NAVIGATING THE WAVES OF CHANGE

IN THIS COVER STORY, WE DELVE INTO THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY OF ZAKHER MARINE INTERNATIONAL, A LEADING PROVIDER OF OFFSHORE SOLUTIONS.

Digital transformation is a crucial phase for all organisations as the imperatives of technology adoption become more imminent each year. Every industry is at a different stage of transformation owing to aspects of business complexity, customer experience, and industry regulations. In the international marine industry, the stir for transformation is also gaining pace with smart shipping, integrated systems, enhanced connectivity, voyage data monitoring, IT/OT integration, and greater emphasis on emissions goals across the sector. This has led to an intense focus on leveraging technology to bring automation for greater data-driven insights within global maritime operations.

Zakher Marine International’s (ZMI) ICT Director Aditya Kaushik’s journey of digital transformation with the company started last year. ZMI is a leading provider of offshore solutions in the region. It has a strong foundation and operational history in the maritime industry for the last 29 years. Augmenting the current growth trajectory required navigating through the right technology and solutions to improve data insights. This led to the start of a digital transformation journey of identifying areas of automation and digitisation to create a cohesive and integrated information landscape. The aim was to weave a singular thread of information that traversed across the organisation.

Having visionary leadership, experienced operational management teams, robust processes, and a strong culture for health and safety helped in gaining momentum for this transformation. “Having led digital transformation projects in previous organisations across different industries, I was able to carry out a detailed gap assessment of areas where the opportunity for digitisation was imminent, outlining this in a comprehensive digital transformation roadmap. Although a few business systems were established earlier, there was a need for cohesion and data visualisation for the company. Accessing information through multiple systems was at times a challenge due to its scattered and siloed nature,” says Aditya.

The goal of digital transformation at

ZMI was to establish an integrated digital approach throughout the organisation to consolidate various sources of information into a single platform. By doing so, the objective was to create efficiencies in functional areas that could digitise the operational turnarounds and automate supply chain management. “One of the key challenges for the transformation journey in any organisation is the effective mapping of the change processes at the very beginning, which would lead the organisation to understand the overall scope of transformation,” says Aditya.

He sought to implement systems across the business functions that could facilitate comprehensive real-time availability of critical metrics for the decision-making process.

“We have a fleet of vessels and barges that we charter out to different clients. Managing different client expectations and delivering operational efficiency is crucial to our operations. Responding proactively to client requirements and having the flexibility to accommodate any necessary changes is essential. However, reliance on manual processes in some areas can hinder the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of these changes in realtime to assess operational adaptability,” explains Aditya.

By leveraging technology and more dynamic evaluation methods, the company aimed to enhance its ability to meet client expectations, respond promptly to requirements, and continuously improve its services. Digital transformation was also crucial to ZMI to contribute to its sustainability efforts by optimising vessel operations by digitising the monitoring and management of emissions and waste.

“When I joined ZMI, my initial approach was to engage with everyone in the organisation, starting with the vision of the organisation and the growth plans. I aimed to understand the CEO’s vision for the future and gain insights into the transformational goals of the organisation. I then proceeded to interact with different business functions to comprehend their operational methods and the challenges they were currently facing. Rather than identifying “pain points,” I preferred to focus on their contributions and discover the enhancements they wanted to achieve in their business functions. This approach fostered a more positive and open dialogue as it encouraged people to share information and engage with the transformation,” highlights Aditya.

During his discovery, he recognised that the challenges faced by department heads and functional leaders were similar, as they, too, strove to automate processes that would help access necessary information from their teams to create greater efficiency in decision-making. The reliance on manual processes became an apparent challenge to facilitate prompt access to data.

Aditya firmly believes that “Digital transformation is not just a pursuit of delivering technology; it will only succeed if it is intrinsically aligned with the strategic goals, business functions, and culture of the organisation. It’s important to adapt the transformation frameworks to the company’s unique ethos.” This engaged approach helped Aditya create organisation-wide support for the transformation and deliver key lighthouse projects with the highest impact on the automation process and the digital journey in the first year itself.

