Ivonne Engemann Lufthansa Group Deutsche Telekom, AI Summit 2019, Darmstadt

1. lufthansagroup.com
Lufthansa Group Chatbots
The journey to a new customer channel
Ivonne Engemann
30.01.2019
Deutsche Telekom, AI Summit 2019, Darmstadt

2. Ivonne Engemann
Deutsche Lufthansa AG
IT Project Manager
Sales & Digital Customer Experience
Product Owner
Lufthansa Group Service Chatbot
Developer at heart
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 2

3. Lufthansa Group - at a glance
343destinations
15,415 weekly
frequencies
197destinations
3,988 weekly frequencies
Aviation Services
… and others
130,000 employees
28+ Million
Registered customers
(Miles & More)
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 3

4. Everything started in mid-2016 with a simple idea ...
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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5. “Mildred, I like to see
the Eiffel Tower”
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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6. A “lighthouse project” was born…
#agile
#feedback
#customerCentric
#cloud
#payPerUse
#APIfirst
#chatbot
#socialMedia
#AI
#lean
#innovation
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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7. • Address our customers’ pain points
• Provide self service instead waiting in queues
• Reduce call center costs
• Expand social media strategy
• Build one group solution for all 3 hub airlines
“The Lufthansa Group needs a Service Chatbot!”
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 7

8. We built a new self-service channel
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 8

9. We created the Service Bot “Nelly”
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 9
http://m.me/FlySWISS.GVA

10. Help during flight disruptions with self-service rebooking
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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11. Guide the customer in the main flow…
provide options
add examples
react clearly
and concisely
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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12. … but it is a conversational channel
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 12

13. Prepare for a wide range of “natural language”
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 13

14. Natural Language Processing: Intents & Entities
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 14
location:destination
location:origin
datetime
intent
datetime:return
cabinclass
RequestPrice
Frankfurt
New York
05/06/2019 00:00:00
11/17/2019 00:00:00
Premium Economy
I want to fly to New York on first Monday in May starting from Frankfurt
and returning on Memorial Day. In premium eco if possible

15. Listen to your customers to understand their language
“Premium
Economy Class”
“PEY”
“Economic
Plus”
“in Y+”
“premium
eco”
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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16. Continously improve using your customers’ feedback
How many bags are
allowed on a flight to
New York for a
senator?
Is my bag loaded
on my connecting
flight?
I don’t want to fly
anymore. How do
I get a refund?
How do I get a
hotel voucher?
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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17. Training the NLP model is a constant endeavor
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
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18. Listen to your customers – establish feedback loops
Start with “API First” – you need proper APIs to serve valuable content
Just start – you will learn along the way
Think about how your brand is perceived –
Bots allow you to learn what the real customer needs are
Key Learnings & Takeaways
Involve IT Security and Legal early in the process
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 18

19. Lufthansa Chatbots – Outlook
More use cases
Voice assistants
Connect – linkedin.com/in/ivonne-engemann
Explore chatbot application in other areas
January 2019, Ivonne Engemann
Lufthansa Group Chatbots – The journey to a new customer channel
Page 19
Chat – http://bot.lh.com