Travel in a Connected World

As I sat sipping my last cup of masala chai wondering how the much-awaited Greek coffee will taste, quietly admiring both the view of empire state and my neatly packed bags with equal awe, Alexa breaks my peace and yells “you better leave now if you don’t want to miss your flight!!! Intrigued ? I was. Read on…

I was super excited for my first ever trip to Greece, but I certainly didn’t put that reminder in so how did this happen, also this yelling was totally mom tone. I still have plenty time for the flight…did my Vacation Genie map my airline, my calendar and traffic data and prompted Alexa to scream? As I am figuring how was this happening, my Vacation Genie, as we will fondly call it VG from now on, has gone ahead and ordered me an uber and am told its about to show up. I enter the car and VG shines again having sent my music preferences to my uber driver. I get to the airport seamlessly with “ALL I need” blasting through jersey roads. VG has zipped me in the airport through Clear, my bag is given a special tag, am told VG is going to do something special with that tag. While I am wondering what that is going to be, I am told there maybe some delay in take off and to compensate, my airlines added extra points to my wallet. VG is prompting me to choose an Estee lauder moisturizer (aircraft air… hello dry skin..), boston crème dunkin donut(ahem..weakness alert) or a mini Glenlivet 18 (don’t judge me), I suspect VG leaked my list of favorite things…. Indeed this is a tough choice but I forgive the delay happily and pick one!

             The 9 and half hour journey starts and while I thought I will chat with my fellow passengers; VG has created a full plan for me. It had downloaded the remaining “Partner track” episodes on my Netflix account and gave me 4 hours to nap and rest for eating and binge watching. It also prompted me to watch a documentary on Greece history and believe it or not, another one that talks about leadership lessons from Greek mythology…it’s getting spooky how much the VG knows me but that’s another article in the making. As I drift away to la la land dreaming of mystic sunsets and having conversations on poetry, art and war strategy with Zeus, Hera and Athena, VG, as always, is ahead of me and is scheming and plotting my first two days in Athens.  I am woken up 30 minutes before landing and VG through my wristwatch knows sleep quality and quantity, declares me as  being fit and ready to explore this majestic land. VG alerted my hotel to get me a room, reading my mind on the quick shower I need, I am in and out in couple of hours and before I know it, hiking up to see the Acropolis. The Greece sun hits me hard, I did under anticipate the impact of heat but dear VG didn’t. I get a prompt of nearest Pepsi kiosk cause yes this thing really knows me well and its exactly what I needed! I didn’t have local currency but VG to rescue again I could just pay through my digital wallet, and lo and behold  my chilled can of my magic potion is in my hands immediately cooling my mind and body both. As I walk in further and stare at the ancient architecture my mind can’t stop thinking how far we have come. How our focus has moved from winning battles to winning hearts over the centuries….all unknown to me my bag tag is talking to my phone camera and collecting moments from this vacation…how swell right? There’s more coming…over the next 48 hours I walk through Plaka, Poseidon temple and the stadium, VG stays my travel buddy throughout. As I pick my third serving of the phenomenal spinach pie, it gently shows me the calories and suggests I indulge the Greek yogurt with honey and nuts instead.. …I obey this time! My VG definitely has friends in the right places, as I am packing back for next stop Santorini, Nike prompts me to say the shoes I wore last 2 days need to be changed if I am planning more hikes and also shows me quick stops where I can pick up before I get on the high-speed ferry to Santorini.

I sail seamlessly into the beautiful Santorini, Fira and Mykonos where my VG leads me to the exact perfect spot to watch sunsets and sunrises, bullies me at times when I go overboard on the beers and champagne but also proposes damage control (yep it actually claimed if I hiked from Oia to Fira I would have negated all extra baklavas I hogged on). It knew exactly when to take me to nearest McD as my American cravings came knocking, directed me to shops to buy customized shopping list it created as gifts to take back.

VG brought me back home while I mentally stayed in the beautiful Oia. This time, my uber driver was waiting with my chai latte from star bucks, extra hot just as I like it. I walked back in my house which was set to perfect 68 degrees that made me instantly forget the 90+ degrees sun burns, it made Amazon preorder milk and other essentials and the cherry on top, piping hot pizza from Papa johns delivered precisely at same time I entered the house! As I unpacked my bags, it stuck me how beautifully VG had captured all key photographs turned my bag tag into a digital vacation diary.

VG connected me, my preferences, my DNA to my entire eco system across airlines, ubers, hotels, restaurants, retailers, health gadgets, airports and it showed me a beautiful new country in a way no one else could.  It’s intelligent, it’s teachable, a buddy, an assistant all rolled in one, built on multiple technologies from AI/ML, IoT, AR/VR/ER, Wearable tech, Datafication, Geonomics, RPA to Blockchain that stitched an impeccable and unforgettable vacation! My Vacation genie … It’s here to serve me. Is it real? Parts of what you read are and parts will be in the future.

My question to you is: Are you ready to take a connected vacation or are you ready to build the future for others?

We are building this connected world. Our goal is to reduce anxiety and create a confident buyer that experiences every life moment uniquely as they are. Our audience is the future buyer who may buy in metaverse or the store next door, whose loyalty is earned not only by best price and fit but the best intuitive, personalized and connected experience.

If you want to work and be part of this cool team that is building this new world, reach out to me and if you are a business that wants to transform experience for your clients, Cognizant is the right choice for you to partner with. If you just want to know where to go and what to do in Greece, hit me up for that as well! And if you read this the end, it’s your sign to plan a vacation! Cheers!

#travel #retail #consumergoods #experiencetransformation #cognizant #becognizant #transformation #retailtrends #futureofretail #vacation #creatingfutures #userexperiencedesign #hospitality #greece

Renu Ahuja