Enterprise mobility specialist Kony has announced that it has been selected by Accor to support its 3rd annual global “Take Off!” competition. This year’s competition challenged students from universities, business and hotel management schools worldwide to create an original mobile service that could transform the customer experience within the hospitality industry.
After careful evaluation of entries from 500 students, five finalists from Switzerland, Thailand, New Zealand, Nigeria and Spain were selected by Accor to use the Kony Visualization Cloud solution to bring their applications to life.
Using Kony Visualization Cloud, a cloud-based mobile application collaboration solution for defining, prototyping, designing and developing mobile application experiences, the five finalists will have the opportunity to create their rich and innovative mobile application. Students will be able to create simple click-through prototypes and complex interactions without coding, and share it globally with instant previews on a mobile phone, tablet and desktop.
“We are proud to support Accor and its global “Take Off!” challenge that inspires creativity and fosters innovation for students around the world,” said Dave Shirk, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Kony, Inc. “The Kony Visualization Cloud is unique because it is the only solution in the market that enables business owners, application developers and IT professionals to collaboratively design and develop superior user experiences across all digital channels.”
According to Mathieu Saccharin, head of Mobile E-Commerce for Accor Group, “This challenge and our partnership with Kony ties in with Accor’s digital transformation drive and mirrors the Group’s aim to spur student creativity and harness it to tackle real-world challenges in the hospitality industry. We are excited to have these ideas come to fruition with the help of Kony’s Visualization Cloud.”
Accor’s “Take Off!” initiative has been running for three years and is aimed at challenging students from all over the world to reimagine the future of the hospitality industry. This year’s competition focused on mobile innovation and secured entries from 68 universities, business and hotel management schools worldwide. Judging was based on the feasibility of the service, its aesthetic qualities, overall innovation and consistency with the Accor 360 degree strategy, which aims to provide guests with the best possible customer experience.
The five finalist teams passed two rounds of judging. In the first round, contestants created a photo collage of their ideas. In the second round, teams submitted a fun and creative short video. The finalists from the competition submitted the following mobile application innovation ideas:
- Accor Glass by Hoteliers Now (Les Roches, Switzerland): Featuring both front and back-of-house capabilities, Accor Glass is a Google Glass application that aims to assist with the up-selling process. It would provide instant translation to help with foreign guests, streamline housekeeping room inspections and instantly provide recipes to the kitchen staff. A video of the concept is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ65ZTGey0A.
- Senses of Simplicity by Full Option (Vatel, Thailand): Senses of Simplicity aims to transform a guest’s stay at an Accor hotel with a wide range of unique capabilities that include a sensor door unlock, room control, digital room service ordering and a mobile wallet. A video of the concept is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvjl-54d0Qw.
- Your Globe by Qwacé (Queenstown Resort College, New Zealand): Your Globe is a virtual assistant that utilizes technology such as indoor localization, QR coding and near field communication (NFC). With Your Globe guests would receive a tailored hospitality experience based on their preferences and previous travel history. A video of the concept is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5_XSOHIIHM.
- My Globaccor by The Palma Group (Wavecrast Collège of Hospitality, Nigeria): My Globaccor is an application for Accor staff worldwide that aims to provide a network of information, including management updates, work schedules and training on Accor standards. A video of the concept is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH6yCk4BYJc.
- PriceIt! by CSHG (CSHG, Spain): PriceIt! users are able to search by price for the perfect Accor hotel in just four steps. A video of the concept is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5BhGJaALe0.
Additional Information:
- See more about www.accortakeoff.com
- Learn more about Kony Visualization Cloud
