A personalized experience
In our blog Security-adjacent airport process innovation we introduced how we strive to stay ahead of the curve in the aviation industry – by having interactive ‘Ahead of the Curve’ sessions at Point FWD. Recently we have been focussing on the future landscape of airport security. In this blog we share a snippet of our recent development: Security as a Service – A personalised experience.
Figure 1: Mural at Copenhagen Airport (CPH) in Denmark
Guests of the future
Differentiation and relevance of experiences have become key in many industries. People desire more excellence and personalized experiences. The One-size-fits-nobody approach is the common shared thought on passenger experience nowadays.
To identify the optimal differentiated passenger experience in airport security, it is key to identify the elements that contribute to this experience. We took the approach of backward engineering on identifying the optimal passenger experience and formulated the following question:
What are the desires and needs of passengers today and guests of the future?
Figure 2: A passenger of today and an airport guest of the future looking at the horizon
The Internet of Things and Open Architecture are expected to become an important direction for the landscape of airport security in the near future, as we discussed in a previous blog. Other elements that define future landscaping are:
· Shaping a sustainable future together;
· Digital and open wayfinding;
· Inclusive and transparent way of working;
· Passenger differentiation and relevance; and
· People empowerment by building a community.
These elements have sparked our imagination and creativity, which led to a brainstorm session about passenger differentiation based on individual desires and needs. The aim was to build a need-based foundation in (re-)designing a security checkpoint to be able to provide guests’ desires of the future.
Passenger characteristics & behaviour at security touchpoints
An overview of passenger characteristics and behavioural traits per touchpoint in the security process resulted in passenger differentiation. The characteristics are divided over the touchpoints: queue, divest, image analysis, passenger screening, recheck and reclaim. A sneak-peak is shown in the overview below.
Figure 3: Sneak-peak of our passenger characteristics & behaviour overview
The experienced flyer is alert on action and movement when queuing, and has common baggage content such as a laptop, small beverage, phone and wallet. Infrequent flyers need more overall guidance throughout the security process and re-divestment is needed more frequently. Families carry a high variety of baggage items and content, and they desire patience to minimize their stress-level. Transfer passengers can be tired, rushed and focussed on their next flight. The security process is the first touchpoint on arrival, and they are in need of information about their next stop. Also, their prior journey could have caused a cluttered baggage content which influences the security process. Persons with reduced mobility (PRM) often bring odd-size carry-on baggage which requires more frequent and alternative alarm resolution.
Security Parameters and Value Added Services
At Point FWD, we believe in a data driven approach. Therefore, we identified security parameters which can be used as input in our Modelling and Simulation Tools. Divest time, occupancy rate, image complexity, operator analysis time, alarm rate and acquisition, and resolution time are examples of parameters that are implemented.
The security parameters furthermore enable the development of services that can add value to specific passenger characteristics in their journey. Examples of these Value Added Services are self-divest, large tray size, cooperative alarm resolution and extended reclaim space and time.
Because passengers differ in their desires and needs, they require different approaches on pace. Passenger differentiation could therefore require security lane-set up differentiation. Whereas the experienced traveller is most comfortable in a self-service environment, the family passenger type might need a slower pace and more interaction with operators to assist them throughout the process. Different security-lane set ups could provide an optimal passenger experience for different guests. And when everybody can proceed through the security process at their own pace, this could benefit to a more seamless passenger flow. The image below (figure 4) depicts security checkpoint set-ups defined by a passenger differentiation approach.
Figure 4: Example of security checkpoint set-ups defined by passenger differentiation.
What type of passenger are you?
People can be different types of passengers depending on the purpose of the journey. When going on a business trip, the experienced flyer type might fit best in this situation. However, when this same person travels with his family to a holiday destination, their needs can be different, and another profile would be a better fit. Passengers should be provided sufficient autonomy to be able to provide their own input about the experience that will fit best for them at a specific moment. A pre-flight information app (figure 5) could help to assemble sufficient information to define the optimal fit to realize Security as a Service – A personalized experience.
Figure 5: Point FWD Pre-flight security app concept
We are curious: What type of passenger you consider yourself?
