As part of its ongoing IT digital transformation, P&O Ferries has initiated its legacy replacement programme. With more than 30,000 sailings each year and numerous initiatives around the decarbonisation of its fleet, the British shipping company will implement a platform that will enable it to deliver solutions and capabilities to set itself apart in the market – faster and better, while removing the risk of changing its core ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).
P&O Ferries will continue its collaboration with Netcompany, the IT services consultancy who has been a strategic partner and advisor for the shipping company’s digital transformation journey since it was announced in 2022. Netcompany will implement its PULSE platform to build and safely deliver a minimum viable product (MVP), to provide an integration layer for both legacy applications and a new suite of business applications, which are currently being implemented.
This layered, step-change approach means that P&O Ferries can prove capability in the new applications suite first, before decommissioning the legacy applications and gives the company more control and opportunities for feedback at each phase. The PULSE platform will enable better process and workflow digitisation to improve business efficiency and in the long-term, to enable the use of new machine learning and AI-powered solutions.
Once the MVP has been successfully delivered for a specific ferry route, it will then be rolled out across the entirety of P&O Ferries’ routes, until the company is ready to fully decommission the remaining legacy applications.
“We are delighted to expand our partnership with Netcompany as we enter a critical part of our digital transformation programme. Modernising our legacy systems is a key part of remaining competitive in the fast-changing ferries landscape. Netcompany has proven over the years that it prioritises service delivery at scale and has the innovative technology to enable current and future operations-sensitive initiatives,” said Chloe Friend, IT Director, P&O Ferries.
“We are proud to continue our strategic partnership with P&O Ferries as a trusted advisor in delivering the company’s digital transformation – to a high quality, long-term efficiency, and with minimum risk,” said Damien Venkatasamy, Partner in Netcompany. “The most exciting part of this legacy replacement programme is the opportunities it opens for P&O Ferries in the future. Using PULSE as a platform means P&O Ferries will be able to maximise and streamline any new technological, or data-driven innovation and sustainability efforts it may want to initiate in the future.”
PULSE has proven success in de-risking transformation projects across transport, logistics, and other critical infrastructure environments. At its core, PULSE can simultaneously process and translate millions of unstructured data from multiple inputs to enable and simplify real-time decision-making. Most notably, the platform was recently announced as the foundation of AIRHART, which enables AI-based real-time decision-making for over 4,500 operational staff at Copenhagen Airport in Denmark.
