Technological and user-oriented transformation of Marina Portorož

During the corona pandemic, the tourism industry saw a decline in revenues, and luxury tourism, including cruise tourism, was also affected. And you invested in a marina at that very time. Why? It is true, we took over the Marina Portorož at a time of the Covid-19 pandemic, you could say in an abnormal situation. We recognised its potential and charted a path to our destination. We know that without digitalisation, there are no great business results. This is how Marina Portorož, one of the largest and best-known marinas in the northern Adriatic, boasting a unique location offering easy access to the Slovenian, Croatian and Italian coasts by sea, will be given a new dimension and provide an above-average user experience. You mentioned digitalisation. We hear this word less often in marinas, although it is probably clear that marinas will also have to become (more) digital in the future... What kind of leap (will) you have to make? When we took over the marina in May 2021, we immediately carried out a situation analysis, which showed that almost nothing had been invested in the digital foundations of the business and the digitisation of processes. But our idea is to have the most digitally advanced marina in the region, so we have to make a fundamental turn. And knowing that Marina Portorož has a total capacity of 1,285 vessels, this means a lot of logistical operations, both in terms of berth management, bookings and services for boat owners and visitors. There are a lot of marinas, you have to differentiate yourself, and we saw digitalisation as an opportunity to provide the best customer experience. The leap will be fundamental and will take time, but for us it is a long run. Speaking of the sea and digitalisation: in the world of IT, we sometimes hear the phrase that the old anchors are holding fast. Is this also true in your case? It is true. The technological foundations of the marina have been "cemented", so to speak. The company used a business information system and dedicated marina management software to monitor berth occupancy and to support the organisation of crane work, just a technical minimum. There was no other software infrastructure in the marina, and we found that employees were not even using most of what was available to them. There was a lot of manual work, e.g. processing invoices, and paper, and consequently no room for progress. But how did you go about digitising the company's business? Which area did you want to digitise first? Basic business processes are key to any company's business, even a marina. That's why we set out to revamp and optimise them and support them with the right IT. Marina Portorož's operations are still overseen by dedicated marina management software, but like all other systems, it operates from the cloud. Another major gain in terms of orderly operations is the implementation of the document system, which has turned document chaos into order. We have definitely taken a decisive step towards becoming a digital and technologically advanced marina in the wider region. How do the sea and the cloud go together? In IT, it's absolutely perfect. We are increasingly using software solutions as cloud services. Everything new that we introduce into our business is also going to the cloud or has a cloud foundation. There are only a few legacy back-office systems running on the marina site itself, but sooner or later they will be eliminated or moved to the cloud. Did you undertake the IT overhaul yourself or did you need external help? How did you choose them? As soon as we took over the company, we were faced with the fact that there were no IT staff. We knew what was ahead of us, we knew we needed help from experts. But we were torn between hiring our own IT staff or looking for an external partner. Given the size of the projects and the needs themselves, we chose to outsource, because once all the key IT investments were out of the way, we would certainly no longer need an IT person 8 hours a day. We chose the provider, Sinecon d.o.o., on the recommendation of business acquaintances in the IT field. We knew we were in good hands, which was confirmed in practice, as the chosen company has a lot of experience in digital transformation of companies in a wide range of industries. Can you tell us which parts of your business you have already digitised? We have fully digitised the vessel servicing process. We have developed our own app which, in conjunction with the marina systems, ensures that the guest has everything in one place. We care about the guest's vessel, their comfort and well-being. Every service we provide is customer-centric. It is with this in mind that we have introduced an advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that takes customer interaction to a whole new level. Marina users and guests have a mobile app to check what is happening with their vessel, e.g. they can check the batteries and fuel at any time. Of course, the quality of the marina guest experience also depends on the additional offerings, e.g. catering services, so guests can easily book a table in a restaurant, boat maintenance, etc. through the marina system. How long is or will it take to digitally transform or implement business solutions? The whole marina digitisation project will take about a year, and I am particularly pleased that everything is going according to plan so far. Implementation is usually followed by optimisation, which brings additional efficiency. How many reserves do you estimate you still have? And where? It is too early to talk about optimisation and to look for additional reserves, we need to complete all the projects we have set out to do first. But there will certainly be some reserves, because we have consciously undertaken this challenging undertaking in a way that does not stifle the projects with too many desires and functionalities that we do not need, at least at the start. Would you say that your marina is or will be a smart marina? It will be, to a certain extent. But there is something else to be aware of: smart cities are not the ones with the most technology. The same applies to marinas, a marina needs to be user and visitor friendly. Our guiding principle is to digitise and allow guests to focus on enjoying their time, especially their time spent in the marina. What has been the hardest nut to crack in your digital transformation? Without a doubt, it's changing the mindset of our employees. People have a built-in resistance to change, especially when it is of a major scale. We had to help employees overcome their resistance to change and new technologies. We did this by showing them, through their own examples, how new solutions and technologies would make their work easier or faster. We also showed them the big picture: what we do and why we do it. Now they are enthusiastically working together to build the most modern marina in the region, one that guests will remember for its simply superb user experience and will want to come back to.