Etihad Airways and Cognizant have announced a strategic agreement to drive digital transformation across the airline and its equity partners.

Under the three-year deal, Cognizant will help Etihad Airways define its digital strategy and reimagine the guest experience along a guest’s travel journey across the group.

By bringing together its digital strategy, technology, industry and experiential design expertise, Cognizant will conduct a comprehensive study of Etihad Airways’ current business and technology footprint to outline and operationalise a best-in-class digital ecosystem, enabling multi-channel distribution, customer persona segmentation and personalised marketing techniques.

Through data and customer insights, Cognizant will enable Etihad Airways, and subsequently its equity partners, to better understand the needs of their guests.

Combining this research with streamlined best practices, processes and technology, the airline will provide guests with customised offerings, tailored travel solutions, and enhanced experiences throughout their journey based on their loyalty status and personal preferences such as product and service features, preferred seating, meal choices, holiday destinations and more.

For the airline, this means unlocking new revenue streams, enhancing its brand and building new commercial models.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways chief commercial officer, said: “Our guests are increasingly turning to digital channels to connect with us, and therefore we recognise the importance of delivering a personalised and seamless guest experience across all touch-points.

“Our partnership with Cognizant will help us define a superior digital experience roadmap that enhances the customer journey from planning to booking, in the airport and on the plane, and improve guest loyalty by attracting and engaging with guests in new and innovative ways.

“The scope includes digital tools and data insights for our customer-facing staff to further enhance their ability to provide a more customised and personalised service to our guests.”

As part of the engagement, Cognizant will manage Etihad Airways’ existing web applications and portals and integrate them into the new digital platform.

A new Digital Centre of Excellence will be established to drive innovation with the airline’s key technology partners.