Cloud technology is a game changer for the seafood industry

Cloud technology is a game changer for the seafood industry.

As technology advances, many seafood companies are investing more and more in digitalization and in transforming their businesses into data-driven ones. Data-driven organizations require data infrastructure. For these forward-looking companies, the increased use of cloud technology is proving to be a game changer.

The future is digital, we see that everywhere in the world. To be credible, claims of sustainability, legality, or social responsibility need to be linked with verifiable traceability. Consumers have come to expect the availability of digital technology telling the story of the fish they consume. But the advent of whole supply chain technology such as that offered by Maritech Cloud systems offers so much more than traceability and compliance.

Connecting your people

Seafood production can be thought of as the ultimate remote workforce. Whether based on wild catch, fish farming operations, or both, fisheries are not conveniently clustered in central locations. With such a dispersed workforce, the challenges of communication from ship to shore and factory floor to sales office are difficult. In the past, too often, information has flowed from the top down, with production and sales planning tools missing the real-time forecasting of incoming harvest or catch or outgoing logistics to be effective. Cloud systems mean that information can be accessed and shared by all, wherever they are located. Operations can act as one informed crew.

Connecting Supply Chains

Standard to all Maritech customers is Maritech friends. This is an easy way to enhance your supply chain with electronic exchange of purchase and sales information between Maritech Cloud users. Seamlessly send all needed information and documents throughout your supply chain as if they were internal to your organization, with enhanced security of information exchange. This level of inter-operability is not possible in on-prem solutions.

Mitigating risk through enhanced security

The seafood industry is more exposed to cyber-security breaches than ever. The potential for being hacked or becoming a victim of a ransomware attack is escalating. Do you have a plan for recovery if critical systems are compromised, opening up your company to stolen confidential information, loss of critical records, and extended down-time? Cloud architecture has tiered security defenses, continuously logging and monitoring threats and protecting you in ways that are not possible simply using in house IT.

Out of date technologies and old servers pose security risks. As many companies have focused on updating operational and hardware technologies, they have failed to update their legacy systems to comply with modern security standards. These can cause major operational outages and complete shutdowns if compromised. For most companies, the expense of managing cyber-security in-house, without a dedicated team, is virtually impossible.  Maritech’s cloud-based software, built on Microsoft Azure, offers cost-effective data protection with a powerful and secure, hardened infrastructure which would not be possible using traditional legacy on-premises systems.

Data-driven decisions

The complex business of sustainably producing seafood also produces a lot of operational data that rarely gets used as business intelligence to drive the value of the product at the end of the line. Information data links all of the various facets of the fish business together. BI tools, such as Maritech Analytics, collect and combine vast amounts of data, presenting key information and performance data, in near real-time, fusing it with selected external data sources such as crucial trade and market price flows. These critical tools enhance your ability to overlay and benchmark your own performance, strategically plan production, and forward price plan to gain a truly competitive edge.

Leveling the playing field

“Maritech’s cloud-based software has really meant that sophisticated digital systems that would once have been out of reach for small operators are now readily available with absolutely no huge up-front capital costs and complex IT implementation cycles,” says Will Greenwood, Maritech’s Managing Director for North American sales operations.

“We have seen, for example, one of our small customers, who is based in New Jersey, be fully setup and running our software to manage international seafood sales operations within the space of a week. In addition to Maritech Cloud, we provide integrations to our own solutions with labelling and packing systems, logistics, quality, claims, and IoT, as well as open, standards-based data integrations to 3rd party systems such as accounting, ERP, or even governmental reporting. This kind of flexibility is revolutionizing the way seafood companies can now do business.”

Will Greenwood, Maritech Halifax

Want to see how the core functionalities in Maritech look like, and works? Have a look at our free digital demos: here for seafood solutions, and here for our logistics solutions.