Changi and Accenture join forces

Changi Airport Group and professional services company Accenture have set up a digital factory – DIVA – to reinvent the Singapore airport’s passenger experience and transform its operations.

DIVA, which stands for digital, innovation, ventures and analytics, is designed to help Changi Airport Group (CAG) develop, experiment and launch new digital products and services — from conceptualization to market launch, using new ways of working.

Staffed with professionals from both CAG and Accenture, DIVA leverages the latest innovative technologies and capabilities — including artificial intelligence (AI), digital marketing, big data/analytics, predictive maintenance and the internet of things (IoT). Managed like a factory, DIVA focuses on delivering business outcomes at scale, with production lines, predictable delivery schedules and quality controls. This model uses and enables new ways of working — with design thinking, rapid prototyping and experimentation at the core.

“Picture a startup environment where employees begin by thinking about what the customer wants and work backward from there, experimenting rapidly to develop innovative products and services,” said Fabio Vacirca, the market unit group lead responsible for managing Accenture’s business across Australia and New Zealand, South East Asia, India, Africa and the Middle East. “DIVA is enabling CAG to re-evaluate how the airport operates and develop digital solutions to ensure that it remains a world-class leader.”

As part of its work creating and managing DIVA, Accenture has helped CAG develop an AI-powered virtual assistant for airport operations, a predictive maintenance solution for engineering, and next-generation commercial digital marketing campaigns, powered by Accenture Applied Intelligence solutions and accelerators.

“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,” said Jeffrey Loke, a senior vice president at CAG. “DIVA is helping CAG implement digital innovations, at speed and at scale, at the enterprise level, serving all CAG departments, including commercial, operations, engineering, IT, and corporate marketing and communications.”

Aligned to Singapore’s Smart Nation vision, DIVA is a reflection of CAG’s efforts to keep pace with the ongoing disruption of business operations and an important milestone not just for CAG, but for Singapore. DIVA is the first such capability that Accenture has developed in ASEAN.