Big Data and Analytics Focus in the Travel and Transportation Industry

The travel and transportation industry faces enormous challenges and opportunities as the global economy moves into a new information age that is connected and intelligent.

The amount of data, increasingly real time and near real time, that is bombarding businesses in this industry requires faster and more comprehensive data collection and analytics capabilities to support both current ways of doing business and future innovation.

Indeed, new technical, organizational, process, and decision management frameworks will be required to handle the four Vs of Big Data and analytics: value, volume, velocity, and variety.

IDC Manufacturing Insights defines travel and transportation as any industry segment that moves people or products; we do not include companies that manufacture transportation assets in this segment.

These companies are undergoing a fundamental shift from “product-related services” to “information-related services”:

• The role of intermediary in travel and transportation fuels the need to adopt and adapt Big Data and analytics as a way to unlock the insights and capabilities inherent in new data sources and applications — whether unstructured data, social media, remote/mobile device use, or consumer connectivity.
• The "empowered," or "always connected," consumer has particularly profound implications for the segments of the travel and transportation industry that manage passengers. As we’ve noted, this is both an opportunity and a challenge — companies must adapt their services to handle connectivity and communication requirements and the expectation of consumers for 100% service levels, as well as recognize that the availability of new data sources and new technologies can open up opportunities to both