SCHIFFFAHRT | SHIPPING
SCHIFFFAHRT | SHIPPING Guest contribution by Tim Bailey – Speedcast »This is a new environment« Communications can become the heart of a digital shipping strategy. Service providers need a much closer, professional approach to their clients’ business. Companies are making significant investments in new technologies to achieve the goals of optimised operations and long term cost savings. The challenge is that less than half of CEOs surveyed by Gartner believe that digital investments are improving net profit. In fact, the majority say investments are too small and insufficiently transformational to capture the opportunities that digital presents. Digitalisation is having a profound impact on how shipowners and managers run their business and what they want from their technology partners. Perhaps the most important factor in designing a digital strategy is developing a clear understanding of your business goals. This is a new environment for providers of maritime connectivity, used to a market traditionally defined by commodity-based pricing of hardware and services. Since Speedcast and all of our competitors buy capacity from the same satellite operators and equipment from the same suppliers, it’s a market in which we cannot continue to compete based upon our network alone. Despite the wave of digitalisation in the maritime sector, the evidence is that many shipowners are still ‘all at sea’ when it comes to adopting systems and processes that can support a digital strategy. The need for new types of connectivity – and for a much broader range of services – has helped to create some separation between the suppliers who still think the old way and those with a clear vision Tim Bailey, EVP of Product, Marketing and Business Development, Speedcast of the future. If customers are thinking in different ways, we need to have a view that extends months and years ahead in terms of operational needs or regulatory requirements. At this higher level, what an owner or manager needs is not lower prices but better value. A long term communications partner will be distinguished from one that simply sees a short-term opportunity. Because requirements change – and are different across distinct sites and applications – shipping companies require a range of expertise and types of connectivity. This level of complexity requires 24/7 proactive support. Understanding the need and the strategy puts us in a position to support the business, whether it’s crew connectivity, IoT or a complete digital optimisation strategy. With a fully managed end-to-end solution, the journey starts with Customer Experience Management, undertaking research and understanding what our customers want to achieve. We believe that successful digitalisation hinges on having the right operating systems – not only the most advanced technologies. Our approach includes not just network and systems integration but facilities such as an innovation and testing lab and consultancy on how to implement digitalisation and IoT strategies. New ideas on vessel performance optimisation, cost-saving strategies and support that deliver during a customer’s entire digital connectivity journey. © Speedcast 44 HANSA International Maritime Journal 11 | 2019
SCHIFFFAHRT | SHIPPING HANSA International Maritime Journal 11 | 2019 45
