From Travelocity to AI Chat Marketing
“If you don’t like change,” said tech industry icon Terry Jones at the 14th Annual Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference (AIM 2019), which took place at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach on May 5-8, “you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” Jones, former CIO of Sabre, CEO of Travelocity, Chairman of Kayak - and now Chairman of WayBlazer and managing principal of ON Inc. (a consultancy that helps companies transition to the digital economy) - illustrated his point with the following scenario: On a two-hour limo ride, the driver-owner asked Jones to review his website. Jones discovered that the site
- did not mention punctuality, safety or price
- did not have driver ratings
- couldn’t book business
- wasn’t mobile
“The owner’s core business didn’t need to change,” said Jones, “but his marketing did.”
What made marketing change is connectivity, which itself is changing all the time. “That little stream of data, back when Billy Gates was still on the Teletype, is now a raging torrent of data, coming from wearables, the IoT, laptops and iPads, said Jones. “And that created Big Data, 90 percent of which was created in the last three years.”
For this data, the shared data center (aka Cloud) was created. “The Cloud is insanely inexpensive. It’s why two guys and a dog in a startup have as much computing power as a Fortune 500 company.” Business as usual, he noted, is “playing whack-a-mole against 3,000 to 4,000 startups that are out to disrupt this business, to change it.”
What is needed, Jones maintained, is a way to create systems of insight from the amount of data that’s out there. “Enter A.I. Because if data is the oil of the 21st century, then A.I. is the refinery,” adding, “because these are learning systems, they are the first systems that are worth more when they are old than when they are new.
“For A.I. in sales and marketing, personalization is a huge part of what A.I. can help you do.” At Jones’ company, Wayblazer, “We analyze millions of photos of hotels and let the A.I. learn how to choose the best image to drive conversion. It chose an image that drove conversion 15 percent.”
A.I. can also analyze customer intent. “Concepts are more important than keywords. If you understand customer intent, you’re going to get better conversions.”
Currently, the biggest disruptor is voice - or more specifically, smart speakers. Demonstrating how Alexa handles a product request, Jones noted, “When I go to the Amazon website, there are 15 products above the fold, but Alexa offered only one.” Wondering aloud, Jones asked, “What’s it going to take to be ‘the one’?”
Joining Jones on the stage, RedPeak’s CIO Jared Miller asked how the audience might become disruptors; because, in the search for the ‘right technology,’ said Miller, “Sometimes we get caught in one little decision that we lose sight of the industry. “You have a great conference here,” said Jones. “I went through the trade show and you have some cool companies.” He recommended that property owners and managers go and see all of them.” You can also go out to Silicon Valley, where they have a thing called the Silicon Valley Petting Zoo. “Hook up with a VC and look at what happens. And bring those ideas back.”
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