AI takes off – SIA’s Pelago partners with Yellow.ai to reshape the air travel industry

Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a key driver of digital transformation for businesses in the travel industry, such as airlines. Due to the high volume of customer inquiries and manpower shortage, companies have started to leverage AI to innovate, reduce costs, and enhance operational efficiency.

To that end, Pelago, a travel experience platform by Singapore Airlines, has partnered with Yellow.ai, a leading global conversational customer experience automation platform, to develop a generative AI-powered travel assistant which automates customer assistance.

Yellow.ai has transformed how customers interact with brands and enterprises, delivering real-time and unified customer support on demand. By using cutting-edge multi large language Models (LLMs), the platform has enabled enterprises to reduce operational costs and maintain customer service efficiency.

Customer experience reimagined through Artificial Intelligence

The current digital age has created the need for natural and personalised conversations in customer service. 95% of consumers have cited customer service as vital in their choice and loyalty to a brand and in their end-to-end customer experience.

In addition, the potential of generative AI in customer service in driving customer satisfaction and loyalty has also played a vital role in automating and creating a seamless, personalised experience for customers.

"Pelago wanted to leverage generative AI to reduce the collective workload of travel agents," said Mr Rashid Khan, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Yellow.ai. "We deployed a generative AI-powered travel assistant on the Pelago website and WhatsApp for high-level automation."

Khan believes that this approach would enable Pelago to minimise agent workload, reduce human involvement, and lower operational costs.

Through automation, customer queries are understood and responded to accurately for tasks such as bookings, cancellations, retrieving vouchers or tickets, live agent support, and addressing any issues or queries related to Pelago or the travel domain.

This has enabled Pelago to achieve a high deflection rate of 50% automation of product enquiries while freeing up time for agents to focus on urgent requests and provide personalised support when needed. Furthermore, the average turnaround time has been reduced from 2-3 hours to 30 seconds.

Artificial Intelligence on the Rise

Artificial Intelligence is a growing trend this year, with many companies increasingly adopting AI in Singapore. For instance, according to Employment Hero's report on the Power of Automated Payroll Report SEA: Singapore, 44% of respondents expressed a desire for payroll reporting automation, and 41% would want pay calculations to be automated.

Digital platforms such as Homeez, a home renovation platform, have also adopted AI using an "AI design tool" known as DesignNow. This tool can generate a look and quotation within seconds of uploading a residence's floor plan, selecting the look you want, and selecting a mood board.

Building on the momentum, Yellow.ai will significantly impact reimagining customer experience through generative AI-powered automation. The company aims to create actionable outcomes for enterprises, customers, and employees through a customer-centric approach and innovative solutions.

Today, Yellow.ai is actively promoting the use of YellowG, a generative AI platform for automation workflows. This platform would enable enterprises to streamline intricate workflows by enhancing existing processes and fostering innovation while working towards its mission of automating customer service for humans to build memorable customer relationships.