LastMinute.com is one of the top five travel websites based in Europe. On a yearly basis, the company makes travel arrangements for 10 million people. The website offers more than booking airline tickets; it is an experienced-based site offering up special moments in your life, providing a memorable expedition that is unique and designed for the user’s lifestyle.

Filippo Onorato, CIO at the LastMinute.com Group, paid a visit to theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, at the HPE Big Data Conference, to speak with theCUBEcohosts Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Paul Gillin (@pgillin) about creating emotional travel adventures using a vast amount of data.

Using data to provide a better experience

“For us, presentation and a good user experience is the goal. We use a massive amount of data. The more data you have, the better experience you can provide,” explained Onorato. The company monitors customer activity on the website to identify their needs and match them with what is available.

For example, the ability to compare the cost for airlines versus trains for the same trip can offer a more convenient and economical trip. The more data the company gathers, the more options become available.

One-stop travel platform

The site will not only help with booking, but it can help users check into their reservations, cutting down on the number of apps necessary to get to where you are going.

“We can offer the best services because we have complete visibility on the product offer and complete visibility on the customer behavior,” said Onorato. Instead of using different airline check-in apps, LastMinute.com improves the process by providing one app from its platform.

A view from the clouds

The technology is at the core of the business, and data drives the business. Data warehouses, data-driven processes and a huge analytic platform are the key to the company’s success. LastMinute.com employs a hybrid-cloud solution, using different clouds and cloud services and managing some systems on-premises.

Currently, the company is undergoing a transformation to enable moving data from on-prem to the cloud. The goal is to move the algorithm closer to the data to improve response time. HP Vertica (an advanced SQL database analytics portfolio) is the main data warehouse platform that provides reporting and analytics. Additionally, sitting on top of the Vertica, there are operational processes running.

Finding talent is a universal problem

The major problem Onorato has is finding highly skilled talent. “In order to run a business like ours with velocity and agility, you need talent,” he stated.

His solution: Sell the brand and make the company attractive to qualified people with a passion for the business.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the HPE Big Data Conference.

Photo by SiliconANGLE