Enhancing & Transforming Loyalty in Aviation:
CX, Siebel & Technology

Client Background:
The client, one of the largest airlines in the U.S. and a global leader, serves millions of customers across continents, managing a vast network of flights, customer services, and loyalty programs. Known for its prestigious travel lounges, the client sought to improve customer experience through enhanced loyalty management and sales optimization for its membership programs.
The Challenges Faced:
The airline encountered multiple technical and operational hurdles. These challenges spanned various areas, impacting efficiency and customer experience. Addressing them was crucial to optimizing both backend processes and user interactions:
- User-Friendly Portal: Needed a modern, easy-to-use customer portal to enhance the customer experience.
- Vulnerability Management: Consistent and reliable management of Siebel vulnerability fixes and system upgrades was crucial.
- System Issues:The airline had difficulty tracking entry check-ins and booking conference rooms through its existing systems.
- Sales Boost: The client required a streamlined process to boost the sales of its premium Loyalty Club memberships and One day pass
- Data Tracking: Managing and storing multi-continent customer data was complex due to their current database’s limitations.
- Technical Challenges: Multiple client-server calls slowed system performance and tracking them was cumbersome.
These challenges disrupted operational efficiency and limited the airline's ability to deliver a seamless customer experience. Addressing them was critical for optimizing performance and meeting customer demands. By resolving these issues, the airline could enhance both its operations and customer satisfaction.
The Solution:
SoftClouds provided a robust solution utilizing Siebel Open UI and advanced technologies. This approach addressed the client’s diverse challenges effectively. By integrating innovative tools, we ensured seamless resolution and optimization:
- Upgraded Customer Portal: Implemented Siebel Open UI and enhanced the application while following strict branding standards, ensuring timely delivery.
- Device Agnostic Features: Introduced a responsive, device-agnostic interface to improve customer access across multiple devices.
- Optimized Customer Portals: Upgraded five key Customer Portals, including membership purchases, opt-in/out functionalities, and account management features.
- Improved Performance: Enhanced guest registration performance, achieving a 70% improvement with response times under four seconds.
- Session Storage Logic: Implemented session storage logic, eliminating multiple client-to-server calls and reducing latency.
- Enhanced User Experience: Added hotkey functionality (e.g., Enter, Esc) for seamless navigation and interaction.
- Membership Sales: Introduced an online portal for Loyalty & Club membership sales, utilizing Siebel Open UI to refine user interface (UI) changes and improving the guest checkout process.
- Multi-Device Support: Migrated the loyalty mobile applications globally from Android to iOS, ensuring consistent performance across platforms.
- Document Management: Implemented Siebel’s inline photo attachment logic for capturing and storing customer documents.
- Enhanced Customer Journey: Added a "Continue as Guest" feature for ease of purchasing passes and accessing services without having an active club membership..
This comprehensive solution enhanced overall system performance. By optimizing key customer touchpoints and improving user experience, SoftClouds empowered the airline to deliver seamless service. The result was a marked increase in customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Reaping the Rewards of a Transformation Success Story
The implementation of Siebel Open UI and SoftClouds customized solutions led to significant improvements in the airline's operational efficiency, customer experience, and overall business performance. Let us look at the major benefits realized by the client:
Benefits for the Client:
- Enhanced System Performance: With the new upgrades, the registration performance improved by over 70%, reducing response times to under 4 seconds, which allowed the airline to handle more customer interactions efficiently.
- Reduced Maintenance and Downtime: Streamlining the Siebel patch upgrades, and vulnerability fixes resulted in less downtime and manual intervention, enabling smoother operations across multiple locations.
- Cost Efficiency: The consistent upgrades and reduced need for manual troubleshooting led to significant savings in operational costs, including fewer resources allocated to maintenance.
- Increased Operational Agility: The use of device-agnostic features across platforms provided the client with greater flexibility to implement new features and updates swiftly.
- Data Security and Compliance: The improved document management system, including multi-continent license and passport storage, ensured compliance with international data security standards, which was critical for a global airline.
Benefits for Customers:
- Seamless Check-in Process: The enhanced mobile entry check-in feature allowed for a smoother, faster acknowledgment of customer arrivals, improving overall satisfaction and reducing wait times.
- Improved User Experience: The device-agnostic, user-friendly portal delivered an intuitive experience across all customer touchpoints, making it easier to manage memberships, check-ins, and purchases.
