Navigation in different lanes is a critical and vulnerable part of the maritime transport industry's activities. The requirements for safe navigation have become stricter due to the increased size of vessels and intense traffic in many shipping lanes.
Charts on paper have been replaced by electronic charts, along with satellite positioning of ships and radar for safer and easier navigation. These new digital tools for modern shipping are an absolute necessity for safe transport through shipping channels. At the same time, dependency on these systems demands excellent system support.
Transas is a world leader in maritime navigation systems. The company was founded in 1990 and currently has over 1,500 employees and a network of partners in more than 110 countries. The core offering from Transas consists of a type-approved navigation system with electronic charts for larger commercial vessels.
The challenge for Transas is to provide an effective support system for maritime navigation systems that is accessible via web browser day or night, 365 days a year.
The high demands for safety at sea also mean that Transas must maintain a high-quality support system.
Support must be given to many different professionals involved in the navigation of vessels. Whether staff are out at sea on the bridge of an oil tanker or a container ship, or working as decision makers in a shipping office, Transas must be able to provide instant online support if an acute failure occurs or someone has questions regarding the use of electronic navigation systems.
The technical support that Transas offers therefore spans a wide range of areas, and users' questions may involve anything from broken hardware to problems with software or help on how to use certain features.
To get a faster and more secure support system, Transas chose to use SupportCenter Plus. Instead of receiving cases through multiple parallel systems, as in the past, now it has the Case Management System, a centralized, flexible solution that assigns each case a unique ID number, making it easy to track each case's status.
SupportCenter Plus can seamlessly handle cases even when the work takes place over different time zones or in different geographic locations. The vessels can always be confident that Transas will provide support wherever and whenever a question arises.
"A major advantage of our new SupportCenter Plus system is that it keeps track of all open cases so that our support staff can always follow up with ongoing notes and, if necessary, leave matters to the next office, regardless of what time zone you are in," said Hagberg.
The implementation of SupportCenter Plus was done in collaboration with UDK, who has extensive experience in systems for case management and support assistance.
UDK is a growing Swedish IT company with over 60 consultants. It collaborates with organizations across a variety of industries to assist with system development and IT management. The company's goal is to always help customers run their business to success.
Fredrik Grönlund, a UDK consultant, confirmed that the cooperation worked very well and that Transas has a sustainable support system.
"Transas now has a file system where they can monitor all cases with clear traceability. Therefore, it became easier for them to follow the status of each case and how it's handled," said Grönlund.
For Transas, SupportCenter Plus also means a whole new way of working. Now the entire support team can be involved in each case, allowing for a faster response and more efficient case resolution.
Hagberg added that monitoring and evaluation have also improved with the new system.
SupportCenter Plus provides a more stable support system for Transas' maritime navigation systems and thus contributes to safer shipping. It enables safe and accessible support where the management of each case can be followed continuously.