INSIGHT – Month date, year
Why data and systems still fall short
In this three-part Insight series, Pathways explores what operational excellence really means for maritime and offshore companies – and why it remains difficult to achieve in practice. In this second article, Senior Adviser Martin Karlstad looks at why data and systems – despite significant investment – often fail to deliver the expected improvements in performance.
Shipping is investing heavily in digital systems, yet many companies still struggle to extract value. The issue is rarely the technology itself – it is the quality of data, integration between systems and lack of governance around both.
The illusion of digital progress
Across the industry, investment in ERP systems, dashboards and analytics platforms has accelerated. On paper, many organisations now have the tools required to operate in a data-driven way.
Yet operational impact often remains limited.
Manual processes persist. Reporting requires significant effort. Decision-making is slower than it should be. In some cases, complexity has increased rather than decreased.
This creates a false sense of progress. Systems are in place but the underlying conditions required for them to deliver value have not been addressed. Instead, companies risk building “data empires” on weak foundations – expanding systems and datasets without fixing the basics that make them usable.
Garbage in, garbage out: the data quality problem
At the centre of this challenge is data quality.
Master data – covering assets, components, suppliers and processes – is the foundation of automation. When it is incomplete, inconsistent or poorly governed, the consequences are immediate.
Procurement becomes inefficient. Inventory is harder to manage. Compliance reporting requires manual validation. Tasks that should be automated instead require human intervention.
In many organisations, data is entered across multiple systems without clear ownership or consistent standards. Over time, this creates duplication, inconsistency and a growing lack of trust in the data itself.
Adding more data or more advanced tools doesn’t solve this problem, it amplifies it.
The principle is simple: garbage in, garbage out. If the underlying data is unreliable, the outputs will be too.
Fragmented system landscapes
Most maritime organisations operate with a mix of legacy systems and newer platforms, often implemented at different points in time to address specific needs.
The result is a fragmented system landscape.
Different functions rely on different tools. Data is stored in multiple places. Interfaces between systems are partial or inconsistent. In some cases, the same information is maintained in parallel across systems.
This fragmentation limits visibility across the organisation and creates inefficiencies as teams spend time reconciling data rather than using it.
Importantly, replacing systems is not always the answer. In many cases, the issue lies in how systems are connected, configured and governed – not in the systems themselves.
Integration is a business challenge – not an IT task
System integration is often approached as a technical exercise. In practice, it’s a business challenge.
Effective integration depends on how processes are designed across departments, what data is required at each stage and who is responsible for it. Without this clarity, integration efforts risk reinforcing existing inefficiencies.
A common pitfall is allowing system decisions to be driven primarily by IT or vendor recommendations, rather than operational needs. This can result in technically sound solutions that do not align with how work is actually carried out.
Successful integration starts with process clarity and ownership. Technology then supports these structures, rather than defining them.
Vendor independence as a strategic advantage
The complexity of system selection and implementation makes vendor independence critical.
Software vendors and implementation partners often have strong incentives tied to specific solutions. This can influence how systems are positioned, what’s promised and how success is defined.
For maritime organisations, navigating this landscape requires an objective view – one that focuses on operational needs rather than product features.
This includes managing RFQs, evaluating options based on real use cases and ensuring that implementation aligns with how the organisation intends to operate.
Bridging the gap between vendor promises and operational reality is often where the real work begins.
From systems to insight: enabling decision-ready data
Even where systems are in place, many organisations struggle to turn data into usable insight.
Large volumes of data are generated but not always structured in a way that supports decision-making. Reporting can become an end in itself, rather than a tool for action.
The focus needs to shift from collecting data to making it usable.
This means defining clear data structures, aligning formats across systems and prioritising the information that actually drives performance. It also means reducing reliance on manual handling, enabling data to flow automatically and consistently.
As connectivity improves and cloud-based solutions become more widespread, the potential for real-time, data-driven operations increases. But this potential can only be realised when the underlying data is reliable and well-governed.
The focus needs to shift from collecting data to making it usable.
What this unlocks
When data management and system integration are addressed in a structured way, the impact is immediate.
Manual workload is reduced as processes become more automated. Reporting becomes more reliable and less time-consuming. Visibility improves – not just in terms of access to data but in terms of trust in that data.
This enables better operational and commercial decisions across the organisation. It also strengthens compliance, as reporting requirements can be met more consistently and with less effort.
Most importantly, it creates the foundation for active performance management – moving from retrospective analysis to forward-looking control.
This integrated approach – aligning data management and system architecture with underlying processes and organisational structures – is central to how Pathways supports maritime companies in turning digital investment into operational value.
It also sets the stage for the final element of operational excellence: performance monitoring and continuous improvement.
In a nutshell:
Digital transformation only works when data, systems and processes are aligned – otherwise complexity simply increases.
