The Client
The Client is a successful maritime venture that has grown from a regional passenger ferry operator into an international group. With few dozens of vessels, they carry millions of passengers and vehicles annually, both on national and international shipping lines.
| Industry | Shipping |
| Technology | Java, Spring, Angular, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS ECS, AWS Fargate, AWS Aurora, microservices |
Key Achievements
- Full integration with existing enterprise systems such as reporting and invoicing
- Automation reduced time-consuming manual work leading to fewer errors and greater efficiency
- Scalable solution which can be easily deployed as the Client adds new lines
- Improved customer service and user experience
The challenge
Business Need
Our Client was seeking to automate and rationalise their ticket booking processes. Up to that time, the client was offering online ticket sales, but with minimal functionality. Services such as booking designated seats, meals and accommodation could only be achieved by personal interaction with a cashier before ferry departure, leading to long queues and impatient passengers.
Additionally, notifying passengers about itinerary changes was a manual and time-consuming process, leading to further passenger frustration due to delayed communications. Our Client sought to address these issues by improving their customer experience and automating their manual processing.
The solution
Project Details
At first Objectivity was commissioned to work on Inventory Management component. Although it was solely a seat booking setup, we kept in mind that it was a part of a more complex platform, which was designed as microservices and containerised to work on various hosting platforms (on-premise and AWS). In essence, new platform was a set of APIs, which enable other ticket-related websites to easily integrate with our system. This new setup enabled an easier and more intuitive booking experience both for the customers as well as our Client’s employees, travel agents, customer service representatives and even clients using ticket machines.
The first route where we implemented and tested the new platform was a line on Bahamas operated by a high-speed 400-passenger catamaran. The new system helped the Client not only with booking and selling processes, but also fast check-ins, boarding or sending automated notifications. With the new platform you could manage all the bookings, create instant reports, issue invoices working with SAP, just to name the few. Another feature we implemented was a QR code scanning system, which significantly expedites the boarding process and reduces printing costs.
New solution we designed and developed was a bespoke Java solution with Angular frontend, tailored to meet our Client’s needs. As a result, all sorts of extra functions like data reporting and processing can be performed quickly and seamlessly.
The results
Business Benefits
The proof of concept was a success and we are now supporting the Client in rolling out the system across their other lines. The new platform we created enables users to manage and optimise the daily operations of their transportation fleet. We made sure that the technical aspects of working with the new application wouldn’t disrupt our client’s business.
The ultimate goal of using this new system was to improve booking process efficiency, reduce costs, gain real-time reporting and notification process and enhance customer service. Our Client’s employees can now focus on their day-today tasks and don’t need to worry about obligatory reporting to customs institutions or instant communication about timetable changes.
As our next challenge we will support the Client with improvements in managing another cruise routes. We are currently working with them to develop new system features and solutions which will support their future growth, enabling each newly acquired line to adopt the system quickly and easily, without incurring additional costs. In this way, the new system will support Client’s growth and expansion into new territories.
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