Just 2 minutes to check in

SIA's trial biometric smart card check-in system was hailed as a breakthrough idea by the Harvard Business Review last month. GRACE CHNG reports

Singapore Airlines' trial biometric smart card check-in system is so brisk and breezy that it has earned international praise as a breakthrough idea set to revolutionise customer service.

Check-in queues at Changi Airport's departure halls may soon be a thing of the past, if SIA implements the biometric smart card system for all passengers. In a report published last month, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) hailed SIA's Fully Automated Seamless Travel, or Fast, as one of 20 breakthrough ideas for 2005. It said: 'Other companies could do the same, customising and streamlining the way people buy clothing, health care, financial services - even a cup of coffee.'

Fast, the first of its kind in the world, rolled out as a trial for more than 500 of SIA's frequent flyers last November.

With it, travellers can check in, select their seats on the plane and clear immigration - all from a touch-screen monitor.

And all in two minutes. The current process takes eight to 15 minutes.

Listed 16th out of a list of 20 ideas, Fast was described as a killer application which can 'lock up' business, meaning that customers used to a system or its convenience will prefer to stick to one vendor.

The HBR draws up its annual survey of emerging management brainwaves 'to capture ideas in just that state of becoming: Things felt but not yet spoken, innovations that will change - something? everything? - and promising or unner-ving developments'.

It first saw the application when Fast was written as a case study by two dons from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Drs Jochen Wirtz and Loizos Heracleous. Dr Wirtz, who teaches marketing service at the NUS School of Business, said what was 'truly novel' was that the project originated from SIA with the clear objective of improving customer service for their best frequent travellers.

The process, he added, is clearly superior to the old as it offers higher security and is more cost-effective.

Fast, which is four months into a six-month trial, is a collaboration among SIA, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority. When contacted, an SIA spokes-man said it has received positive feedback from participants, with many other passengers keen to try out the service.

On whether the rivals would cotton on and erode the competitive advantage that Fast affords now, she said that though technology 'can be mirrored, the difficulty of Fast lies in the collaboration of multiple commercial and government agencies, and the integration of the various systems'.

And that 'is not easily replicable'.

from The Straits Times Interactive, March 8, 2005