- Faster Transactions: With the optimized performance and reduced response times, customers experienced faster transactions, whether purchasing Admirals Club memberships or accessing other loyalty services.
- Convenient Access to Services: The “Continue as Guest” feature was enhanced, allowing customers to make quick, one-time purchases without the need to create an account, which improved convenience.
- Streamlined Document Management: Customers could easily upload and store travel documents, such as passports and licenses, ensuring a hassle-free experience for multi-continent travellers.
Benefits for Boosting Revenue & Empowering Employees:
- Increased Admirals Club Sales: The improved "Continue as Guest" feature and optimized sales channels led to a significant boost in Loyalty Club membership sales, increasing overall revenue.
- Revenue Growth: The system was used by over 30,000 customers, generating more than $2M USD in revenue, showcasing a strong return on investment (ROI) for the airline.
- Faster Time to Market: The agility provided by the Siebel Open UI allowed the airline to roll out new features and products faster, keeping ahead of market demands.
- Empowered Employees: By reducing technical inefficiencies and eliminating multiple server calls, employees could focus more on delivering better customer service, rather than troubleshooting system issues.
- Improved Employee Productivity: The streamlined processes and reduced downtime allowed employees to manage customer interactions more effectively, increasing overall productivity and morale.
Benefits for the Loyalty Program:
- Optimized Loyalty Program Sales: The enhanced system performance, including mobile and desktop features, led to an increase in sales of loyalty memberships and packages.
- Multi-Channel Sales Opportunities: The introduction of new sales channels, including mobile, desktop, and guest portals, provided more avenues for customers to purchase memberships, driving additional revenue.
- Better Guest Experience: Customers who were unfamiliar with the airline’s loyalty program could now easily make purchases and enjoy club benefits, enhancing their experience and loyalty.
- Scalable Solution: The upgraded system allowed the airline to scale its loyalty program across multiple regions, supporting a growing customer base while maintaining top-notch service.
- Real-Time Analytics: The enhanced system provided real-time data on customer interactions, allowing the airline to optimize its loyalty strategies and improve targeted marketing efforts.
Benefits for IT & Security:
- Efficient Patch Management: The streamlined approach to Siebel upgrades and vulnerability fixes reduced system downtime and ensured smoother patch management.
- Secure Document Storage: With the inline photo attachment logic, customer travel documents such as passports and licenses were securely stored directly in the database, improving both security and accessibility.
- Minimized Server Load: The session storage logic eradicated the need for multiple client-server calls, minimizing server load and improving overall system performance.
- Future-Proof Infrastructure: The scalability of Siebel Open UI and the upgraded portal ensured that the system could easily accommodate future technology advancements without significant rework.
- Global Consistency: By migrating the mobile platform from Android to iOS globally, the airline achieved consistent performance across all devices, improving customer and employee interactions worldwide.
This transformation allowed the airline to strengthen customer loyalty and enhance operational efficiency. As a result, it significantly boosted revenue and solidified its position in the aviation industry. These improvements reinforced the airline's status as a leading player in the market.
A Winning Partnership Transforming CX and Operational Excellence
The successful implementation of Siebel solutions with other SoftClouds customized solutions resulted in a transformative partnership between SoftClouds and the airline, greatly improving both customer satisfaction and operational efficiencies. With our deep technical expertise in Siebel and the airline’s vast industry knowledge, the collaboration was designed around a shared commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences. The airline's customers benefited from smoother check-ins, faster response times, and user-friendly interfaces, leading to a significant boost in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The tailored solutions addressed core challenges, such as optimizing the customer portal and improving document management, which reduced friction points for travellers and created a more personalized, seamless journey. Enhanced system performance, including faster transactions and simplified processes, not only improved customer experience but also empowered the airline’s employees to deliver higher-quality service, with fewer disruptions and technical issues.
From a client perspective, the partnership yielded tangible benefits beyond operational improvements. The streamlined processes reduced system downtime and maintenance efforts, while the new scalability ensured that the airline could adapt to future demands without significant additional costs. The collaborative approach fostered trust, leading to long-term satisfaction, as SoftClouds continually refined the solutions based on real-time feedback. This win-win collaboration positioned the airline to remain competitive in an evolving industry, while consistently exceeding customer expectations.
The collaboration with this airline was a challenging yet rewarding experience. Through our comprehensive implementation of Siebel Open UI and innovative solutions, we were able to overcome the technical challenges and significantly enhance the client’s customer experience. The transformation has set a new benchmark in the aviation industry, and we're proud to have contributed to their success