By
Elly Yates-Roberts |
This article was first published in the Autumn/Winter 2019 issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed.
Passenger shipping has changed dramatically since ships first entered our oceans. From the huge wooden galleons of yesteryear to the extravagant floating cities of today, it is clear that the transformation has seeped into every inch of the cruise and ferry experience.
One pivotal evolution that has taken place in more recent years is how shipping companies manage their onboard operations. Crew management, payroll, online booking, inventory, onboard sales, point-of-sale processes, customer analytics, loyalty systems and more are all potential headaches for the management team. To combat this, software development company Bora Systems has launched BORA, a new cover-all system for booking, ticketing, port operations and administration designed exclusively for passenger shipping companies.
“The innovative, paperless software package suite contains over 20 modules to manage shipping operations,” says Igor Bljahhin, chief technology officer at Bora Systems. “It is easy to use, deploy and support. Since we create all the components in house using our own technology stack, it is also cheaper than our competitors’ products.”
Bora Systems designed the suite so that it can be used by any passenger shipping operators, regardless of their existing IT infrastructure. “As an open-source solution, BORA can easily integrate with existing software solutions,” Bljahhin says. “It is a Kubernetes- and Docker-based system, so it can be deployed on-premises or as a software-as-a-service solution hosted on any of the main public cloud platforms.”
BORA can also deal with the big data demands of modern cruise and ferry operators due to its flexibility and scalability. Some customers create hundreds of millions of customer records and tens of millions of bookings, so the management solution has been designed to support this higher data capacity to ensure fast and accurate processing.
“At Bora Systems, we understand that shipping companies are all different,” explains Bljahhin. “BORA can be used whether or not the organisation has its own IT department. For those that don’t, we offer full-cycle operations, including monitoring and development capabilities. We can also cooperate with an internal IT department by providing them with documentation, training sessions and 24/7 support to ensure successful operation of the suite.”
BORA also leverages technology that is at the forefront of innovation. “We use machine learning algorithms to train models with different parameters and historical data so that we can predict the demand on BORA,” he says.
But a software package like BORA isn’t only for the big operators. According to Max Frolov, CEO of Bora Systems, it can be customised to suit a company of any size.
“There are some technical differences in the integration of BORA for operators with more passengers, crew and ships versus those with less,” he explains. “But because of the modularity of BORA, we can ensure our customers are only paying for the functionalities that are right for them, as well as our signature features – dynamic pricing, big data readiness and great reporting. Our loyalty system also enables passengers to benefit from customised offers.”
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