2018 May June Marina World

MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
auditory chatbots are breaking through.
Chatbots will be central to automating
the customer service side of marinas
and boat clubs as Artificial Intelligence
continues to develop.
Artificial Intelligence and
Machine Learning
On a practical level there’s little
difference between machine learning
(ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). As AI
and ML get better at natural language
processing they will be able to replace
more and more complex interactions
between the boater and marina. It’s hard
to think of many situations in a marina
that aren’t routine in nature, which is just
the kind of environment where basic AI
and ML thrives. It will start with the basic
chatbots and evolve to replace more
and more customer interactions in the
marina.
The second way AI and ML will be
applied in a marina is by leveraging
the huge amounts of data a marina
produces to better understand boater
preferences and behaviour. A very
smart, observant, intuitive and engaged
marina manager can do many of the
things that AI and ML promise. AI and
ML will give that ability to every marina.
Mobile apps
Mobile apps have been around for a
while now. They have high adoption with
boaters for navigation, but low adoption
in the marina sector. As a customer
service focused business, marinas
are perfect for leveraging the power of
mobile devices and the apps that run
them. Currently, the mobile apps offered
by marina software companies are
pretty rudimentary as non-cloud based
software is still the norm. The trend
towards cloud based software-as-aservice
tools will lead to an increase in
boater facing marina apps.
Autonomous boats
Autonomous cars and transport
trucks are going to have a significant
impact on our economies very soon.
Autonomous boats could have a
serious impact on marinas in the
future. If people are able to call up
an autonomous boat like they will an
autonomous car, a lot of people will
forego owning a boat. As mentioned in
the introduction, general automation
Mobile apps are popular with boaters
for navigation but are an under-used
opportunity in marinas despite the
fact that, as customer service focused
businesses, they lend themselves to app
technology. Cloud-based software is
opening up greater opportunities.
could lead to a big upswing in sailing so
it might be a case of a little bad, but a
lot of good in the long run.
Marketplaces and platforms
Marketplaces and platforms are
technology-enabled business models
that allow one group of value creators
to connect with another group of value
consumers. Their power comes from
increased distribution (connections)
between one group and another.
Almost all of the powerful technology
companies that have emerged in the
past few decades like Apple, Google,
Ebay and Facebook are marketplaces
and platforms.
Marketplaces like Dockwa and Snag-
A-Slip are growing quickly to connect
transient boaters with available berths.
Boat Setter seems to be leading ‘Airbnb
for boats’. There’s a huge amount
of value to be created in connecting
different pieces of recreational boating.
Conclusion
The marina industry is going through
a significant period of change. We’re
seeing extensive consolidation and
demographic turnover in boaters and
marina managers. These changes
are accelerating the adoption of new
technologies in marina and club
management. It’s going to be fun to see
how the industry adapts to and evolves
with emerging and existing technologies
over the next five to ten years.
Iaian Archibald is the co-founder and CEO
of Canadian marina software company
Swell Advantage.
E: iaian@swelladvantage.com
+61 7 5594 8200
info@superiorjetties.com
superiorjetties.com
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www.marinaworld.com - May/June 2018