TIME TO THINK AGAIN!
We think the time to reconsider is here! And shout out that software can be much more than a good reporting and compliance tool. Undoubtedly if shipping software does not help the maritime enterprise with coordination and risk avoidance, then its contribution to the industry is slight. Whereas shipping software should be heavy lifting.
Ulysses Systems is a software company, which, from inception twenty-eight years ago, deeply cares about the shipping industry. And Task Assistant® solutions are designed to do the heavy lifting the marine enterprise needs, dynamically.
Coordination and risk avoidance software pays dividends
And we firmly maintain that coordination and risk avoidance software exists and, above, all pays dividends. Furthermore, we feel it highly likely that top executives in shipping regret the gap they perceive in software offerings. And that they long to see solutions that actively handle coordination and risk avoidance.
Is Silicon Valley gospel?
In most of Ulysses Systems newsletters we ask the question: Is Silicon Valley gospel? It’s a simple question, not meant to provoke or show irreverence, that’s not our intention. It’s a practical question and has to do the business model one chooses in order to sell software. In a few words, there are two conditions that software must provide: situational awareness. And situational awareness require digital tools which make it easier to model the real world for one domain at a time. And in full knowledge of the domain.
The Silicon Valley business model
The Silicon Valley business model does not work in shipping because there are major blank spots in digital competence. The reason that Silicon Valley sells the software while keeping the blank spots blank is because this serves their business model.
Software that continually improves
Software that continually improves is not a Silicon Valley supported concept since it stands in the way of the one size fits all software paradigm. A paradigm that comes with huge customization work. Huge customizations, apart from causing inordinate time/cost to the client, make software continuous improvement very difficult.
The dominant perception in shipping
The dominant perception in shipping is that software is about record keeping and compliance. Justifiably, good record-keeping and compliance are prominent goals in a maritime enterprise. And certainly, record keeping for compliance and for financial control will save a percentage of revenue. So, it saves a percentage of revenue but not much, and this is one reason that owners and top executive take little interest in software.
Twice the value
But who in the shipping industry is in doubt that at least twice the value, saved from compliance and financial control, can be saved from thousands of co-ordination and risk intense processes that happen under duress and can be managed better. Nevertheless few people think that software can help in this area.
Time to think again
So, it’s time to think again and revisit which software can, and which software cannot bring meaningful value to the enterprise. Our position is the following: by ignoring co-ordination and risk avoidance, 70% of digitization value is left out of the realm of digital transformation. And this 70% of digitization value is no other than the value of avoiding co-ordination and other execution errors. And it would be an omission for a maritime enterprise not to consider savings from coordination and risk avoidance assistance. In fact, value from optimising shipping operations ought to be added to the value gained by good reporting and compliance.
Let’s not forget that shipping is dynamic and there is never enough staff. And anticipating risk and maximizing co-ordination is also dynamic. Furthermore, it is well within the competencies of software.
So, perhaps time to think again involves considering software developments that factor in dynamic risk anticipation and maximisation of co-ordination. We feel it highly likely that top executives in shipping regret the gap they perceive in software offerings. And that they long to see solutions that go beyond compliance and record keeping and actively handle coordination and risk avoidance.
Coordination and risk avoidance software
So, coordination and risk avoidance software pays dividends. “The reason people don’t believe in software is that it does not care about their processes and stories” says Panteleimon Pantelis, Ulysses systems COO
