We believe that loyalty enabled commerce is the future, and is key to driving consumer engagement and stickiness
Manish Dureja, MD & CEO of InterMiles
2020 was a year of ingenious innovation and renovation for us – it essentially sets the stage for 2021, where we intend to focus on:
Accelerating customer-centricity
We continue to be focused on our members’ immediate and long term needs, while also helping them achieve their travel and lifestyle aspirations over time. We intend to do this with digital innovation and transformation, that provides tangible, real-time benefits. The ultimate goal of digital transformation is to be able to meet and satisfy consumer needs optimally, as and where the consumer requires it.
With the consumer at the centre of our business model, we will look at further evolving from just the delivery of products to the delivery of value-added services designed to enhance consumer experience and increase relevance. We intend to establish InterMiles as the digital currency of choice, by further diversifying revenue streams – which means consumers can earn and redeem across a wide range of categories, right from travel, dine and shop to fuel and payments.
Increasing consumer touch-points
In 2021, there will be major focus on establishing and cementing our presence in all marketplaces and ecosystems frequented by our current and potential members. We already have an expansive list of partners across multiple categories on board, and intend on making our current partnerships more robust, while joining hands with additional brands and service providers. We want to create a one-stop-solution for all consumer needs.
We believe that loyalty enabled commerce is the future, and is key to driving consumer engagement and stickiness.
Upgrading systems to increase agility and reduce costs
At InterMiles, we are fluid and constantly innovating to establish effective and easy user interfaces, while also doing away with dated backend practices and technologies. A key learning during the lockdown was the perpetual need to be flexible and adaptable. Towards this, we are looking at enabling microservice architecture and solutions. These services are extremely malleable and meet goals using technology-agnostic protocols, which means that services can be implemented using different programming languages, databases, hardware and software – depending on what fits best.
Given that these services are decentralized, autonomously developed and independently deployable, they are also cheaper and thus, considerably bring down costs.
Innovating with machine learning, artificial intelligence and personalization
With a targeted focus on increasing personalization, we are looking at integrating and employing artificial intelligence and machine learning behind the scenes to enhance end-user experience, while also allowing for secure transactions.
Together, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics help us identify patterns in data in order to customize for individual members. This data provides timely information about members that leads to increased engagement and actionable insights for the business, while also improving transaction efficiency right from payment to executing a refund.
Building a self-sustaining ecosystem
Towards our goal of creating a built-in engagement model supported by a self-sustaining ecosystem of partners and products, we are launching a multitude of innovations in the payments space in the coming year. We are looking at establishing an independently functioning platform for all InterMiles related payments, while also tying up with certain banks and other small & medium business enterprises, in order to provide added value to the consumer.
One major development will be a revitalized co-brand cards portfolio offering elevated benefits and lifestyle privileges for holders, designed to bring about a smart way of purchasing. These cards provide dual benefits to the consumer, as they can earn InterMiles on every spend while also getting benefits from the co-brand bank partner. Since InterMiles is brand agnostic, consumers can avail an array of rewards across multiple categories.
