A CBI Report – From Ostrich to Magpie

A recent CBI report published in Nov 2017 highlighted the fact that the vast majority of UK businesses believe that adopting digital technologies is a crucial driver to achieving greater efficiency, thus facilitating the required productivity gains highlighted by recent government statistics, if individual organisations and the UK are to remain competitive in a global economy.

However, the low uptake of readily available technologies and management best practices in the UK is no more apparent than in the marine and maritime sectors. Whilst some organisations are modernising and taking a more holistic approach, many remain stuck in the past, seeing data for example as supporting a singular purpose, or not seeing data as being central to their business at all. Many are reluctant to adopt enterprise-wide systems, cloud computing, mobile technologies and automated systems, citing reasons such as unclear benefits or it being too difficult or too expensive.

With the right partner, nothing could be farther from the truth. At OceanWise, we are helping our customers take a measured, low-cost and stepwise approach to modernising the way they work. By providing them with the know-how, and implementing proportionate systems, many are seeing massive productivity gains in just a few weeks; a task that took 1-2 days on a paper (or spreadsheet) based system now takes under an hour. The approach considers data as a central resource, that sees a reduction in management overhead, facilitates data sharing, and makes data readily accessible where, when and in the form it is needed most.

A good place to start your productivity gains, and to get aboard the digital bandwagon and avoid being left behind, is to book your place on the Marine Data Management Awareness Course that OceanWise runs in conjunction with IMarEST. Alternatively, you can book the one day course in-house, a great way to get your organisation’s proverbial head out of the sand and encourage you to sing loudly about how your people can make a difference to your and the wider economy.