Alaska Airlines is the first US airline to invest in a frontline crew analytics app that works without network connectivity. What can it do?
Ditto announced that Alaska airlines is now the first major US airline to apply its real-time data analytics solution to an internal app that supports collaborative communications, data synchronization and customer service.
The Alaska Air app provides flight crews with up-to-date and comprehensive customer data – regardless of a crew’s network connectivity – to help them provide tailored service regardless of their work environment.
Alaska Air’s app is powered by Ditto’s Intelligent Edge Platform, which uses edge device connectivity to enable this kind of serverless data analysis. In this report we will tell you more about this new partnership, what the Intelligent Edge Platform can do and what this kind of technology could mean for the aviation industry.
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Quick facts about the new Alaska Airlines app
Alaska Airlines now has Ditto’s real-time edge data analytics solution embedded in an internal app for its flight crews. Here’s what we know about it so far:
- Alaska Air’s new app is a job management and peer-to-peer connectivity app that focuses specifically on the roles and responsibilities of flight attendants.
- In addition to making real-time data available without a network connection, the partnership also promises to make new types of data and analytics accessible to internal users.
- The app creates new efficiencies for tasks related to guest services and product delivery on board.
- In addition to guest service duties, the app aims to provide crews with more relevant and real-time flight safety data.
- Although Alaska Air is the first major US user of this solution, Ditto’s app is already being used by other airlines such as Lufthansa, Japan Airlines and Etihad Airways.
- The US Air Force is also one of Ditto’s customers.
In announcing this latest collaboration, Ditto explained why the Intelligent Edge Platform is so critical to Alaska Air’s internal app.
“Our Intelligent Edge Platform enables the Alaska Airlines business app to truly work at the edge, where the crew does their jobs,” said Adam Fish, co-founder and CEO of Ditto. “It is essential for them to have access to real-time safety data and passenger preferences, regardless of internet status, to do their jobs well. Without the digitization of key processes, airlines are missing out on critical data and analytics, as well as communication opportunities that are important for greater operational efficiency and more highly optimized customer experiences.”
What is the Intelligent Edge platform?
The Intelligent Edge Platform is the main engine behind Ditto’s real-time database for IoT, web, mobile and server-based applications. With the Intelligent Edge Platform, users can sync with accurate real-time data, even if they don’t have access to central server connectivity. The focus on edge device-based data synchronization makes this platform a great foundation for business applications that need consistent peer-to-peer data exchange.
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Other important facts to know about the Intelligent Edge Platform are:
- The Intelligent Edge Platform includes an SDK with a P2P mesh network and an embedded database.
- An included cloud database helps the platform automatically scale for changing workloads.
- The platform relies on API integrations to enable real-time data exchange.
- The platform works with macOS, Windows, Linux and Raspberry Pi solutions.
- This tool can be flexibly integrated with authentication solutions such as JWT, OAuth 2.0 and SAML.
New customer service channels in the airline industry
The airline industry and its customer service shortcomings are on the minds of many right now, especially after a Series of canceled Southwest Airlines flights in December 2022 and strandings of passengers and flight crew.
What happened to Southwest was largely due to the failure of legacy systems; in response, Southwest and many other airlines are reviewing their technologies and what they need to improve in the future.
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Alaska Airlines appears to be making a forward-looking move with this latest partnership with Ditto, investing in a better communication and collaboration system for its flight crews. This edge-powered application gives flight crews the data they need, both in-flight and in between, to make better customer service and safety decisions while sharing important data with other team members.
Alaska Air’s new app is essentially a trickle-down approach to customer service that gives flight teams the resources they need to provide customers with a smoother flying experience. Alaska Airlines itself explained how this solution will improve the work of flight attendants.
“Our approach to developing first-line tools prioritizes working closely with our flight attendants every step of development,” said Vikram Baskaran, VP of IT for Alaska Airlines. “Ditto has been a great partner in making sure our tools are seamless for our flight attendants. With their help, we have been able to support our working group by providing visibility of each other’s mobile devices on board…in real time.”
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