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. 

Why should I migrate to .NET Core?

This is an era of software applications. Be it for our personal use or business use, software applications are inevitable discoveries of mankind. They play an important role in businesses too. As rightly said by someone “your business is as good as the software it runs on”. 

Earlier business organizations did not have many options when it came to having business applications with good features. But, over the years Business applications have undergone major changes and innovation. “.Net core” is a computer software framework developed by Microsoft, the best web development company.It is used in developing and building modern web applications. Currently considered as one of the best software development tools in the IT Industry, it is free and open source managed.

Due to its many advantages, more and more business enterprises are seen migrating to .Net Core these days. There are various dot net development companies, which can help you in migrating to .net core along with providing the required allied services. But,before migrating, business enterprises should analyze whether migrating to .net core will be a good and profitable decision for the business. Given below are a few reasons, which will help you in taking an informed decision regarding the same:

Robust and high Performance: Performance is the key to success. One of the biggest advantages of .Net core is its fast performance. It is capable of optimizing all the codes fed in to, which in turn increase its performance. If the codes need to be changed or altered, then just a recompilation of the codes is enough. This makes asp.netapplication development process very robust.

The .net core framework is inbuilt with NuGet packages, which are the main reason for its faster performance, reliability and security. This framework is also very light-weighted too. It is undoubtedly one of the fastest web application frameworks available in the IT Industry.

Easy updates: Updates become easy with .Net core. Earlier, with the “.Net framework”, updating to the new changes was a very daunting task as it requires launching of new version of the framework. But, with .Net core, update is not a tricky task any more. Dot Net core is inbuilt with NuGet packages, which manage all the update related tasks. In order to update the new changes, updating the NuGet packages is enough.

Less code and Easy Maintenance: With  .Net Core, you do not have to spend ample time in maintaining your software development tool. This is because .Net core framework demands less coding. It can easily optimize the codes fed into it.Also, due to the availability of various dot net development companies, the required asp.net development services are easily available in the market,which helps in easy maintenance.

Open source:The code of ASP.NET Core is available at their GitHub site. Most users actively manage their projects in the GitHub site, which makes it accessible for all thus enabling transparency between developers and core framework. It allows you to change/modify it orcontribute in your way as per your requirement. Its open source also helps you in finding easy and quick solutions to your problems.

Elasticity: .Net Core provides higher elasticity in the sense that it brings together the features of MVC and Web API into one programming framework. The earlier frameworks do not have this feature. Thus, the process of web development & service gets simplified. With the help of the NuGet packages, the application is able to adapt on its own to workload changes.

Cross Platform: While using any custom softwaredevelopment tool for your business, it is utmost important that runs well n all platforms. Hence, the most important feature of .NET Core is its compatibility with Windows, Linux and Mac Platforms. That means through .Net core, using the same software you can make applications which run smoothly on Android, IOS and Linux. This helps businesses to gain more exposure in various platforms.

Progressive Web Apps The future of Mobile Web development

Progressive Web Apps have landed onto the mobile arena and it is continuously evolving the way web apps. Companies are always in search of serving better to users with upgraded technology. This results in an emerging lightweight and highly feature-rich web applications. Progressive Web applications or PWA Development company are the future of web development and especially serving industry of mobile devices. Its core includes simply a web application that delivers a native-like feature to their customers. 

What is Progressive Web App?

It is a term for a new software development methodology. Usually, there were traditional applications to serve for the webpages but now progressive web apps are hybrid of websites and mobile applications. In simple terms, if there was to be considered about best of web and best of an app then PWA emerged there.

For an entire procedure to run smoothly with a seamless experience there should be a give Service Worker aka Progressive Web developer serves this purpose. The role of a developer is to build a PWA with the techniques for mobile application and traditional webpages. The role of a developer is to assist reliable and intelligent caching, attractive offline functionality, background content updating and push notification.

PWA in a nutshell

1. Reliable despite uncertain network conditions
2. Responds in a quick way with smooth animations.
3. Secure comparing to traditional apps.
4. Responsive as it auto adjusts layout as per user device.
5. The interface is just like a native app along with similar features.
6. Installation at just one tap.
7. It can even work offline.
8. Easy Updates – Updates available as soon as available.
9. Lightweight comparing to Android and iOS app.
10. Works flawlessly in most browsers except Safari.

Why is the PWA Essential?

On one hand, we have native apps that are fast and efficient relatively in most cases. While on other hands there are websites that face connectivity issues, and network problem that make the site slow. As per the study, mobile web reach is higher comparing to native app reach. The user spends their time more on native mobile apps contrast to the mobile web. It was recorded people spent an average of 188.6 minutes on the app while just 9.3 minutes on the web.

This emerged the Progressive Web Apps that were developed providing engaging experience same as mobile web. It works on the functionality of modern web capabilities yet offers an app like user experience. It is built on a mixed frame of mobile applications and traditional web pages. It is highly secure and scalable.

If you are thinking to develop a mobile application with native features for a  project, PWA is an answer to it. It ensures your website runs perfectly on all devices that deliver better performance at a lower cost.

How to get Started with Progressive Web Applications?

It is quite simple to get started, you can upgrade an existing site with PWA. You need to choose a reliable PWA development company that strives to build as per your requirements. The best web development company offers you an innovative way for your business along with astounding experience for your customers. You can personalize PWA to improve the engagement level rather than normal websites. There are a wider scope and greater feature for cutting edge PWA technology for web and mobile users.

Well, known companies have opted for PWA for embracing large sales increases and engaging conversions. Twitter record of 65% increase in pages per session and a reduction of 20% bounce rate. While Alibaba experience 76% conversions across various browsers, with 4X more interaction rate. 

Some of the other companies in this field are:

·        

1.     Fandango

2.     Forbes

3.     Flipkart

4.     Alibaba

5.     Jumia Travel and much more

Most of the people are a conundrum for accepting the new technology. It is the right time to accept new business possibilities and technology to challenge the competitive market. As per your specific business needs, you can choose the PWA developers.

It's your time to switch and accept the advanced technology prioritizing the demand of the market. There are various companies that hold a decade of experience along with various other features. Choose one which has agile methodology along with innovative app development service to serve your business.