With the
rapid pace of change in the liner industry, technology is an essential and
useful way to address the new demands, Ocean Network Express (ONE) CEO Mr.
Jeremy Nixon told the opening session of the Singapore Maritime Technology
Conference.
For him, technology
can be applied in two ways: one, to improve the customer experience by
improving supply chain visibility with better inventory control; two, it can be
applied to improve the company’s own processes and efficiency.
Nixon said
ONE sees five key areas where a digital transformation will be most pronounced:
analytics and artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, the Internet of
Things (IOT), drone technology and blockchain.
He further
divided these areas into short, mid-term and long-term development goals.
In the
short-term, ONE has been focusing on electronic customer service platforms to
improve service through applications such as electronic data interchanges or
EDIs so information can be easily shared.
Further out
however, and perhaps holding more potential for gains, the use of data
analytics to make better decisions. “We don’t necessarily use that data today
but we bring it together so that key decision makers can make decisions more
quickly and clearly,” he elaborated. Some examples include a system that has
been developed to optimise equipment within the group and another to analyse
vessel operations and fuel savings.
Looking out
to 18 months to 24 months in the future, Nixon highlighted the key areas of
machine learning and blockchain as holding potential.
The
predictive analytics function of machine learning enables trends to be gleaned
from collected data and can help with forecasting. “It’s a huge area and it’s
got tremendous potential. The challenge is we have good accurate data which is
up-to-date,” he said.
Nixon also
warned of the danger of getting “analysis paralysis” with too much analysis
hampering action. While the ability to forecast trends is very helpful,
sometimes exceptional events happen that need human intervention, Nixon
concluded. |