You are holding a webinar on Tuesday 30^th June with the title “Shipping the Future with SAP – Why Change, Why now, Why SAP”. Please give us an outline on what to expect to hear at this webinar.

We are all witnessing rapid technology advances. For the maritime industry, advances come in the form of IoT, sensors and telecommunications.  During the webinar, attendants will get to know how SAP Technology Platform can be used to address the industry’s volatile nature and offer added value to any business process either onshore or on-board. SAP is well known in the past 50 years as a company that supports the office processes. SAP has also supported the shipping industry with remarkable results and significant customer references. What might not yet be broadly known is that SAP can also provide an always connected subset of our ERP functionality onboard – irrespectively of their connectivity to their back-office infrastructure. This is achieved by an occasionally connected architecture; we call Edge Synchronization Server engine. The attendants can also get a sneak peek of the SAP Applications for maritime processes and to name some: MGA, Crew Management as well as Chartering and Vessel Operations, Maintenance and Dry Docking.

What is SAP S/4HANA ERP and how the Shipping industry could benefit from such a system?

SAP S/4HANA is an intelligent, integrated ERP system that runs on our in-memory database, SAP HANA. With SAP S/4HANA maritime companies can revolutionize business processes with intelligent automation and Innovate and enhance processes with data-driven intelligence from smart vessels. The overall proposed SAP landscape for maritime industry, encompasses SAP cloud solutions, along with Edge services for the vessels, and of course our ERP S/4HANA which could be on Premise or on-Cloud hosted by SAP or, the customer’s preferred hyper-scaler. This landscape offers great flexibility. It allows customers to adopt and leverage their preferred solution at their own pace. Moreover, a modular approach can be used for the implementations, so that the customers can start from the area that addresses their immediate pain points and evolve as deemed more appropriate for each organization.

How can a ship owning / ship management business use “smart” technologies to transform, innovate, present subversive solutions and value-added services?

The modern smart ship will integrate a variety of connected technologies to improve operational efficiency, ship management, regulatory compliance, decision making, environmental responsibilities and improve safety and maintenance of vessel. Self-managed and connected smart ships, enable companies to see vessel data and events on time, analyze them and take informed decisions on-time. Several events may occur that might affect the vessel’s voyage effectiveness and profitability. Data collection is not an end by itself. It is the source of effective operations. The criticality of maintenance and vessel performance tracking goes without saying. Those processes are also supported by the connected machines and intelligent equipment. SAP is providing technology applications that enable the modern companies of the 21^st century to take informed decisions and thrive amongst their competitors.

Is SAP S/4HANA addressed to all businesses and services regardless of size? SAP is considered to be, the Flagship of all ERP systems worldwide, can the S/HANA also be made affordable to small and medium size companies?

Over 75% of SAP customers are small to mid-sized companies and Cyprus is no exception as we proudly already serve more than 800 companies.

Was the shipping industry ready to cope with the COVID-19 crisis and how can SAP help if similar conditions arise in the future?

I don’t think any business across any industry can claim that it was prepared for this pandemic, some companies/industries where however in a better position to react than others. It’s extremely important to keep the flow of goods running. The crisis could become a key catalyst for digital and technological advancements in the shipping industry. All shipping Companies can benefit from secure logistics business networks that connect business partners for intercompany collaboration and insights. SAP Logistics Business Network provides a central entry point to manage logistics transactions, exchange documents with key business partners, and gain transparency across the complete value chain. Additionally, procurement networks connect supply with demand and allow buyers to quickly identify suppliers and cover sourcing needs even in times of crisis. Vessels need to be fully equipped and supplied at all times.  Health and Safety are also best ensured by a system that is easy to use for all stakeholders, combines all necessary information and enables pro-active strategies to avoid critical situations before they happen.

Intervıew by Stella Vıoları