Singapore Airlines Uses Azure To Convert Customers’ Air-Miles Into Blockchain-Based Tokens That Can Be Spent With Retail Partners – Story

Singapore Airlines has partnered with Microsoft to develop KrisPay the airline’s digital wallet. Azure blockchain services and development kit will be used for the KirsPay wallet appdevelopment, which will be based on blockchain technology. KrisPay has become the first airline program that will be using blockchain technology as part of their customer’ loyalty program.

This is part of Singapore airline’s retail IT solutions that are using the blockchain technology. In this program allows the KrisFlyer members to turn their KrisFlyer miles into blockchain based tokens or KrisPay. The customers then can use the e-wallet to purchase or avail services and merchandise from merchants participating in the program.

The blockchain development services that Singapore Airline has utilized in partnership with Microsoft is with the view that the digital wallet will allow SIA customers to use their air-miles easily from their KrisFlyer account without any problem or hassle.

Jan Reinmueller, Head of KPMG’s Digital Village in Singapore said, ‘With the blockchain-based digital wallet, it is a straightforward process for participating merchants to connect with the program and for customers to make purchases with their tokenized miles’. He further added, ‘The blockchain provides a distributed ledger that time-stamps every customer transaction in real-time, which provides significant cost and time efficiencies.’

Mr.Reinmueller’s observation is indicative of the fact that blockchain is being used to offer better retailIT solution to both merchants and customers. To enhance the innovative experience offered by Singapore airline in partnership with Microsoft by using Azure blockchain services the KPMG Digital Village has brought in a gamut of solutions in architecture, application building, graphic designing while paying special attention to cybersecurity. 

To avail, the air-miles loyalty program offered by Singapore airline the customers have to download an app to their mobile phones and the air miles will automatically get converted to KrisPay units. With these units, customers can pay for their merchandise or services easily by scanning the QR code at any Singapore Airline partnered merchant.

The blockchain wallet app development program introduced by Singapore Airline will allow the passengers of the airline to avail 18 partnered merchants in Singapore, which includes eateries, gas stations, beauty parlors, some retail stores and all the LEGO outlets of the country. The airline has already stated in its press release that they will soon partner with more merchants and will also offer discounts to early users.

The blockchain based loyalty wallet was first announced in February 2018 and after its successful trial, it was officially launched in July 2018.

In the last few years, Microsoft has been investing steadily in the development of blockchain technology and offering solutions with platforms like Azure for companies to offer blockchain-based applications to enterprises. After launching Azure Blockchain Workbench in May 2018, Microsoft is working to integrate AI and blockchain for supply management solutions.  The company is now reported to be partnering with two Asian tech giants on an enterprise blockchain platform.

Hence it is not surprising that when Microsoft is backing blockchain technology it is going to make an impact in the market. Mainly, when the giant tech company is trying to make it accessible for developers and software and app development companies. As a result of which, best web development companies are now trying to offer blockchain technology for app development. This will eventually change the way industries perform as it did with Web 2.0.

Not very long ago Web 2.0 movement led to a paradigm shift in how the internet was used and viewed.  The Internet transformed from being a niche technical networking system to a highly useable, interoperable, accessible, collaborative medium that gave rise to social media, web apps and hosted services. Blockchain technology and blockchain development services are proving to be one such paradigm sifter in the field of internet-based technology.

Blockchain is changing the functioning of the industries and the way apps are being developed. It is one such development in the recent years that has the potential to disrupt a massive field of businesses. Though blockchain is still being associated with cryptocurrencies but the transparent nature of the technology and being an immutable distributed ledger the process of it becoming a vital technology is on its way. 

With Microsoft backing it with developments like Azure blockchain services and Azure blockchain development kit most of the best web development company are offering blockchain app development solution.  Also, companies like Singapore Airline using Azure to convert air-miles of their customers blockchain-based tokens indicate that the technology is becoming the driving factor in Web 3.0 movement.