December 11, 2014

Accenture Collaborates with Wire and Wireless Co. in its “Travel Japan Wi-Fi” Initiative to Create Innovative Services for Tourists



Advanced analytics platform developed for Wi2 is foundation for project


TOKYO, Dec. 11, 2014 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) is collaborating with Wire and Wireless Co., Ltd. (Wi2) in the wireless service provider’s “Travel Japan Wi-Fi” initiative that will provide free Wi-Fi service to tourists in Japan and distribute helpful travel and tourism-related information to them on their smartphones and tablets.

The initiative, designed to vitalize inbound business geared toward tourists visiting Japan, incorporates an analytics services platform that Accenture and Wi2 announced in November 2013. The platform, called “Ideal Insight,” is designed for consumer companies in Japan and delivers context-based insights to users based on their locations and the time of day, supporting the creation of new, personalized services.

As part of its “Travel Japan Wi-Fi” initiative, Wi2 formed a consortium that includes Accenture, other companies in the travel and tourism, financial services, digital communications, retail industries, and municipalities.

Accenture will leverage its proprietary advanced analytics approach around the Wi-Fi Intelligent Platform and its wireless networking experience to utilize the “Ideal Insight” platform and analyze tourists’ geolocation data from “Travel Japan Wi-Fi.” According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, more than 60 percent of visitors to Japan are tourists, and their number is expected to grow by 2020. Accenture will also provide analytics insights – through capabilities such as estimating users’ attribution information by artificial intelligence – to help consortium members deliver more effective, accurate marketing communications to the growing number of tourists in Japan.

“Travel Japan Wi-Fi” will enable tourists in Japan to sign up for free Wi-Fi connectivity at more than 200,000 Wi2 hotspots nationwide. Users who download the free “Travel Japan Wi-Fi” app on their smartphones or tablets will receive information from the “Travel Japan-Wi-Fi” consortium members. The information will include special offers for products or services, travel and tourism recommendations, product recommendations, coupons or reward points, all based on users’ whereabouts and the time of day.

Under the “Travel Japan Wi-Fi” project, Wi2 plans to distribute the free app via Google® Play and the App Store(SM) starting on Dec. 12.

“In today’s digital, mobile world, communications companies such as Wi2 must engage with their customers wherever they are and provide an excellent customer experience with relevant services in the right time and place over mobile devices,” said Takuya Kudo, Accenture managing director and lead for Accenture Analytics in Japan. “Wi2’s initiative incorporates a broad range of capabilities across Accenture, including analytics, wireless networking and skills in managing and distributing data and this is a significant milestone in Wi2’s journey to capitalize on data and analytics.”

The Accenture and Wi2 analytics platform combines anonymized, real-time geolocation data for Wi-Fi user sessions from Wi2’s Wi-Fi access points with an advanced big data analytics technology infrastructure, provided by Accenture Analytics and incorporating OSS (Open Source Software), such as Apache™ Hadoop® V2, Apache Spark™ and Cloudera® Impala, which process large data sets and provide data-based insights in real time. Details on the “Travel Japan-Wi-Fi” project are available at http://wi2.co.jp/tjw/.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 305,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture Analytics, part of Accenture Digital, delivers insight-driven outcomes at scale to help organizations improve their performance. With deep industry, functional, business process and technical experience, Accenture Analytics develops innovative consulting and outsourcing services for clients to help ensure they receive returns on their analytics investments. For more information follow us @ISpeakAnalytics and visit www.accenture.com/analytics.

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Contacts:

Ken Kanda
Accenture
+ 81 45 330 7377
+ 81 80-3723 9580 (mobile)
kentaro.kanda@accenture.com


Barbara Burgess
Accenture
+ 973 452 0694 (mobile)
barbara.burgess@accenture.com