In 2018, a Dublin-based technology firm undertook the development of an AI-powered customer service platform for airlines. Andrea was engaged as Vice President to take their basic PoC to a production-ready commercial SaaS platform.

Whilst the initial proof of concept demonstrated basic functionality, the journey from prototype to production deployment at a European carrier would require substantial refinement and development effort. The initial challenges centred on data acquisition and curation. The base prototype, whilst functional, relied on a limited dataset of standardised airline Q&A documentation. To achieve production-ready capability, Andrea and the team undertook comprehensive data gathering, incorporating customer service transcripts, social media interactions, and detailed airline policy documentation. This enhanced dataset proved essential for handling the nuanced nature of genuine passenger enquiries, and fine-tuning the LLM model to respond correctly.

The integration of airline staff into the development process presented its own set of challenges. Initial scepticism amongst customer service personnel required careful management. Through structured training programmes and collaborative feedback sessions, the team successfully fostered engagement with the platform. Staff insights proved invaluable in refining the system's capabilities and operational protocols.

The programme achieved a significant milestone when, in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, a European carrier signed on to implement the system to help reduce the strain from their call centre agents. The deployment followed a measured approach, initially limited to specific query categories. This methodical implementation allowed for careful monitoring of the language model, and system optimisation. Call centre metrics demonstrated steady improvement, whilst maintaining consistent customer satisfaction levels.

The timing of this implementation proved particularly significant, preceding the adoption of large language models in commercial applications. Andrea and the project team successfully addressed complex technical challenges, secured stakeholder support, and demonstrated the practical application of conversational AI technology in a demanding customer service environment.

A premium Asian airline faced the complex challenge of modernising its retail channels to serve both its five million loyalty programme members and global customer base through digital platforms. The transformation would fundamentally reshape how customers accessed and purchased flights and travel packages via web and mobile channels.

Under Andrea's leadership as Manager of Channel and Digital Transformation, the airline embarked on an ambitious five-year programme to update its decades-old physical retail presence. Her extensive experience in channel distribution and digital transformation proved fundamental in navigating the complexities of this large-scale initiative.

The preliminary phase involved comprehensive stakeholder engagement across corporate executives, partners, vendors and global consultants. This collaborative approach enabled the team to construct a detailed vision of the retail travel journey, whilst carefully considering customer requirements, potential impediments, regulatory constraints and emerging digital trends in the travel sector.

Working closely with senior stakeholders across the airline, Andrea established an agile funding framework and developed a comprehensive iterative business case to support the 5 year program of work. She implemented governance structures and maintained regular board-level communications throughout the programme. Her influence skills and methodical approach secured the necessary support for a full-scale transformation of the airline's digital channel strategy.

To manage the programme's considerable scope, involving over 100 team members, multiple vendors and consulting houses, and 16 business units, and covering a meticulous port-by-port deployment across 23 countries, Andrea established the "Digital Retail Forum," a new portfolio management function. This cross-functional initiative required business unit heads to demonstrate return on investment for proposed digital services, enabling data-driven prioritisation of development efforts against available resources.

The transformation delivered significant capability enhancements, notably the introduction of dynamic product bundling, allowing customers to create personalised travel packages incorporating flights and accommodation. This required substantial restructuring of external vendor data sources and necessitated reorganisation of several key business functions, including Sales, IT, and global call centres to support the new digital operating model.

The programme's implementation approach remains particularly relevant to contemporary Generative AI transformation initiatives. The approach demonstrated the importance of careful use-case selection, considered stakeholder engagement, ROI assessment, process modification and data quality management—all crucial elements in current AI tech transformation programmes.

The experience gained continues to inform Andrea’s approaches to transformation across various sectors, including artificial intelligence implementations.

"I have had the pleasure of working with Andrea both in Europe and in Asia and she is always great fun to work with. Taking technical products and commercializing them effectively is a rare skill so finding someone who is so passionate and successful is always impressive. I look forward to many collaborations in the future". Al, Head of Commercial, London.

"Andrea was an absolute pleasure to work with over a variety of projects; ultimately she kept the team honest and on brief whilst allowing a great degree of discussion around innovation and value creation, and helped to cherry pick the best input and then ensure implementation was comprehensive, specific and timely. The complex matrix of stakeholder management appeared daunting to me but Andrea always managed to make it appear easy, whilst ensuring that momentum on any project was maintained and increased whatever the obstacles. There are very few partners who have the absolute candour to allow all parties in any deal to achieve a winning position - I would work with her as a preference at any time in the future". Chris, Regional Partner,Sydney

“Andrea is a Manager that articulates corporate strategy simply, provides clear direction and then allows her team the freedom to execute responsibilities. She is resourceful, trustworthy and intelligent. An inspirational leader who leads by example, Andrea brings out the best performance in her team through a dedicated and professional approach to business”. Donna, Insights & Product Marketing Lead, Melbourne

“I worked with Andrea over a number of years at S. Andrea's razor sharp intellect and ability to turn conceptual ideas into reality make her an asset to any large business. Andrea will approach complex situations (issues or opportunities), quickly work out strategies and actions required, then lead multi disciplinary teams to deliver successful business outcomes. Andrea was a wonderful colleague and I would hope to have the opportunity to work with her again one day". Jane, CMO & Product Leader, Melbourne

"Andrea spent a significant amount of time in Beijing helping drive synergies between our Australian and Chinese businesses in the Digital Marketing arena. She demonstrated great leadership skills and capability in this area. Andrea was a huge asset to the development of our China businesses". Robert, CEO, China

“Andrea is an energetic person who is not afraid to accept big challenges. She has a great knowledge of the online industry and has used it extensively in establishing strategies and implementing it using her program and project management capabilities. She has a strong intellect, yet will still seek out others; is willing to listens to other people and accepts feedback. Andrea’s is always looking for ways to create a better overall outcome for the company and its customers”. Di, General Manager, Melbourne_

“I have worked with Andrea on a number of projects at S. She is a dynamic, results focused manager who is able to manage and implement complex project effectively. She has excellent analytical skills and strategic thinking”. Niki, Senior Corporate Counsel, Australia

“Andrea is a highly organized and motivated strategic thinker and a fine communicator. Very much about prioritization and capable of generating buy-in around this business. She is a 100 day plan specialist!". Peter, Executive Director & CEO, Sydney

“A dynamic manager, supportive, driven and professional, Andrea is pragmatic and has a brilliant ability to influence people and decisions to deliver outcomes. These skills, strong values, leadership and drive to succeed enable her to manage complex challenges with ease and integrity. Working with Andrea was a great experience providing valuable learning's for future challenges”. Dean, GM Strategy, Melbourne

(Recommendations from LinkedIn profile : 2010 to 2022)