Albert Einstein once said : “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
While most shipping professionals agree that technology used in ship management is below par and lags many other industrial businesses, it is unclear how many are willing to recognize and change the circumstances that led to this condition.
The obvious j'accuse will likely starts with ship-shore connectivity and satcom being the thorn in everyone’s side and the primary reason for the hapless state of software architectures in shipping. But, when you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra as the saying goes. In ten years of implementing JiBe ERP we have come to a number of somewhat different observations.
First, expect to get what you pay for. Taking a quick look at the global transportation sector, the spending on IT runs at an average of 3.7% of revenue. That number in shipping is about 0.5% of revenue. The result for most companies is inferior tools and a focus from providers on selling special versions and customization just to survive. The situation has reached such an absurd level that some companies spend more on AI cameras or a sensor gimmick to track data, than what they spend on the system that will become the nerve center of their company’s data management system.
Second, only about 2% of shipping companies have a CIO/Head of IT that reports directly to the CEO; the other 98% have IT Managers who report to a lower level in the organization. This is a signal to all on where the organization sees its technology going and how serious its leadership takes the matter. The distance from there to a sub-par architecture is very small.
Third, 95% of the software providers in shipping today, are not software companies, meaning they don't build a product, and are not managed by software professionals. These companies build multiple versions, sometime a version for each client, which makes them in fact IT service companies, or project companies. This means that virtually all subscription dollars go into maintenance of all these versions, and nearly none into a development roadmap. It also means that client SMEs drive the product strategy, instead of a team of architects. This is why most of the main players of a decade ago, with market penetrations at that time approaching 90%, have all disappeared.
The industry that moves 70% of global trade is using software products built with 20-year-old architectures. As a result, users are burdened with massive amounts of manual labor, and companies experience inefficiencies both on shore and on board. As younger people become less interested in hard work for low wages, shipping is losing a massive opportunity to change its tech and prepare itself for the next decade. Shipping companies pass from generation to generation, the challenge of each generation is knowing what change to drive and how to adapt.
Comments