Airlines listed usability and unique added value as among the top three most imortant factors when implementing their mobile strategy in a survey conducted by Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT) at the recent IATA World Passenger Symposium.

The airlines were responding to  three questions from MTT – what are the most important factors to make their mobile strategy successful, what are the main challenges they face when implementing mobile solutions, and what do they believe is most important for their customers when using an airline’s mobile site and/or application.

The top priority for 100% of the airlines surveyed to make their mobile offering a success was usability and the user experience.

Second was the manageability and maintainability of all mobile channels with one system, that is the ability to easily manage and update iPhone apps, android apps or HTML5 or mobile web with one solution.

A joint second priority was making mobile a unique value added channel. This is vital for airlines to ensure that their mobile offering provides customers with distinct offerings, personalised for them. Just as important is the source of real-time, up-to-date information for customers regarding their flight and other travel needs pre, during and post check-in.

Airlines were also asked what they consider to be the top three challenges when implementing their mobile channel. Almost 90% of the airlines listed the integration with existing airline systems as their main challenge. This is a key concern as airlines work with many complex back end systems. It is vital that airlines work with a mobile solutions provider experienced in this area. They need to ensure they have mobile apps that can seamlessly integrate with their back end, are robust and scalable to manage hundreds of thousands of bookings, and are fast and intuitive for the end-user to use.

Another key challenge was insufficient internal mobile expertise both in mobile development and marketing the mobile channel, with 66% of airlines selecting this. As customers in the digital era become more demanding and sophisticated airlines also have o change the ways they communicate and interact with their customers. Not being a traditional mobile service provider is a new realm for airlines.

A lack of internal resources and proving ROI are the next key concerns, with 33% of airlines selecting both of these challenges.

On what airlines think is the most important thing for their customers on mobile, the unanimous response was simplicity and ease of usage, an exceptional user friendly interface and the provision of up-to-date, relevant, real-time flight, and associated information and offers during travel.