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At JetBlue Technology Ventures (JTV), our mission is to improve the travel experience from start to finish, whether someone is flying or not. As part of our investment thesis, we’re looking for technologies that enable a seamless travel experience throughout every part of a customer’s trip. Our latest investment in NLX, a startup developing tools that help businesses transform their customer interactions into automated, personalized customer self-service experiences, does exactly that.
Where self-service has fallen short
Picture this. You plan a vacation to visit your family in Chicago and book a flight through your airline of choice. Two days before departure, you find out that your relative is sick and you can no longer attend the trip on the planned dates. You call customer service to change your flight, but are met with long hold times and a virtual assistant instead of a real person. Exasperated, you visit the airport in person to try to resolve your issue.
While interacting with these virtual bots can be helpful to some, the technology has more pitfalls than benefits. The lack of personalization, limited response capabilities, and unfavorable public opinion of bots make them a mediocre solution at best for travel companies everywhere. These issues have been exasperated over the past two years given the pandemic and surge in forward bookings.
Airlines have attempted to solve these issues, but often have difficulty scaling contact centers to support increased customer demand. Furthermore, growing digital transformation pressure across all enterprises makes it difficult to adapt to these challenges in real-time with existing technology frameworks. That said, the customer self-service industry is a $7B+ market expected to grow to $20B in the next five years, making it ripe for disruption and investor opportunities alike.
How NLX fits in
NLX differs from previous iterations of the bot experience in that it is the first company of its kind to drive automation through chat and voice via multimodal conversations. Recall the scenario mentioned earlier: you find out your relative is sick and call the customer service number to change your flight. This time, you’re greeted by name by a voice bot, which asks if you’re calling about your upcoming flight to O’Hare International Airport. The system asks what action you’d like to take, and you say, “change my flight.” You’re then texted a direct link with alternative flight options while the bot guides you through the process every step of the way.
The value of this frictionless experience for the customer cannot be understated. And for business leaders, NLX’s solution allows them to focus on crafting and honing experiences that help end users get to where they need to be–without coding, without heavy services engagements, and without significant upfront costs.
Interest is pouring in from the travel industry, but it’s equally as important to note that this technology extends beyond commercial aviation to other verticals, such as energy, consumer packaged goods, banking, or insurance. We’re excited to work alongside Andrei and Vlad Papancea as they scale their business to ensure a more seamless customer journey for all.
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