AIX in Conversation: Matthias Walther, Panasonic
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Matthias Walther
Manager, Integrated Marketing
Corporate Sales & Marketing
Panasonic Avionics
We asked Matthias what was new with PAC at the AIX show, and his response highlighted Panasonic’s mandate to really listen and respond to their customer’s needs. He also touched on the importance of enabling the passenger experience, and ancitipates that travelers will soon expect personalized content to be made available within their IFE systems.
We build technology that has a purpose, and that is to create a platform that’s personally valuable to each of the customers.
“A big part of what we’re trying to get across is that we don’t just build a box, sell it to an airline and leave them to get on with it. Our approach is to ask the airline, “what is the real problem that you’re trying to solve?” We know that it’s hard to run an airline profitably… and along comes an IFE provider who sells an expensive IFE system. So our task is to work with them to identify and solve those issues, to help them manage costs, generate revenue and differentiate the brand. And how can the IFE system support all that with its features? At the beginning of the process we don’t have a specific solution in mind. Instead, we develop a solution by speaking with the airlines and listening to their needs. The product spec comes from the airline – we don’t try to fit them into our products. The other piece is the “personalization” of the experience within the technology. We build technology that has a purpose, which is to create a platform that’s personally valuable to each of the customers – not to serve up the same kind of experience to each and every one of them. We want to maximize the capabilities of the hardware and the software in order to serve the needs of the passengers. At the end of the day, that’s why we’re here!”