Why automation and digitalisation are more crucial than ever before for booking and reservation systems
Digitalisation and automation are ever more at the heart of reservation and ticketing systems for passenger ships.
Explaining how the move to automation helps current challenges, Carus director of sales John Bertell tells PST, “The staffing situation highlights the benefits of automating processes and providing self-service functionality so that entering and exiting the port and boarding and disembarking the vessel can be done without having to employ more staff, or even return to prepandemic staff levels. Our port automation and self-service modules have been extended to cover even more port processes.”
To support its solutions for unmanned ports, Carus has integrated a new set of hardware solutions supporting vehicle measurement and classification, weight-in-motion, passport and ID card readers, automatic license plate reader cameras, and LED screens and traffic lights for traffic management.
Mr Bertell adds, “Our solutions have moved further on board the vessels where we now provide onboard self-service modules. Access to buffet restaurants, VIP lounges and other self-service access functions can be easily automated using a QR code on the boarding card or the app.
Integrated port processes
“An integrated port process is essential in a digitalised service. Carus has invested in more advanced port management solutions and integrations with terminal operations solutions and gate operations solutions. This will assist our clients to provide the best service in their ports and make sure all freight and transport information is readily available for the port operator and authorities.”
The increased challenges in the air travel sector, from fuel costs, environmental concerns and overcrowded airports means there is an option for ferries to attract the young generation, Mr Bertell says. But to achieve this, the travel process will have to be even more digitalised than today. “All services throughout the journey must be available through a mobile phone, app or other digital tool. The mobile phone must be able to act as an essential travel companion,” he says.
Another ’dramatic’ factor having an impact is the lack of availability of semiconductors and other technical hardware.
Mr Bertell says, “This, together with the improvement in cloud services, has led to a situation where the use of on-premises server hardware is no longer viable. A mistake many still make, however, is to consider cloud services a direct replacement of on-premise hosting.
“What is misunderstood is the fact that the cloud hosting only takes care of your servers. Carus is not just providing a cloud service but providing a full managed service.”
The managed service provides Carus’ clients with a one-stop-shop where their system is provided as a service including hosting, platforms, monitoring, updates and cyber security.
Mr Bertell says, “The US Cloud Act is another major challenge, especially for public entities. It essentially gives US authorities a free card to pull data from any system hosted with a US cloud operator, even if the physical installation is in Europe or elsewhere in the world. With a proper managed service, this challenge is handled.”
Three operators in Malta have gone live with Carus solutions this year and a large project in Mexico is currently in progress. Several port-automation projects have been running in parallel and are now live, providing fully unmanned check-in processes in international ferry operations across Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Automation and individualisation
Elsewhere, E-Dea chief commercial officer Marco Pavoncelli says across the passenger transport industry, automation and individualisation are the key trends, and both are driven by technology.
“Ferry companies are making investments in solutions that remove friction from the booking process and provide an optimised customer service experience through the automation of pre, during and post-travel touchpoints,” he says.
“The combination of dynamically personalised content, offering self-service with powerful after-sales functions and a simplified cloud-based IT stack, can help operators to restore customer satisfaction, grow revenue and save on operational costs.”
E-Dea’s new developments are tackling the “most common frustrations of the ferry operators as well as travellers”, says Mr Pavoncelli, adding, “Our aim is to create a frictionless personalised customer experience that makes each dull administrative process as fast and rewarding as possible while simultaneously lowering the total cost of ownership of the IT infrastructure. Among others, it includes self-service and automation functionalities to support each stage of a reservation: from booking procedure, money collection, amendment, cancellation, rebooking, port access, check-in, boarding procedures, and refunds.
“Additionally, we have further enhanced our tools dedicated to frequent travellers. Ferry companies can use data and automation to have an indepth visibility into individual traveller preferences and provide a broad range of personalised offers or rewards.”
Mr Pavoncelli adds that E-Dea’s R&D division is continuously improving its artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms with excellent results in the area of customer segmentation, capacity forecasting and automatic stowage planning.
E-Dea has recently acquired three new ferry clients, with a go-live date by the end of 2022. Two provide lifeline ferry services to passengers and freight and therefore require E-Dea’s specific focus on upgraded customer experience, efficient service disruption management and flexible loyalty options for commuters and frequent travellers.
