HFS Highlight: Accenture and Singapore Changi Airport partner to launch world-class Digital Factory

Singapore Changi Airport Group (CAG) is consistently one of the best companies in the Travel industry and was voted by customers as the World’s Best Airport for the eighth consecutive time in the 2020 Skytrax World Airport Awards. In today’s world where customer experience holds the key to business, CAG has redefined passenger experience and taken it to a whole new level. CAG has already been using technology to provide better passenger experience. Every touchpoint for the passenger can be used to improve the passenger experience. This empowerment for the passenger makes them as #1 choice, resulting in a better passenger experience and business growth.

A Digital Factory, a new model to bring innovation at speed and at scale

In this era of innovation, Accenture has helped Changi Airport Group (CAG) establish and operate a Digital Factory to drive innovation and establish high standards of passenger experience. 

Named ‘DIVA’ – Digital, Innovation, Ventures & Analytics – this Digital Factory is a new model for the CAG team to imagine, experiment and co-create digital products and services – from ideation to market launch using new ways of working. This Digital factory has been helping CAG with the development, experimentation, and launch of new digital products and services thus reinventing the airport passenger experience and transform operations.

DIVA has been utilizing innovative technologies and capabilities including artificial intelligence (AI), digital marketing, big data, analytics, predictive maintenance, internet of things (IoT). DIVA leverages working models such as design thinking, rapid prototyping, and experimentation for the implementation of new digital products and services.

“By establishing DIVA with Accenture, we hope to continue to foster a culture of innovation and experimentation, by injecting new ways of working within our organization,”

—Jeffrey Loke, Senior Vice President, CAG.

Airports must continuously innovate with the help of emerging technology to create a differentiated experience for the customers through innovative products and services amid evolving customer expectations

Enhancing customer experience holds the key to future differentiation for all industries, whether through customer care, or advertising, ease of use, facility design, etc. DIVA is helping CAG to reevaluate current facilities and digitalization and keep them updated. This Digital Factory will help CAG to innovate at speed and at scale allowing all CAG departments to innovate and improve the experience for their customers.

The team performs extensive customer research to understand how the customers act, think and feel at each point of their journey. Since launch, DIVA has ideated, designed and deployed a series of new digital products and services, with measurable outcomes.

Some of these customer-centric innovative solutions implemented with Accenture include next generation analytics (powered by Machine Learning) to improve sales performance and better serve customers, and an AI-powered a virtual assistant chatbot (MAX) that can respond to customer queries 24/7 about travel/flights, shopping, entertainment, lost property and navigation and many more.

One of the most recent solutions created by DIVA is PlayPass, by which establishes a digital reservation and redemption platform for eligible customers to reserve slots at events organized by CAG. All these innovative services continue to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through personalized and stress-free experiences and thus helping CAG to remain the #1 choice for travelers.

Bottom line: Accenture should leverage the DIVA concept across other industries

“Picture a start-up environment where employees begin by thinking about what the customer wants and work backwards from there — experimenting rapidly to develop innovative products and services,”

-Fabio Vacirca, Senior Managing Director, Accenture

With the impacts of COVID-19 accelerating digital trends, emerging technology, and innovation hold the key to unlock future growth opportunities.  The work Accenture has done with DIVA is an example of the benefits of a Digital Factory model to continue to innovate for the experience.  Accenture can leverage the same concept across industries to help its customers differentiate their customer experience.