I recently attended the Transas Global Conference in Malta, an international symposium that focuses on technology in the maritime industry. David Rowan, editor-at-large of WIRED and leading expert on technological change, was the keynote speaker. He spoke about how 2017 will be a digital tipping point for the maritime industry, which offers huge opportunities as well as perils for those who ignore the changing tides.
“From artificial intelligence to autonomous vessels, from new security threats to the opportunity to simulate more efficient travel routes, this is the moment when the old rules are being torn up,”
Another featured speaker, Frank Coles, CEO of Transas, sees the future of maritime operations changing from the old analogue and manual ways of operating vessels to a digital ecosystem where smart data is not the only king — it is the key to successful operations.
I have no doubt both are right. But as innovative as our industry can be, it’s largely stuck in the past when it comes to the way we manage and operate yachts. While our personal lives have been transformed by Apps that change the way we drive, read the news, book restaurants, date, and pretty much everything else, yacht management remains burdened with time-consuming methods and outdated systems.
The current generation of captains and crew are demanding real solutions that actually reduce the workload it requires to maintain compliance and manage the day-to-day operations onboard their yachts. They are realising there’s no good reason to tolerate outdated platforms. Management companies that still use Dropbox, Google Docs, or worse, paper-based safety management systems, are at risk of becoming the next Kodak.
After operating large yachts for twenty years, I saw mounting regulations overburden crew to the point that it strained their ability to provide exceptional service to owners and guests. I realised how revolutionary it would be to develop a platform that was not only simple and even enjoyable to use but also powerfully functional for every department on board as well as for Management Companies and ISM providers.
The result was Total Superyacht, which provides a fully paperless Safety Management System for fleet companies and self-managed yachts. Workflow is automated and customised checklists and procedures appear at the touch of a button. The software uses smart data that provides real-time analytics to give captains and managers a full understanding of their yacht or even their entire fleet at a glance, integrated across all departments.
Unlike any other yacht management software, Total Superyacht also revolutionises automated functionality for the Interior Department. It includes a Digital Reference Centre that contains hundreds of flashcards covering laundry treatment and care (directly from Miele), service setup and procedures (via the G.U.E.S.T. Program), cocktail recipes from respected mixologists, and much more, as well as a library of customisation SOPs that save tremendous time during setup.
