January February 2019 Marina World

INTELLIGENT MARINA SYSTEMS
networks of marinas; still others work
globally. Premier Marinas’ app, for
example, covers its marina network and
offers seven-day weather predictions,
tide tables, navigational overviews on
getting to each marina, click to contact
by phone and email and, for drystack
users, there’s an option to order the
launch of your boat ‘at the touch of
a button’. Premier also uses a single
centralised system to manage all its
marinas, so that when a customer
wants to visit another Premier marina,
the marina knows who they are, which
cuts down on paperwork.
Apps and marina management
software run the gamut from the
simple to the complex. Many offer
berth availability, pedestal information
and readings, arrivals and departures,
customer/boat information, boatyard
repair progress, storage and
billing, drystack launch scheduling,
reservations, boat sales, quick payment
or fuel management. The more complex
management systems are fully flexible,
scaleable and customisable – and
many work across all devices.
The future
What’s next for the industry? While
boaters are embracing – and
slowly coming to expect – the latest
technology in marinas, the industry still
has some way to go.
Morgan says: “I see the marina
industry following general macro trends.
Conversion to mobile enabled, voice
and potentially even AI will be with us
in the next ten years. Technology like
this is already in the hands of boat
owners and marina operators will come
under growing pressure to support this
increasing demand. I actually think this
shift will happen more quickly than ten
years.”
And Archibald stresses the
importance of data. “Although
technology like automated drystack
operations and sensors are cool, like
most industries, technology advances
in the marina industry are going to
be focused on data.” Collecting and
studying data means marinas can
be more efficient and improve the
customer experience. “Leveraging data
is about using machine learning and
AI tools to find value and opportunities
beyond the scope of traditional marinas
into the wider recreational boating
industry,” he adds.
Developments and implementation
are likely to vary across regions.
Morgan explains: “We have found that,
whilst the core of our application is
used in a similar way, the US market
has different needs in areas such as
documentation and client’s interactions.
For example, US marinas tend to
operate at capacity and therefore
they have a need for waiting list
management and correspondence.
The requirements for this type of
functionality are limited in the UK, in
our experience. With regards to the
documentation requirements, we have
found that this differs by geography
also. Things like state documentation
are different by location, whereas
we tend to have more general
requirements across the UK.”
Glidden says Scribble believes
the technologies used in the marina
industry over the next ten years will
include advanced cloud-based systems
consisting of ‘distributed services’ and
AI. Distributed services are solutions
comprising many parts that may exist
in different geographical locations,
working together to act as a whole
solution. Unlike today where software
solutions are typically located on a local
area network (LAN) or a centralised
web server, distributed systems operate
on different cloud servers based on
their features or functions.
“We really believe this concept is
the way of the future,” he says. “These
devices may consist of many different
types of hardware ranging from phones/
tablets to credit card machines, fuel
dispensers and self-serving kiosks. The
key is having many different parts and
pieces function together to create a
complete and comprehensive solution.”
Thomas adds: “A ten-year view of
technology is a real ‘crystal ball view’
when we think smartphone technology
is just over ten years old. The key
technology trends we see impacting the
marina and boatyard businesses are
towards mobile and smart systems (AI)
and large film displays for the office and
customer information services. ‘Mobile’,
allowing any function to be performed
anywhere and not tied to an office;
‘smarter’, to enable staff to complete
complex processes simply and provide
personal service. Large displays
being used in the office to provide for
visual operation of the marina and
allowing customers to interact with
large displays and self-service to
information or facilities.” He sounds a
warning to marinas about using thirdparty
providers. For example, some
marinas allow third-party companies
to provide WiFi but, “in doing this, they
lose ownership of their customers and if
not careful will have margins squeezed,
such as the airline industry found when
‘global booking systems’ became too
strong. The use of technology will be
an opportunity for marinas to not only
meet customer expectations but assist
with differentiating them from their
competition.”
www.marinaworld.com - January/February 2019 37