Welcome back to another week of all things innovation in maritime! This week, we’re focusing on setting your organisation up for success when undertaking digital transformation projects, along with a sprinkling of this weeks top stories in shipping technology.

This week, I spoke with Uttam Kumar, who brings a unique perspective to maritime technology leadership, having navigated his own career journey from ship to shore. Today, Uttam leads digitalisation initiatives at Synergy Marine Group, focusing on three key areas: developing new products that solve critical maritime problems, forging partnerships with innovative technology companies and working across departments to ensure the successful implementation of digital solutions.

Digital transformation can be tricky to navigate, especially in maritime, an industry known for dragging its feet when it comes to innovation. Uttam summed the industry up perfectly, “Shipping is an old traditional industry with a traditional mindset. 'We have always done it this way.'”

The first step in any transformation journey, he believes, is determining where innovation is truly needed. While this may sound simple, it can be difficult to differentiate technology ‘needs’ from technology ‘wants’. Uttam explained, “Too often, companies launch technology projects without a clear business objective, simply because it's the trend.” 

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Uttam’s advice, “It all starts with the problem statement. It's very important that we identify if this problem is worth solving, does this problem change the way people work?” 

“When you start with a problem, many times you think that it's a technology problem, but actually, maybe it's a process or a people problem.” Rather than jumping straight onto new trends (like AI as a perfect example), organisations should assess how this technology will actually benefit your organisation in a measurable way. 

One of the biggest problems is creating a team with the right skills to drive innovation. In many cases, maritime experts with years of experience can lack the technical knowledge required to advance innovation and vice versa.

So how do we fill this gap? Uttam’s solution, “We brought together maritime experts, data scientists, and product teams to collaboratively build effective solutions.” By assembling cross-functional teams with complementary skills rather than working in silos Uttam was able to bring together the right set of skills to maximise success.

Another way to bridge this divide is to focus on upskilling your current team. If there are critical skills missing from your team, it is quicker and cheaper to focus on upskilling your own team over hiring new talent.

The only consideration with internal training to be mindful of is to ensure the skills learned are practiced regularly to ensure maximum ROI. Uttam explained, “If [your team] are not using it on a day-to-day basis, they will forget about it and will not be able to upskill themselves.”

Once you have developed a case for digital transformation and assembled the right team, the next step is to implement your new technology.  “It's not the solution or the product aspect; it's the implementation and adoption of those solutions in their day-to-day work.” Everybody is always so busy with their regular duties that trialling new software can switching to a new process can sometimes lead to push-back from departments.

With his vast experience in digital transformation, Uttam offered the following advice: “Involve your people early and work with them on the challenges they face. When they're part of the solution process, adoption comes naturally, because they see it as their baby, not something handed down to them.”

Uttam’s parting advice for any maritime IT leader is that all innovative companies start with innovative individuals. “Don't limit yourself to the job profile that you are given. If there is something else you can do or you want to do, you should move out of your comfort zone.”

Change shouldn’t be something that you wait to happen, it should happen from within. 

And that’s all for another week of maritime tech brought straight to you from me: Ailsa. Until next week, don’t forget to love, laugh and keep innovating!