Question

Case Study

To survive and stay competitive in the current economic climate shipping companies must find innovative ways of working by embracing modern technology. In a complex industry known for being conservative and slow to adapt to new technologies, are companies aware of the possibilities?

Outside the industry technology is causing the biggest shake up of processes and ways of working since the industrial revolution and shipping companies are beginning to understand its potential. Global management consultants McKinsey recently highlighted: “Over the past few years, rapid technological advances in digitization and data and analytics have been reshaping the business landscape, supercharging performance and enabling the emergence of new business innovations and new forms of competition and business disruption.”

Many technologies used in other sectors can be applied to shipping. There is now a huge opportunity to accelerate the digital transformation of the shipping industry. Technology enables shipping companies to optimize the management of their entire fleet, automate processes, increase their business performance, improve operational efficiencies and drive down costs.

We see enormous potential for further progress driven by technology. Already, there’s been commitment from the industry to bring the internet on board and make it available constantly. This will bring great advances in terms of real-time data exchange, integrating the fleet directly into all processes and enabling operators to gain a 360 ° overview of all events that are happening within their fleet. This is a major step forward. Currently most ships are hardly integrated into the internal processes of the companies.

As an industry with such complex management processes, this lack of ability to collaborate and poor visibility of operations is risky and can lead to decisions and forecasts being made based on minimal information. But even without the option for constant internet connection on board – the use of modern management solutions, potentially cloud-based ones which offer one central source of information for the office and the fleet is already bringing great benefits in terms of improved data and information exchange, as well as reduction of communication expenditures.

There will also be great advances in terms of data analysis. Starting in 2018, the new EU MRV regulation will become effective. This will force shipping companies to monitor a variety of parameters. This also marks the first step towards actual performance management and should lay the foundation for an increase in the use of data analytics, leading to better predictions for optimal routes, fuel consumptions and the maintenance of machinery. The result will be a massive saving of costs.

Other potential game changers include mobility and cloud-technology, which are expected to have a significant impact on the way shipping companies operate in the future. There have been considerable advances in these fields. The benefits of using cloud technology, as well as mobile devices, are numerous. They include the ease of data access and the availability of information regardless of time or location. Additionally, the cloud makes it much easier to integrate external systems and processes, through interfaces (APIs), e.g. web hooks into each other.

The cloud is being embraced by some of the world’s leading shipping companies who are taking advantage of increasingly affordable and accessible cloud platforms to implement smarter, faster and more effective processes.

Question 1: What role does data analytics play in shaping of an industry? Refer the text above and offer your understanding of it from the perspective of shipping industry.

(250 - 300 Words)

Question 2: What would happen to the shipping companies that avoid working on technological innovation management? How can these companies create a sustainability plan?

(250 - 300 Words)

Question 3: How does cloud platform help a typical shipping company in ensuring proper management of customer service?

(150 – 200 Words)

Answer 1

1) Advancement in technology has greatly impacted the social economic and political framework globally with the economic world embracing Technology at a fast pace due to the benefits of optimization of productivity and efficiency with this social and political segments lagging behind. Expansion of communication networks globally along with transportation connectivity and infrastructure facilitated by technological breakthrough has resulted in speeding up and linking business operations and processes across the world. Business organizations globally have recognized the economic potential of technological developments to bring about improvement within every process be it manufacturing, supply chain management, procurement sales, marketing or customer support. The technology is all pervasive and adopted by every size and type of organization and is visible within every market worldwide. The benefits of adoption of technology to achieve optimization of processes and resources with minimization of wastage providing exceptional cost benefits while facilitating accurate decision making at every level. and Data analytics is the optimal utilization of information systems within a business which serves as the backbone of an organization, on which its success is based.

The forecasting of demand will enable benefits through intertemporal pricing, the data analysis of packages offered can help design optimal packages, the analysis of the response to marketing and promotional activities can help optimize outreach and returns on investment while helping optimize retention of customers and engaging more customers. As it is a foundation for all the important decision making with an organisation including strategic planning with the tools to be adopted for achievement of operational excellence and sustainable competitive advantage through provision of accurate information from internal and external sources comprising past and present performance of the organisation, market intelligence, business intelligence and comparative figures for segment and industry. This facilitates ideal and accurate decision making in a rational and logical manner. The business intelligence in the form of feedback from customers helps businesses decide on new products and services to be offered and Business models to be adopted for maximizing customer satisfaction and gaining a sustainable competitive advantage within the segment. Customer and supplier intimacy is improved through the application of data analytics on the feedback received on customer and supplier needs and effectively meeting them. Provide important links between the consumer and the supplier to facilitate perfect matching of demand requirements through products and services supplied.

2) Global markets experience extensive competition and requirement to create sustainable competitive advantage by the adoption of every possible strategy available and adoption of the latest technology at the earliest provides the advantage of optimizing efficiency and performance excellence being achieved for attaining the competitive advantage required. Similar to every other industry the shipping industry also need to focus upon quality which is a major factor for customer satisfaction and retention. Adoption of Technology is essential effective collaboration and cooperation to ensure optimal outcomes for every process within the vessel especially for shipping company as it is not a question of outcome but of effective risk management and efficient handling of any crisis which may occur. Access to information enabling immediate response, inclusive management to promote collaboration along with effective communication system which supports multidirectional flow of communication essential elements for operating apps a single cohesive team working towards a common goal and successful achievement of the same. It optimises performance by facilitating management of the human resource which is the most important and largest asset capable of creating exceptional value for the shipping company. Implementation of Technology within the vessels helps optimal management with sharing of information enabling with their patients with involvement of top management during any crisis. Introduction of the EU monitoring reporting verification regulation has resulted in increased pressure for compliance with emissions to achieve sustainability wild ensuring compliance with statutory regulations and maintain the entire fleet within the efficiency parameters. This requires adequate risk management with the monitoring plan for every ship that comes under the scope of the regulation and ensure verification by an independent verifier. every organisation operating within the global economy needs to understand the importance of corporate social responsibility with a commitment towards environmental protection as a major goal. To achieve sustainability is no longer an option but an essential requirement to build brand image and ensure retention of customers due to the customers being extremely sensitive to global environmental issues with unprecedented advancement in communication technology. it is also important for every organisation to adopt unethical Framework which includes the business processes and activities benefiting all stakeholders and society at large and causing harm to none.

3) Cloud Technology becomes especially important for the shipping industry to ensure use of data access and availability of information regardless of time or location of the vessel. Another major factor is for pink safety of data possible through utilisation of cloud platforms which are an essential feature for a shipping company. Integration of interfaces across different location along with linking of various platforms enable multiple layering to be implemented to facilitate optimal control with immediate access across all platforms and locations helping to connect all facilitating collaboration with efficient management and control of every process across the network. Use of a common integrated platform and software will also promote inclusive management with every employee being aware of all processes and decisions facilitating optimal performance. It would also help provide optimal services to customer while using software as a service application which can later be integrated with on-premises application for the extendable with social and mobile capabilities. The competition within the cloud services segment has made it an extremely affordable and accessible option with extensive benefits in the form of optimal management due to efficient processes with maximized utilization of resources providing optimal output for a given input.