TECHNICAL TIMES
ONBOARD looks at the latest technical and software developments from online crew training, entertainment, apps, VSAT to safety and sonar technology
So, at the end of the day although the superyacht industry is at the pinnacle of technological advances, it all comes down to people that deliver the correct service levels to back up their products and services in an honest and transparent manner.
Further on within this feature we look at a typical disrupter in our industry, namely Starlink. There was enormous panic when Starlink hit the market and everyone wondered what would happen to our long standing VSAT and communications companies. Fear not, to be honest the product was never really meant for our industry, but more for the roaming RV users. Is it fit for purpose for the superyachts? We’ll leave that to our technical expert, Simon Pearce who discusses this further in the following pages.
I don’t think any crew member has ever been fond of paperwork and if we’re talking about excel spreadsheets, then they are just too unstable and not fit for purpose.
D
uring the past 11 years of publishing ONBOARD we’ve seen many players come and go in this segment of supplying superyachts with a variety
of technical software and hardware solutions. The bulk of the companies that have slowly disappeared are the ones who provide solutions to high profile properties or corporations and think they can just walk into our superyacht market.
Within the whole industry the most important thing I have come across is the element of trust. Whatever service or product (no matter how small or large) a company offers, it has to be backed up by an incredible level of service. Of course the product needs to deliver and if it can provide wider solutions then all the better, but it has to be backed up by people that deliver what they say it will deliver and it has to be done within the agreed time schedule and within budget. And, if there are issues, (we can’t always be perfect) they have to be confronted in an honest manner and a solution needs to be provided.
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE I don’t think any crew member has ever been fond of paperwork and if we’re talking about excel spreadsheets, then they are just too unstable and not fit for purpose. Luckily, there are plenty of options out there and over the past few years we’ve seen companies offering a menu of services. So rather than having to purchase the whole package, crew pick and choose which elements they really need help with, then we imagine they slowly adopt more of the software tools when an element of trust has been built up.
The target market for software varies from captains, to heads of department, chief engineers, to management companies, shipyards and technical/owner reps, but the core deliverable is to hold all the information in a central location, in a real time basis, have it presented in an intuitive manner and to allow for an element of adaptability for each individual yacht. Once again I’ve seen software companies working with large corporations or even government departments try and proffer their goods within our industry, but it just doesn’t work out for them. You can’t just implement the system and walk away and the developers need to know the industry, which is why we see many successful software companies run by people who are either ex-crew or who have been within the commercial shipping industry or yachting industry for years. They understand the wants and needs, know how to communicate and understand the required deliverables.
72 | WINTER 2023 | ONBOARD
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