Mr Pavoncelli says, “One is a roro operator carrying mainly unaccompanied freight (wheeled cargo and containers), which gave us the opportunity to further demonstrate the flexibility of our offerings spreading from passengers and cruise to freight carriers and freight port management.”
Mr Pavoncelli sums up, “Strong customer partnership is a key component of E-Dea’s business model and is the foundation of our success. To stay ahead of today’s fast-changing and dynamic times, innovation is crucial but requires well-orchestrated collaboration with the client. At E-Dea, we implemented a proactive management of the customer relationship, and we support customer involvement in all project phases. There is constant co-operation on the product roadmap and our customers are actively involved in the decisions of where the product goes next.
By sharing the experience acquired through multiple operators in our portfolio, we were able to build a network of relationships, consolidating a win-win community.”
Upcoming opportunities
Meanwhile, Rescompany (Resco) says it has identified several opportunities thanks to recent technological advances, primarily in communications technology and software architecture:
The increased impact of sophisticated, enterprisewide CRM and loyalty solutions to increase retention rates and enhance customer satisfaction, also allowing for multi-brand marketing.
Although built to work well with currently available capabilities, Resco NG, or next generation, solution is being designed to take full advantage of low earth orbit satellite constellations. Their 500-2,000 km orbits provide increased bandwidths in the gigabit range; very low latencies, typically about 30 ms; and truly global internet coverage, including the polar regions.
These modern satellite networks will enable Resco software deployment in the cloud, with all features available both on board and ashore, enabling central management of the fleet and each individual vessel from shoreside offices; Resco systems can also execute while offline, thus offering resilience during periods of internet connectivity interruptions and allowing crew to continue with their daily activities; Resco software will become exclusively web-based and mobile; and Resco systems complete the move towards a highly modular architecture, with interconnected apps and services, which enables near-continuous deployment
Rescompany Systems senior sales and account manager Sonja Berrang says, “All our solutions within the Resco NG ecosystem are or will be web-ready, relying on cloud and semi-cloud-based technology solutions. The driver behind this strategy move is cost and value – our domain-driven design offers a logical split of system functionality organised around business capabilities, so that independent business domains can be implemented separately. This, in turn, allows for verticalisation and a microservices-based architecture.”
Benefits include lower equipment procurement and maintenance costs compared with onsite server solutions and increased speed of software delivery.
Ms Berrang says, “Our development team has been very busy developing a brand new and exciting port and itinerary module. This will enable the planning department of a cruise line to plan cruise itineraries well in advance, based on factors related to the ship, ports, sea routes and fuel. You can manage the itineraries of a ship for an entire season from a single dashboard. In addition to being able to plan your itineraries, you will also be able to book a berth at the port for each destination.”
Resco’s development team has also been busy developing a new web booking portal using the latest technology (Resco NG). “Users will be able to book and manage bookings using their web browser with a user-friendly user interface, making the reservations processes much more efficient and easier to use no matter where you are. Our mission is to provide a complete solution to the cruise industry, this includes the onboard system suite… the whole onboard suite is driven with new mobile applications and redesigned to NG as well as systems being fully web, mobile and cloud ready,” says Ms Berrang.
The Resco team is delivering Resco PMS, POS and related shore fleet management software to the fleet of Scenic Cruises. It has also recently worked with sister companies MariApps and BSM Cruise to launch Ambassador Cruise Line. “Ambassador has taken advantage of the one-stop-shop solution making for seamless installation, integration and communications,” says Ms Berrang.
Resco has implemented advanced PMS and POS, mobile applications for passengers and crew and Resco’s shoreside central fleet management systems including the advanced inventory system and business intelligence dashboards. MariApps provides the technical digital solutions and BSM Cruise will manage the new sea roster tool to organise the crew working hours in accordance with IMO and STCW 2010.
Resco is also currently working with a new cruise line based in South Korea and with Aranui Cruises to implement both the shore and shipside systems. Ms Berrang comments, “With seamless integration between the shore and ship, users from the shore side will be able to manage the inventory and POS items on board, view onboard revenue and more.
With Resco Central, management can get a complete 360° view of their guests, from the first point of contact to their spending habits on board. Armed with this information, Resco’s CRM can be used to send out specials or specific information to a targeted audience.”
