Splash247: Shipping firms urged to put process before technology

Published by Splash247

Maritime companies need to fix how their organisations work before adding more technology, according to business transformation specialist Pathways.

The company’s senior business adviser, Martin Karlstad, said owners and operators now have more data than ever, but many still fail to turn that into better performance. The problem, he argues, is not a lack of software or reporting, but weak process design, unclear ownership and fragmented workflows that stop data from translating into business results.

“Layering an expensive new system onto a broken foundation does not resolve this underlying complexity; it actively amplifies it,” Karlstad stated. “Successful transformation focuses on optimising current processes and establishing data ownership; fleet management software and digital tools should merely support those clean structures, not define them.”

He claimed that the most common mistake was treating operational excellence as a technology issue. In practice, companies often buy new systems, invest heavily and then see day-to-day operations continue much as before, with manual workarounds, poor data quality and silos still in place.

Karlstad argued that the real issue is that performance is usually measured within departments rather than across them. Procurement, technical, crewing and compliance teams may all hit their own targets, he says, while the business becomes more complex and less predictable. He pointed to the risk of management teams seeing strong departmental results but weak overall improvement.

The Pathways adviser sets out four steps for companies to try to break that cycle. First, map actual workflows and compare them with best practices to expose bottlenecks and unofficial shortcuts. Second, clean up master data covering assets, components and suppliers. Third, standardise processes where possible without losing the flexibility needed for maritime operations. Fourth, establish clear governance so that cross-functional decisions are properly owned and managed.

Karlstad also warned against measuring busywork rather than outcomes. Counting purchase orders, maintenance tasks, or training completions can create an illusion of control without improving costs, efficiency or uptime.

“True operational control requires shifting away from tracking these localised activities, moving instead toward outcome-based KPIs tied directly to overarching metrics like cost, efficiency and asset uptime,” he said.