Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The global pandemic has undoubtedly changed the travel industry in a big way. How has VFS-Global adapted to the new normal?

VFS-Global, a leading outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide.

We have implemented a mandatory appointment system, body temperature checks, physical distancing measures, regular disinfection of high-contact surfaces, personal hygiene and wearing of masks and gloves.

We are also expanding digital- minimal-contact services, such as doorstep visa application options and courier services.

With a fast-changing technological landscape, our focus for the next two decades will continue to be on introducing faster, safer, and better services and products that have a lot more value for today’s customer.

What other changes has VFS-Global made to cater for the shift in customer behaviour during the pandemic?

We are scaling up our Visa at Your Doorstep (VAYD) service across various countries, allowing customers to complete visa submission and biometrics in the comfort and safety of their homes and offices.

Further, we are bringing digital to the heart of the customer journey by moving more of the application process online. 

What does being future ready mean for your organisation?

For us, being future-ready would also mean additional process efficiencies, primarily from improvements enabled through digital tools, such as interactive voice response for our helplines and chatbot help desks, which will support employees in completing critical application tasks more easily.

This will assist in improving turnaround times and reducing errors. Initiatives, such as these will free up bandwidth from manual activities and allow us to focus only on the most value-adding part of the process for our customers.

Now that digital solutions such as Health Passports and Certificates are becoming more prevalent, we are helping to digitise authentic test results.

One of the initiatives we have in this space is the partnership with the technology company Accredify for a smart and hassle-free travel solution to Singapore for travellers from Indonesia to help them to save time on arrival.

We want to support any solution that helps travellers and are actively looking into integrating with several other platforms, IATA’s Travel Pass included.