.

After all, only the consumer can really certify the value of NDC-enabled content, based on its ability to address the cost, convenience, choice, and service objectives that are lacking in the current distribution model.

When the industry solves these objectives with the end traveler in mind, it will naturally result in the kind of demand that will lead to the mass adoption necessary to make NDC succeed - not only for the industry, but also (and most importantly), for the benefit of business travelers.

So, let’s assume that we now have the ability to distribute content that meets a clear and compelling need of the corporate travel community. There is still one final step to realize the potential of this industry-transforming technology standard – and that’s display.

We’ll cover modernizing the way business travelers and agents consume this rich content to make an informed purchasing decision in the third and last blog in this three-part series.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on NDC overall, and, in the meantime – remember: content will always reign supreme.

Blog author: Erik Magnuson, Vice President, Air Distribution Capabilities, CWT.