THE digital world is evolving far more rapidly than anyone can keep up with. According to one estimate, shipping now generates as much data in two days as it did in a year less than a decade ago.

The concern is that the flow of data, from many disparate sources, will soon overwhelm our analytical tools, creating a headache for seafarers just as damaging as the lack of data did a few years ago.

Future-proofing vessels against evolving technologies, tightening environmental goals, revised regulations, and changing societal expectations will be hard.

But it’s not only mariners who need access to the latest digital solutions; shore-side teams managing fleets are increasingly in need of a unified data platform to enable them to operate their ships sustainably.

In this podcast, Evan Gooch, President of ABS Nautical Systems at ABS Group, and Smarty Mathew John, VP Digital Solutions at ABS, discuss user experience and expectations of new technologies.

Working in partnership with clients, ABS has designed the Nautical Systems and MyDigitalFleet applications to address customer pain points.

“Making solutions easy for mariners to use makes them powerful,” says Evan Gooch. “Complicated technology just wouldn’t be used.”

Smarty Mathew John adds that clients are looking for a way to bring together multiple data sources to enable better decision making. The data covers commercial and technical, as well as operational, aspects of the venture.

“The crew and shore-side teams are spending a lot of energy and time filtering through the information, bringing everything together into one place so they can make a good decision,” he says.

Tracking how individual vessels and the fleet are performing against goals and targets, while aligning operational performance against goals, brings the required efficiency gains.

The conversation assesses the importance of customer feedback, partnerships with stakeholders across the industry, and success achieved so far in creating future-proof digital platforms.