b'Without a doubt, AI marks a new era in digital consump- ical, pre-defined steps. These systems have digitized the FOGHORN FOCUS tion. Thats why it is not only important to consider thecore commerce process, replacing paper tickets and manual potential of AI in the development of new tools. It is alsocalculations with digital precision in pricing and inventory.important to understand why its being utilized. There-fore, we will explain where our approach to agentic AI forHowever, the moment a customers journey deviates from booking systems comes from, why it ties into the needs ofthe script, the systems limits become apparent. A ques-the industrys customers, how it can fundamentally trans- tion about a specific pet policy, a need to modify a book-form the ferry customer journey, and, not the least whating mid-voyage, or an unforeseen disruption demanding this could mean for operators sales, turnover, and income.proactiveinformationthesearethefrictionpoints. When these complexities arise, the systems often lack the THE CURRENT STATE OF DIGITAL BOOKING flexibility and contextual awareness to handle the situa-Limits and Potential tion dynamically. The passenger is then frequently routed Booking and reservation systems in the ferry industry to- to a fragmented system: a general office, or no reply-email day are by and large, highly functional engines for transac- address,anonlineFAQthatdoesntquiteanswerthe tional efficiency. A passenger can efficiently select a route,question, or a customer service line where they must wait a journey, and buy a ticket. The underlying IT structureson hold and repeat their entire story to an agent, maybe are excellent at guiding a customer through this set of log- several times until they reach the right person.Agentic AI goes beyond traditional bots, but can instead take initiative. For example, it can understand a request to change my booking and add a dinner reservation, autonomously access the booking system, check availability, calculate the fare difference, process the payment, and send a confirmation email.ARTWORK: CARUSFOGHORN 38'