Oracle’s Siebel Loyalty solution leads the global airlines loyalty market share … and by some distance!

We are pleased to share results from a research report just published by T2RL Travel Technology Research Ltd (an independent sourcing and research company that specializes in airline technology and distribution). The T2RL report shows that Oracle’s Siebel Loyalty leads the market for loyalty management systems in the airline industry with a market share of 23%. 

This report along with the Q1, 2023 Forrester Wave™ for Loyalty Technology Solutions reinforces Oracle’s positioning as a strong performer. Oracle’s Siebel CRM is one of the world’s most widely used enterprise class, comprehensive, cross-channel solutions for managing the complete loyalty program lifecycle. 

T2RL tracks market share for loyalty systems providers in three ways: 

  • by number of airlines served
  • by the passenger volumes carried by those airlines
  • and by the number of members enrolled in the programs

Apart from in-house solutions, Oracle’s market share is almost twice the market share of its closest competitor, according to fourth edition of T2RL’s report on the Market for Airline Loyalty Management Systems. In addition, Oracle is also #2 in “Number of Airlines served”, behind  in-house solutions. Oracle’s customers in the airline industry include the largest network carriers that operate frequent flyer programs.

More than 25 airlines worldwide carrying 17% of global passenger traffic use Oracle’s Siebel Loyalty to manage over 330 million members in their loyalty programs.

Customers today have more choices than ever, so loyalty programs can help airlines grow when travel is strong and sustain passenger volumes when travel slows in difficult periods. During the Covid-19 pandemic for several airlines, revenue and commercial security from their loyalty programs was the difference between survival and failure. The report cites that most airlines see their loyalty programs as a direct source of revenue, obtained by selling miles or points to partners of which the most significant are credit card companies.

Over the last few years, the airline industry has seen immense change, from consumer expectations and behaviors to technology-based innovations and a dramatically different competitive landscape. To thrive and grow in this competitive marketplace, airlines are introducing new innovations in their loyalty programs and delivering better customer experiences. Airlines are using Oracle Siebel Loyalty, AI, and cloud technologies to enhance service request processing, reduce fraud, and offer more options for customers to earn and redeem loyalty points. Use-cases include:

  • Airlines are incorporating AI into service center workflows to classify inbound service requests by severity, or other criteria and route to the service agent best equipped to resolve the issue. With the integration of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) AI Services and Siebel CRM, our customers can automatically categorize incoming support requests and also expedite service request processing by finding support tickets that address similar issues. 
  • Coalition or partnership is growing in importance, as airline brands are adding value and deepening connections with their members through complementary rewards and benefits with non-air partners. Oracle’s Siebel Loyalty enables airlines to offer customers more choice with multi-industry, multi-partner promotions to redeem rewards.
  • A key concern, within the airline industry, is loyalty fraud. AI-based tools can play a vital role in detection. Oracle lets program managers detect anomalies early and identify undesirable business incidents in such a way that the transaction processing can reject a transaction if it meets criteria that classifies it as potentially fraudulent, or has insufficient data. For example, you could identify and reject transactions as fraudulent based on frequency or a high amount.
  • The evolution of Airline loyalty is driven by the need to go beyond transactional “spend-to-get” programs to one’s with an engagement focus to create emotional loyalty, rather than simply transactional value. To address this, we have a pre-built integration to combine the transactional capabilities of Siebel Loyalty and engagement capabilities of Oracle CrowdTwist. Oracle CrowdTwist is a leading cloud-native, customer loyalty and engagement solution which allows organizations such as airlines to extend loyalty reward programs by adding surveys, polls, quizzes and, social connections. 
  • Managing and ensuring the protection of customer data is not just a priority but also a business imperative. Oracle Unity is a cloud-based data platform that combines customer data from online, offline, and third-party sources to create a single, dynamic, real-time view of each customer. By using the integration between Siebel CRM and Oracle Unity you can transfer key Siebel CRM customer data points to Oracle Unity, including both the initial bulk loading and subsequent incremental loading. This provides data enrichment capability to understand more about your existing customers and features like granular user access controls, encryption, data redaction, anonymization, and more help airlines protect customer data at the highest possible standard. 
  • As loyalty program members expect individually tailored experiences, personalized redemption offers are gaining more momentum. With the integration of Oracle Unity as a customer data platform (CDP), our customers can precisely segment audiences and execute more personalized loyalty campaigns, offering more relevant rewards and benefits.
  • Traditionally, airline loyalty schemes have rewarded customers based on the number of miles they fly. However, in recent years, some large carriers have shifted towards spend-based loyalty programs that are based on the total amount spent by a passenger on all purchases (not just the ticket price). Oracle’s Siebel Loyalty enables airlines to award points for spend across multiple touchpoints and channels.

Need help with your loyalty program? if you want to learn more about Oracle’s Siebel Loyalty, and how we can help you define an approach to do customer loyalty correctly, please visit here.