“A key challenge in the marine industry is ensuring the availability of the right solutions and resources. While many solutions are suitable for onshore teams, offshore teams require unique criteria prioritising availability in constrained connectivity conditions. Offshore teams need solutions that allow access to key business systems. They need the ability to create requisitions, manage maintenance systems, share data, access policies and procedures, and collaborate seamlessly with onshore teams on limited low bandwidth or even offline. These data transition and storage needs also need to be achieved within a strong cybersecurity framework to ensure data integrity and confidentiality are not at risk,” emphasises the ICT Director.

Digital technologies need to overcome the challenge of enabling remote operations and connectivity. It is crucial to have solutions that can function offline, allowing users to work without a consistent connection without impacting data integrity or availability. Additionally, the ability to sync data seamlessly and effectively without any loss over low bandwidth VSAT connections is also crucial. This synchronisation is essential to prevent the fragmentation of data across multiple channels, where crucial information can be easily lost or overlooked.

“We also focused on other key operational metrics that are crucial for measuring the performance of the business, such as fleet utilisation, mobilisations, crew management, and other operational areas of fleet management. Furthermore, the consideration of digitising support systems like procurement, warehouse & logistics which provide resources for the fleet was also critical for the transformation. By mapping all these aspects together, we created a comprehensive model that would align with the organisation’s productivity and key performance indicator (KPI)’s. The goal was to ensure that the transformation results went beyond just collecting information but provided valuable insights that could drive significant value for the business,” highlights Aditya.

His objective was to assess the organisation and identify areas for improvement throughout the value chain. This included the outcome of delivering efficient financial and operational metrics at every level. “This understanding further reinforced the need for digital transformation within the organisation. It highlighted the importance of streamlining processes, improving information flow, and empowering teams to make effective decisions based on easily accessible and rich data. By addressing these challenges, we aim to enhance overall operational efficiency and reduce dependency on any manual process in the future,” explains Aditya.

Another challenge was the integration of multiple business systems. “We have a scenario of two critical business systems, one being a cloud-based solution handling finance, HR, and payroll, while the other an industry-specific On-premises solution which focuses on plant maintenance systems, crewing, and supply chain management. This system operates on a server-client model, allowing offline functionality and data replication between onshore and offshore databases. In our approach to digital transformation, we aim to leverage the strengths of these existing applications rather than starting from scratch and incurring significant financial burdens. Our focus is on effectively integrating these key systems and enhancing the adoption of these applications within the current business environment while extracting maximum value from our technology assets,” says ZMI’s ICT Director.

He adds that his goal was to consolidate processes into two or three core platforms, simplifying the digitisation of every aspect of their business. “Once identified, we assess these platforms’ scalability and growth potential for both onshore and offshore operations. While our business systems are not legacy, they have been in use for a few years, so digital transformation will allow us to adopt the next generation of technology through this transformation. This would include IT/OT integration by leveraging IoT for the offshore monitoring of operations, the use of RPA to improve turnarounds for our partners and vendors, subsequently reducing resource costs, and finally, adopting AI in key areas of customer experience and creating a ‘Workplace for the Future’.”

“At ZMI, our aim is to establish a culture of innovation and the adoption of technology that is constantly evolving,” says Aditya. “We continue to seek out maritime-specific solutions from companies in similar domains to ensure easy deployment and compliance with maritime regulations. Finding a solution that aligns with our unique requirements becomes a significant discovery process. While this may impose certain limitations, it ensures that the chosen solutions are tailored to the specific needs and requirements of the maritime industry.”

He further adds: “Though we have identified suitable solutions for a few business functions, the adoption and integration with the existing systems would also need to be achieved for a seamless data flow. The integration process would require considerable effort and attention to detail to provide a singular view of information across the value chain. Addressing all these integration challenges is an important aspect of our digital transformation journey.”

This engaged approach with business stakeholders helps deliver successful projects across business functions, creating initial engagement and setting expectations for future enhancements through the digital transformation. It makes this their own journey and gets the stakeholders enthusiastic about future changes. This also helped Aditya establish the necessary impetus for digital transformation within the organisation.

He concludes: “The global maritime industry presents a unique scenario for solution providers and applications, where their products must align with operating challenges and regulations established within the maritime sector. This means that one cannot solely rely on ‘best-ofbreed’ solutions or industry quadrants but must specifically seek out solutions that have demonstrated proof of value within the global maritime industry. By aligning with established practices and leveraging proven solutions, maritime organisations like ours can effectively address cybersecurity concerns and mitigate operational risks while achieving a successful digital transformation and creating functional value for our customers and shareholders.”