Futureproofing visitor economy
One of the more topical uses of data is to track and fight the covid pandemic, and to allow safe international travel in and out of Fiji. – Naleen Nageshwar
VACCINATION doesn’t mean we’re home free. That it’s all over. Just take a closer look at the strict rules put in place for the “Australia – New Zealand, QuarantineFree Travel Bubble”.
In this article we discuss how quality data, advanced analytics and digital health passports can help the return to safe international travel and future-proof our tourism-heavy economy toward sustainable recovery.
“In God we trust; all others bring data.” – Dr William Edwards Deming Many in Japan give credit to Deming as one of the inspirations for what has become known as the “Japanese post-war economic miracle”, when Japan rose from the ashes of war on the road to becoming the secondlargest economy in the world.
This has been attributed partially to the processes influenced by Dr Deming’s ideas and total quality management (TQM) philosophy. Dr Deming’s work is foundational to TQM and the more recent quality management systems. He believed that not much could be done effectively without quality detailed data. As another business guru Stephen Hawking puts it “intelligence is the ability to adapt in step with change”.
And data analysts will respond with a Silicon Valley refrain that reflects Deming’s reliance on the use of data: “you are a data company, you will be a data company, or you will be extinct as a company”.
Company is meant to be any organisation in the private or public sector. So, who will be the winners and losers through this COVID driven digital disruption?
Let’s start with the premise that to transform effectively, we have to use data. When C-Levels start a sentence with “based on my experience”, I can guarantee the next thing they say will not be based on data-facts. To take action on the basis of opinions is not the greatest thing we can do in the midst of a crisis. It’s simply not an effective basis to make decisions. Experience can lead us down the wrong path, the most effective way is through rapid learning with data collected and analysed in near real-time (NRT).
One example is the SARS related collapse of Australian airline Ansett. During that period Qantas was using detail data for forward bookings analysis on a weekly basis on weekends.
On Monday and through the week, decision-makers would start making decisions on aircraft, routes, pricing and so on.
During the crisis Qantas realised that once a week was not acceptable because things were changing too fast. So, based on the same platform of good quality and integrated data Qantas’ data capture and analyses went to daily, then to a continuous basis, learning in near real-time.
Qantas constantly beat Ansett to the punch contributing in a not insignificant way to Ansett’s collapse.
Today, machine language (ML) under the AI umbrella, is orders of magnitude faster and better in terms of predictive analysis decisions. Build a quality, integrated data foundation to support use of ML. What has been long established as the way to inform executives the most effectively, via the “one-pager”, or the dashboard, where business performance is presented as a snapshot is your biggest enemy. 20 years after the Ansett – Qantas example if your business is stuck in the snapshot or summarised reporting age, then you could be in big trouble.
You simply cannot consistently make good decisions on average data. Average data means average decisions. One of the more topical uses of data is to track and fight the covid pandemic, and to allow safe international travel in and out of Fiji. After NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement that the quarantine free New Zealand and Australia travel bubble is to begin just days from now on the 19th of April, Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said they were “run off our feet” as Air New Zealand plans to bring 330 staff back to work in an operation to help the rapid operational ramp-up.
“Isn’t that good news” said Foran, “we’re providing about 50 per cent of pre-COVID capacity and hope to get closer to 100 per cent soon. We’re ready to fly when our customers are ready to fly.” Qantas’ Andrew David responsible for Qantas Domestic and International, Qantas will operate 122 return services a week between Australia and New Zealand on 15 routes.
Together with the good news, NZ Prime Minister Ardern has sent a clear message that the travel bubble would operate under a strict regime and they will not hesitate to “throw people’s travel into disarray if there are fresh coronavirus outbreaks in Australia” that includes being stuck in Australia should the state or city find it necessary to go into full lockdown.
All of that suggests strong use of data and near real-time updates of data for relevant, almost instant, but surely timely analyses. Whether it is something personalised or the regime will be a blanket implementation for all travellers returning from a certain area is not known at this stage. Where does that leave us in Fiji?
What I can say with certainty is that a data centric solution for the “Safe return to international travel, and futureproofing our visitor economy” is available and accessible today.
It is data centric, near real-time, has person-by-person risk analysis built-in from any destination in the world, with data integrated from 17 different sources and individual countries, states, regions, and localities, the data is integrated and updated every hour.
The solution uses a machine language based predictability engine for ranking and dynamically assessing COVID risk profiles. It can inform health authorities and border control of multiple countries via an alert mechanism.
If not superior to what the Australia New Zealand quarantine free travel bubble is likely using, it definitely does not lag behind in its capabilities.
With political and international negotiations put aside, it is a near perfect solution for pre and post vaccination travel.