Changi Travel Services gain Connectivity for Retail award in first-ever SBR Technology Excellence Award

ChangiWiFi is an overseas cloud-based WiFi router rental service that keeps travellers connected whilst they are away from home.

This key product of Changi Recommends boasts convenience, value and reliability and rises above traditional communication channels, forming an intricate part of Singapore’s traveller habits.

For this innovation, Changi Travel Services took home the Connectivity Award for the retail category during Singapore Business Review’s inaugural Technology Excellence Awards.

Since its establishment in 2012, Changi Travel Services has been redefining travel experience by giving corporate clients and mass consumers curated travel solutions beyond Singapore.

Meanwhile, Changi Recommends, a travel label by Changi Travel Services, aims to serve the needs, including connectivity, of free and independent travellers, which sparked the highly praised ChangiWiFi.

Whilst it began as a router service that required a SIM card, Changi Recommends sought to fix this inflexibility by testing and adopting a new system that revolutionized the way ChangiWiFi operated.

In 2016, they traded physical SIM cards that were entrapped within the traveller for a cloud-based WiFi server system.

The server allowed multiple SIM cards to be inserted, changed or removed at the discretion of company staff. Since staff were no longer required to physically change SIM cards for every booking, Changi Recommends saw an excellent improvement in productivity and efficiency when it came to preparing routers for consumers.

This move also allowed for timely monitoring and interjection of issues.

Customers who also wish to spontaneously extend their router to another destination before returning to Singapore can do so with ease as the new cloud-based server system allows for the booking details to be easily amended. Moreover, the multi-SIM card feature permits customers to rent a router with dual country capabilities.

In cases where different telecommunications companies possess varying reception strength to various localities within a country, the server would automatically favour the better reception, thus improving product reliability and quality of service whilst fostering consumer confidence.

Besides all these cutting-edge capabilities, the Cloud System can also manage 10,000 devices simultaneously, thereby increasing the number of customers served by Changi Recommends.

Upon switching and upgrading to the Cloud System, ChangiWiFi saw a 119 percent increase in rental proceeds.

At present, Changi Recommends is the undisputed provider of overseas WiFi router rental services in Singapore with convenient pick-up and return at 11 counters in Changi Airport public areas, and it is also a strong contender for the segment across its 16-city presence.

Moving forward, Changi Recommends will continue to seek new and innovative solutions to drive value to our customers in Singapore and beyond.

Recognising Singapore’s leading companies in technology innovation, the Technology Excellence Awards lauds outstanding companies that have pioneered groundbreaking IT products and solutions and implemented avant-garde technology initiatives that have made an impact on their business.

The Technology Excellence Awards, presented by Singapore Business Review, was held on 30 May 2019 at the Conrad Centennial Singapore.

This year’s nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Cheang Wai Keat, Head of Advisory, Ernst & Young LLP; Darwin Thio, Director, Cybersecurity & Technology Services, Nexia TS; Daryl Pereira, Head of Cybersecurity, KPMG; Evelyn Lim, Executive Director, Tax Advisory, BDO LLP; and Jonathan Kok, Co-Head of Technology, Media & Communications Industry Group, RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP.

Check out the event photos during the awards night here.

If you would like to join the 2020 awards and be acclaimed for your company’s exceptional technology innovations, please email Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected]