Mobility in Everyday Life
Consumers and End Users today are looking at opportunities which will ensure quicker and easier access to their needs and want to pursue avenues which will help enable their requirements are met in simplest possible way. To make this happen we observe so many emerging trends and transformations starting from Internet, eCommerce, Mobility, etc... Just wanted to pen down my experience on mobility in everyday life during my recent domestic travel.
I was travelling on regular business trip and was in the queue checking in to board the flight. The boarding was happening zone by zone. First the Executive and First class passengers were being boarded, and followed by passengers from Zone-1 through Zone-4. When I was almost close to heading the gate and ready to hand in by boarding pass for check-in, the passenger ahead of me handed over his mobile and got it scanned and went through the gates for boarding the flight. Few of the passengers behind me who probably are not aware of mobile check-in were surprised and were discussing on what are they doing with a mobile phone and scanning??
Mobile check-in has become very common these days. Passenger need not have to go through the hassle of getting their airline confirmation information and print out a paper boarding pass and get through the check-in process. Rather the complete process is made much simple. When the booking is done on-line, passengers have the option to choose "Electronic check-in" and submit their mobile details so that eBoarding details are sent to the mobile device. Once a passenger have mobile boarding pass in their device they need not wait in the airline ticketing counter or self-checkin aisle to print out the paper boarding pass. Instead they can directly go to the TSA agents show the eBoarding pass and get through the security check area, and then directly go to the airline agent near the boarding gates, have the eBoarding pass scanned and directly walk into the flight. Life is made much simpler and easier and new opportunities are designed which will help end users save time and money.
On the face of it the mobility usage for a simple airline check-in process helps in:
1. Reducing usage of paper (Go green) for airline confirmation and boarding pass.
2. Saves time for passengers standing in airline counters / self check-in to get their boarding pass.
3. Reduces manual work for airline saving labor cost.
This is one of the several other aspects where mobility is transforming the life style of a common man. Apart from airline ticketing, we have several other emerging trends in mobility like Accessing internet, Social networking, mCommerce, Use of QR codes, etc... There are new and ground breaking technology that emerges everyday to simplify the life of a common man, now it is up to each individuals to make sure they are up to speed on the changes and tap them based on specific requirements.
Also we have technologies like NFC (Near Field Communications) which has started to become common and prevalent wherein smartphones and devices having the capability can communicate between each other wireless without any physical connectivity.
Given the latest surveys and statistics we know that at least 4 out of every 5 users have mobile phones and with so many new trends and apps being introduced almost every day, it is up to the end user to leverage the benefits and advantages and make his life simpler and economical. Have fun with your Mobile devices / smartphones!
This article has been authored by Harshavardan Balachandran (Program Manager - Infosys Ltd). Reach Harsha at Harshavardan_b@infosys.com
