Just one day after Ocean Independence announced their link up with Borrow a Boat, Camper & Nicholsons have followed suit.
The oldest, name in yachting, has announced a technology merger with Hong Kong based boating portal; Nowboat.
The collaboration will see the launch of a platform designed deliver experiences and data to industry stakeholders. These will include owners, brokers, shipyards and guests.
The platform has been designed by a dedicated team of software engineers in C&N’s Monaco headquarters.
Accessible to every industry player
By Q4 2019, it should be accessible to every industry player across platforms and devices, from mobile, tablet and desktop.
The platform will distil every item of yacht intelligence including fuel usage, marina logs, staff profiles, search history and social media presence. It will create one simple-to-use tool with dedicated solutions for every stakeholder including customers, yacht owners, brokers and captains.
The first step of this merger consists of the launch of a brand new website: www.camperandnicholsons.com. The new portal sets out to redefine the digital customer journey. It does so offering interactive imagery and a live chat option that immediately engages clients.
Itineraries from the Adriatic to Southeast Asia have been crafted by travel journalists to entertain adventurers and curious travellers alike. Content, from drone footage to 360° onboard videos, and an updated news section will be included.
Giovanni Alessi joins C&N from Nowboat
Giovanni Alessi, joins C&N from Nowboat as Chief Innovation and Technology Officer. He says that: “By 2020 the global superyacht market will be worth US $35bn. He adds, “But technology and data from all stakeholders is managed in an extremely hazardous way. For example, information from brokers, clients and shipyards is stored in Word documents, email archives and handwritten notes. Sometimes even through third party service providers.”
Paolo Casani, CEO of C&N, says that: “I strongly believe that today companies don’t need a digital strategy, but a strategy for a digital world. Requests for real time data concerning broker history, port data, events in itinerary locations, weather projections and much, much more has been requested by our guests, clients and shipyard partners. Our new platform will deliver that information to the entire yachting community, not only our sales and charter brokers across 12 global offices. Most importantly it will do so through an in-house tech team who will consistently improve the platform based on data from, but not limited to, customer journeys to incoming yachts.”
Manifold uses
The forthcoming C&N / Nowboat platform has manifold uses. In the hands of a yacht owner, it will deliver real time information concerning guest feedback, energy usage and comparative yachts competing for market share. A broker will be able to access a particular vessel’s engineering upgrades, port log history and the prices of similarly sized and aged yachts.
Luxury yacht guests will also be able to access Nowboat via mobile or desktop. Besides information about a certain yacht’s heritage and its typical month-by-month itineraries, there will be statistics about how much it would cost to build or charter a similar vessel. The distillation of big data will even allow shipyards to receive projections of sales and technology trends based upon tens of thousands of searches.
Alessi confirms that C&N’s new platform will empower industry players, rather than disenfranchise them. “Our industry innovation isn’t aimed at market disruption. That’s not a word I like to use. This single ecosystem is designed to make the yachting business easier to manage and more enjoyable for all. Those two tenets have been safeguarded by Camper & Nicholsons since 1782.”