>> Live from Las Vegas, it's theCUBE covering the AWS Accenture Executive Summit. Brought to you by Accenture. >> Welcome back, everyone, to theCUBE's live coverage of the AWS Executive Summit, here at The Venetian. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight. We have three guests for this segment. We have Lawrence Fong, general manager, information technology at Cathay Pacific; Peter Yen, managing director, Hong Kong Accenture; and Massimo Morin, head world wide business development travel at AWS. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for coming on theCUBE. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So we're going to be talking about applying blockchain to a travel rewards program at Cathay Pacific, but I want to start with you, Lawrence. Let's describe the business problem that you were trying to solve. The Asia Miles program is already, sort of a world-class program, very competitive. But it still had it's kinks. So, what were you trying to do to make it better? >> Okay, first of all, Asia Miles is a lifestyle, you know, frequent flyer loyalty program, and almost every year they're running over 460 marketing campaign a year. So, you can imagine how much work they have to do. So, from the customer point of view, they have a pin point of whatever activities of redemption or for award, all these kind of thing. It's going to take a long time for them to get their miles. So, from the customer point of view, this is not really ideal. And on the other hand, at the back office, because we're running so many marketing campaign. So, there's a lot of back office operation and lot of, where people work and all this kind of thing. So, it's also not, I think, a very good operation efficiency. So, from the customer point of view, from the back office point of view, so that's the key pinpoint we want to be solved. >> Right. So, it was tedious to operate for both the customer and for the business itself. So, why was blockchain the technology? That could solve it? >> Well, we study one of the key features, or component of blockchain, it's called 'smart contract'. And we could see the smart contract would be able to help bringing our customer and Asia Miles, and also our merchant together. So, by using blockchain, the miles, the redemption, all this will happen almost in a second. >> So, how did this work, Lawrence? I mean, in terms of getting, working together with Cathay Pacific, how did you work together to create this new program? >> Okay. Effectively, it's a very co-create process. It started with a conversation with Lawrence. We had the idea, so Lawrence was courageous enough to let us try. We did a very short, quick pilot. We proved the concept. Then we went into a very rapid development cycle, as well. And then, within weeks, we get the product done, and then we launch and go to the market. >> So, Peter, is that generally the way it goes, in terms of this co-creative process? I mean, we're hearing so much, that Accenture and AWS have these solutions that they can bring to clients, and then, is it sort of happening in the background or are you on the ground together, sort of dreaming up ways to make this better and make the technology work? >> Well, we used to call this the new way of doing things, but I think now this is the way of doing things, right? Because it is the perfect combination. The client has perfect knowledge about the business, we understand the technology, and we have enablement partners like Amazon. So, we just work together and make it happen. >> So, from Amazon, so we hear blockchain you automatically think Bitcoin. You just do. But this is actually a very different kind of use case for blockchain, and it's one that really is so pertinent. Can you talk a little, Massimo, about other uses cases that you're seeing? >> So, indeed that you are right. Blockchain has been very nebulous, and always associated to Bitcoins, but there are actually some uses cases that are much more relevant, especially in the travel industry where you complex transaction, multi-party, where you are actually going to do transparency and data integrity. For example, we had a proof of concept to to read IATA about a one ID project that allows a travel agency to register themselves with this authority and get the key, and then seamlessly doing transaction with travel providers by identifying themselves through blockchain. That allows them to actually be recognized, and you have a seamless process with the new NDC, new distribution capabilities coming along. That is going to be extremely important. This is one type. Another type is when you wanted the immutability of the data. For example, when you have planes an you want to see you getting leases, on and off lease, and you want to see all the maintenance that occur there, and you want that that doesn't change. You want to use a trusted system that is transparent, and that is not changeable. And that provide a lot of value. And the third use case that I personally like, is automatic contract. So, when, for example, you have corporate buyers, that buy travel products from a travel provider, like Cathay Pacific, and you wanted that, you buy the ticket. But when is the airline going to get the money? That reconciliation is like, with the frequent flyer miles, you want to be done as soon as possible. Other cases is, is the passengers flying around? If it doesn't fly, well, what happened to the taxes? Taxes should be actually returning back to the customer. So, with automatic contracts, you would be able actually to reconcile that behind the scene. These are use cases that are very valuable in travel industry. >> So, does this immediate reconciliation and this trust, I mean , trust is such an important, thick concept right now. What are you hearing? From both the clients' side and the provider's side. I mean, where are we? >> Yeah, that's true. I think trust is one of the key elements of, you know, doing reconciliation. So, what we are doing now is still within our legal system. So, we trust each other. But, looking forward, I think one of the key areas that blockchain will help a lot, is the entire supply chain. But, when we talk about the supply chain, there's so many stakeholder. So, building a trust, of course, of domestic holder will be a challenge. I think that's something, you know, of course the industry has to put more thought onto it. >> What are we seeing so far? So, this was implemented in April of this year. What has been the return on investments so far? >> It's phenomenal. For those marketing campaign, we're using blockchain. These new capabilities, we had a triple digit growth, in terms of our sales, and also, because we also use kind of a game to gamify the whole thing. So, we create a lot of traction in there, you know? A lot of excitement. So, the number of people and the number of customer engaged in those marketing campaigns also have more than, you know, more than double, you know, growth. >> Peter, what's most exciting to you about this process? >> The most exciting thing is that, as you heard from Lawrence, is indeed generating performance and results. And the process of co-creating a successful solution is a very rewarding experience. >> So, I mean, and then AWS is, in terms of the co-creative process, where does AWS fit into this? >> So, we are their neighbor, and I'm glad that you're able, Cathay Pacific and Accenture, as using AWS for this. So, we have standard templates, blockchain templates that actually take away all the heavy lifting of putting place to platform to found the blockchain. So, actually, the customer and the partner can focus on the business need that they have attend. And this is all open-source, so you can see how it works. And it's so transparent, that we are very glad to enable our customer to do transformative things like this. >> So, the word is out that blockchain is not just for Bitcoin anymore. So, where do we go from here? We're talking about the travel industry, but are the learnings that Cathay Pacific has had and Accenture, in terms of how applicable are they to other industries? And how are you sharing what you've learned in a collaborate, co-creative process? >> Well, all of that, in Asia Miles, now we are taking what we learned from the blockchain, we are going to apply to the cargo industry, and also apply to the airport operation. Particular, the baggage, the consideration baggage between different people, of course they're all the blockchain. >> Great. >> Actually, many clients are now talking about this Cathay Pacific case, and they have very creative ideas, how to borrow the concept and apply to their own business. So, we should see more and more application of this solution. >> And we are seeing acceleration of adoption of cloud technology throughout the travel industry, with airline, and technology providers out there. And I'm very glad that there are taught leadership, for example, from Cathay Pacific, to take this hypothetical use cases and taking the lead on showing how it is done and sharing with the industry. We are looking for those travel leaders that will help the industry to move forward. >> That's true. >> Because it's very challenging industry with very low margin, and any improvement in customer service is going to go a long way. And we are glad to be part of that. >> And is that what it is? I mean, as you said, it sort of seen, even the incremental improvement and how that can be, just, so transformational for a company's bottom line. >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> Well, Massimo, Peter, Massimo, Peter, Lawrence, thank you so much for joining us on theCUBE. It's been a really fun conversation. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> I'm Rebecca Knight. We will have more of theCUBE's live coverage of the AWS Executive Summit coming up in just a little bit. (thrilling music)