DIGITALIZATION BY
Digitalization proves
IMMENSE VALUE TO SHIPPING
T
he digital revolution is transforming the world. Data is being generated, shared, stored, and analyzed in amounts, and at speeds, that are increasing exponentially every year. Today, the data we create, access, and control is having an increasing impact both on how we live and on how industry performs. It is therefore fortuitous that, even as the world became immersed in the Covid-19 pandemic, digitalization in some key industries had progressed to the stage where digital information flows were driving the automation of processes
and functions, and was therefore able to positively impact both safety and commercial performance. The Caribbean maritime industry has embraced digitalization and this is proving to be of immense value in keeping the supply chain open, even during the height of the pandemic. Before going any further, it is useful to differentiate between “digitization” and “digitalization”. Digitization is the conversion of analog information to digitized data, while digitalization is the use of digital technologies and digitized data to impact how work gets done, transform how customers and companies engage and
interact, and create new (digital) revenue streams. Automation, for example, has become a form of digital technology.
AUTOMATED SYSTEMS KEEPING THE SUPPLY CHAIN OPEN As Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA) President Juan Carlos Croston noted in his address to the CSA’s Annual General Meeting last year, “because the regional industry has embraced change and new technologies that can improve our efficiencies…we have been able to keep the supply chain open and responsive to the needs of our people.”
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