In Focus: Charter companies not using tech to their advantage, says Floatist

Floatist – a tech-based fleet management company – says many charter companies are not yet using technology to their advantage. “It’s kind of like having an iPhone but only using it to make phone calls,” says Cindy Allis, co-founder.

She believes that the whole yachting industry has fallen behind (technology wise) compared to other industries. But, that’s partly because the right tools for the industry simply did not exist. And Floatist says its mission, to overcome that, is to “show charter companies how technology can make their life easier, save money, and provide their employees and customers with a better experience all around.”

It’s doing that with its software platform which is set to replace pen and paper in charter operations and fleet management.

“Managing a yacht charter company involves many moving parts, especially on peak days like Fridays and Saturdays when boats must be prepped for the next charter within a tight six-hour window. The challenge lies in coordinating the various teams and tasks. Employees struggle to communicate effectively within their different teams as some might be in the office, and others at the dock, making it hard to track which boats need cleaning or repairs,” explains Allis.

“At the same time, arriving customers need to handle administrative paperwork such as contracts and deposits, and they need to receive an effective check-in safety briefing, but the lack of organisation and tools make the charter experience suboptimal for arriving guests.”

Floatist says it has solved these problems by creating an interface for internal communication across various teams, including office staff, dock teams, and cleaning crews. It ensures real-time visibility into a boat’s status during turnaround processes. But more than that, charter companies now have the capability to provide guests the opportunity to complete administrative tasks before arrival (via a Floatist app), perform a guided pre-check-in, and access crucial yacht equipment information for a trouble-free charter experience.

Allis says it is tailor made for bareboat charter companies. “Floatist’s foundation has been built from our founders’ own experience as skippers, and since the day we launched we have prioritised and implemented new features entirely based on our customers’ feedback.

“Since all bareboat charter companies have very similar processes, the result of our way of developing the product is that it is exactly what they need, and all of our customers are benefiting from everyone’s feedback combined. In general I believe that is the power of a SaaS tool, but it’s cool to see it so evident in our journey.

“Furthermore, a very cool feature that we have recently launched that is unheard of in competitor’s tools is that we provide a Floatist library of templates for the most common yacht models (like Bavaria Cruisers, Sun Odysseys, Lagoons, etc), which allows charter companies to get setup within minutes, but with a checklist completely tailored to their boat.”

Having the right tool is all well and good but an ongoing challenge for the company is the use of technology on the dockside.

“It is essential the base team on the dock is open to learn and use a new mobile system, replacing their current pen and paper,” says Allis. “So even though leadership might want to switch to digital, it can be challenging to implement a new solution like Floatist due to the end user of our product being dock staff who are generally less tech savvy.”

She notes that there is now less resistance to change than when it started. “Even in the short two years that we have been around we are noticing that more and more companies and people are looking to digitize their operations. We have been focused on finding those innovators and early adopters so far, and the next group of the early majority is slowly starting to find us.”

That more charter companies and guests are buying into the system is positive, but as Allis notes, good Wi-Fi in marinas would definitely help the process. “Our app does not need an internet connection to go through the checklist or to read equipment instructions, but to download or submit the lists you do. We still run into marinas sometimes that do not have a proper Wi-Fi connection that reaches the entire area, and as such we are dependent on people’s own access to internet connection which is not always guaranteed.”

Floatist will be exhibiting in the start-up pavilion at METSTRADE