HANSA 04-2018

Schiffstechnik | Ship Technology
Pragmatism and the human element
While technology for a digitized future of shipping is ready, data solution providers now
have to focus on the human elements, and cost of retrieving that data, that are crucial to
success or failure in the adoption of digital solutions
The onset of digitalisation is a transformative
force within shipping –
and it’s one that creates varied reactions.
Broadly speaking, we see two main approaches
when companies begin to embrace
digitalisation: one is to attempt to
rush to digitalize everything – and the
other is to bury your head in the sand and
hope it all goes away. Neither is helpful
when it comes to unlocking the wealth
of efficiencies that the age of digitalisation
makes possible.
It is therefore perhaps unsurprising
that, despite a great deal of discussion
around digitalisation, it isn’t yet a core
part of many businesses in shipping. A
recent smart shipping survey found that,
while most maritime industry executives
see digitalisation and Big Data as a transformative
force, only 8.7% currently regard
it as a major part of their operations.
So, what are some of the barriers to
adoption and how do we overcome them?
It’s clear that technology is, by and large,
ready. The onus is more on data solution
providers like us to focus on the human
elements, and cost of retrieving that data,
that are crucial to success or failure in the
adoption of digital solutions.
First and foremost, shipping is a notoriously
fragmented industry, and many
offices and companies find themselves
in the situation of not realising the data
that they have at their disposal; or, how to
join the dots and find hidden efficiencies.
This requires solution providers to create
services that can easily be used by multiple
teams, and can draw together multiple
datasets. They need to be built in a
way that is usable, and intuitive for large
teams to collaborate on. We have to focus
on how data is derived from the vessel,
stored, indexed and retreived within
systems, so that it’s easy to combine datasets
from various places and find otherwise
hidden efficiencies and synergies.
This is why Stratum Five have made
their platform open – so that it’s easy to
use an API to interface with it and leverage
the data. Bringing together new datasets
in this way has great potential when it
comes to predictive maintenance in areas
such as hull coatings. As we look to help
all users make marginal gains, there is a
great deal of expertise that we can build
into the platform to make sure that all the
angles are covered.
Foto: Felix Selzer
70 HANSA International Maritime Journal – 155. Jahrgang – 2018 – Nr. 4