Data first, people always: Charting maritime’s next digital chapter

An exclusive interview with Digital Ship Summit headline sponsors Insight and SmartSea. 

The maritime industry has made significant investments in digital technology since the pandemic. Remote operations, better connectivity and smarter vessel systems are now familiar across many fleets. However, success still varies widely from one company to another, raising new questions about data quality, standards and the people expected to use these tools.

For Steven Hemmings, Client CTO at Insight, and Kris Vedat, CEO of SmartSea, the industry has made real progress since the pandemic. Despite that, many of the barriers that prevented large scale digital adoption still remain. Fragmented data, inconsistent standards and the human side of digital transformation continue to limit what organisations can achieve, particularly as AI enters mainstream discussion.

Progress in digitalisation still needs stronger foundations

Both executives credit COVID-19 with forcing the industry to embrace remote operations far faster than many expected. Vessel access restrictions created an urgent need for better connectivity, digital maintenance systems and remote fleet management.

“I think post-COVID, the maritime industry has started to embrace digitisation more than it ever has done before,” Vedat said. “We couldn’t access the vessels. So we needed to be able to manage the vessels, manage the fleet remotely.”

However, technology deployment alone has not solved the industry’s biggest challenges.

Vedat argued that fragmented data, inconsistent standards and ageing infrastructure continue to slow progress. Many companies also invested in technology without first improving data quality, making it difficult to generate meaningful business outcomes.

“If you don’t have the data quality in place first, then your planned maintenance system will be poor,”  he said.

The pair also believe many organisations have overlooked the human side of transformation.

“I don’t think the seafarers are resistant,” Vedat said. “I just don’t think we’ve done a good enough job of explaining the benefits and the value and looking at the change management element that surrounds that.”

Hemmings agreed that organisations often focus heavily on technology while giving less attention to workforce adoption.

“Understanding that change management process and really driving the enablement is always something that’s been left behind in our opinion,” he said.

That same principle applies to AI. While enthusiasm remains high, both executives believe companies should avoid treating AI as the starting point.

“AI is only as good as the data that’s received,” Vedat said. “If you haven’t got the prerequisites in place first, that AI deployment won’t work.”

He described successful AI adoption as a layered approach beginning with reliable infrastructure, followed by systems that collect and manage quality data before introducing AI applications.

Hemmings added that successful AI programmes also require governance and realistic planning.

“Data we’ve spoken about. Change management. The final one then is the governance,” he said. “You don’t take the biggest straight away. You recognise that you’re going to have to do it incrementally.”

Their emphasis on strong foundations also shaped another part of the conversation. Both executives argued that shipping does not have to solve every digital challenge on its own. Other industries have already faced many of the same issues and offer lessons that maritime can adapt.

Aviation offers a practical roadmap

For both executives, aviation is the closest comparison. They estimate the sector is around 10 to 15 years ahead of maritime in digital maturity, largely because operational complexity pushed airlines and airports to establish common standards and integrated systems much earlier.

“What aviation has done far better than maritime is moving people efficiently during that onboarding and deboarding process,” he said.

Cruise and ferry terminals still rely on many manual processes that airports have automated for years, including passenger processing, baggage handling and digital wayfinding.

SmartSea’s own work illustrates the potential. Vedat said automated gates and check-in processes introduced at Singapore Cruise Centre increased passenger processing productivity by around 30%.

“These technologies that you see in the airports are now beginning to be embraced in the maritime industry because it’s a proven operational efficiency,” he said.

Hemmings believes maritime should also learn from aviation’s experience managing workforce concerns around technology adoption.

“Those historic use case studies can lead us to a number of lessons learned that we can now adopt quite quickly into what we’re trying to achieve,” he said.

Rather than reinventing digital transformation from scratch, he suggested shipping should draw lessons from sectors that have already tackled similar operational challenges.

Bringing the conversation to Athens

Digital Ship is delighted to announce Insight and SmartSea as the Headline Sponsors of this year’s Digital Ship Summit in Athens.

The partnership brings together two organisations with extensive experience in digital transformation across maritime and aviation, united by a shared belief that the industry’s next challenge is no longer adopting technology, but implementing it with confidence, purpose and clear standards.

The Digital Ship Summit will bring together shipowners, technology leaders and industry experts to explore how digital transformation can move from strategy to execution, delivering practical outcomes across fleet operations, connectivity, cyber resilience, AI and data infrastructure.

For Hemmings, the summit is about helping shipowners think beyond individual technology purchases and towards a clearer digital strategy.

“What does it mean? I think it shows commitment to the sector,” he said. “We want to bring our expertise to the fold and represent the art of the possible.”

He hopes delegates leave asking whether they have enough confidence, experience and digital competence to make informed technology investments.

Vedat sees the summit as an opportunity to encourage broader industry collaboration rather than simply promote SmartSea.

“I want to give back to the maritime industry,” he said. “I want to help the industry gain those standards. I want to get those lessons learned from aviation and bring them into the maritime industry because I truly believe they will add value.”

If there is one conversation he believes the industry can no longer postpone, it is data standards.

“We’ve talked about it for years, we’ve touched it, we’ve played with it, we’ve not really taken it seriously enough,” Vedat said. “We need standards in place and we need them now.”

For Hemmings, the challenge begins once standards are in place. Shipping needs a clear framework for the digital transformation journey, one that turns reliable data into practical applications and measurable outcomes. Rather than reinventing the process, he believes the industry can shorten the journey by adapting lessons already learned in aviation, and other digitally mature sectors.

Continue the conversation in Athens this October. Join Insight, SmartSea and senior maritime technology leaders at the Digital Ship Summit and discover how the industry is turning digital ambition into operational reality. Reserve your delegate pass today.

source : thedigitalship