Veson Viewpoint: Issue 15
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The 2012 Veson Nautical User Conference was held in Boston June 25-26 at the Taj Hotel. The conference grows in attendance every year and, with over 107 clients attending, this year was no exception. In his opening remarks, John Veson spoke about the power of community and knowledge sharing. He asked attendees to go into the two day conference thinking about how they want to work in the future and to consider themselves part of a community that can change the future of shipping. Shared knowledge strengthens decision making and ultimately improves the industry as a whole. New functionality within the software was demonstrated, including new reporting capabilities. Both the IMOS and Veslink teams shared improvements made in the last year as well as the product roadmap. A vital piece of user conferences are the presentations by clients detailing their experience with Veson Nautical software. Attendees frequently cite these as the most compelling reasons to attend. This year featured presentations from Cargill, Moran Towing, and Phillips 66. Breakout sessions on various topics—including Reporting Database & Dashboards; Performance Monitoring; Chartering Workflow; Financial Integration; Operations & Financials Control; Reporting & Analysis; Veslink Applications; Support, Case & Knowledge Management; and IMOS Architecture—gave clients the opportunity to share information and ideas on specific issues. According to one client: “I found the interaction and sharing of issues and solutions with other users to be highly valuable.” On Monday night, Veson Nautical hosted a cocktail party in our corporate headquarters, AUGUST 2012 | ISSUE FIFTEEN Veson Nautical ONCOURSE 2012 VESON VIEWPOINT HELLO FROM BOSTON From June 25-28, Veson Nautical clients met in Boston for ONCOURSE, our 6th annual user conference and workshops. Every year I am struck by the energy and enthusiasm of attendees. These four days allow us to present our latest product road map, but, more importantly, provide a forum for the community of Veson Nautical clients to interact, discuss best practices, and collaborate on how to improve the business of shipping. As our products develop, they become more knowledge driven, enabling better decisions through increased data visibility. The ONCOURSE audience got an early view of our new integrated business intelligence reporting solution. With this tool, users are able to easily filter data, join datasets, create interactive reports, and connect various external data sources to information generated by their organization. The demo got attendees really excited and left them thinking about how to use the information they currently have in order to make smarter decisions faster. The conversations that take place at these events, along with your individual feedback, provide a foundation for product direction. I look forward to continuing the discussion. Best, John Veson It is apparent that a lot of hard work has been done in preparing for the conference and that there are top-notch people working at Veson. Appreciate getting together with other similar companies to discuss commercial systems, in a friendly and positive atmosphere. Thanks a lot for a very well organized conference. Looking forward to next year. Knowing what the road ahead will be, gives me as a user an ability to foresee how I can develop my organisation to fit even better to the application. followed by dinner at Sel de la Terre in the Mandarin Oriental. Clients were able to interact on a social level, deepening the feeling of community. Attendees also responded to our annual customer satisfaction survey and confirmed what they most value about Veson Nautical solutions: user friendliness, integration of the system and ease of interfacing, Veslink, the new reporting capabilities, and continuous overall product improvement. 70% of ONCOURSE attendees opted to stay for the two-day in-depth product workshops. The workshops allow participants to interact with Veson Nautical consultants and get hands-on training. We are happy to report that 100% of those who filled out our conference survey found their time in Boston to be worthwhile, and many are already thinking about next year’s event, as are we. For clients interested in receiving updates about the 2013 conference, please email Brenna Venkatesh ([email protected]).
Transcript of Veson Viewpoint: Issue 15
The 2012 Veson Nautical User Conference was held in Boston June 25-26 at the Taj Hotel. The conference grows in attendance every year and, with over 107 clients attending, this year was no exception.
In his opening remarks, John Veson spoke about the power of community and knowledge sharing. He asked attendees to go into the two day conference thinking about how they want to work in the future and to consider themselves part of a community that can change the future of shipping. Shared knowledge strengthens decision making and ultimately improves the industry as a whole.
New functionality within the software was demonstrated, including new reporting capabilities. Both the IMOS and Veslink teams shared improvements made in the last year as well as the product roadmap.
A vital piece of user conferences are the presentations by clients detailing their experience with Veson Nautical software. Attendees frequently cite these as the most compelling reasons to
attend. This year featured presentations from Cargill, Moran Towing, and Phillips 66.
Breakout sessions on various topics—including Reporting Database & Dashboards; Performance Monitoring; Chartering Workflow; Financial Integration; Operations & Financials Control; Reporting & Analysis; Veslink Applications; Support, Case & Knowledge Management; and IMOS Architecture—gave clients the opportunity to share information and ideas on specific issues. According to one client: “I found the interaction and sharing of issues and solutions with other users to be highly valuable.”
On Monday night, Veson Nautical hosted a cocktail party in our corporate headquarters,
AUGUST 2012 | ISSUE FIFTEEN
Veson Nautical ONCOURSE 2012
VESON VIEWPOINTHELLO FROM BOSTON
From June 25-28, Veson Nautical clients met in Boston for ONCOURSE, our 6th annual user conference and workshops. Every year I am struck by the energy and enthusiasm of attendees. These four days allow us to present our latest product road map, but, more importantly, provide a forum for the community of Veson Nautical clients to interact, discuss best practices, and collaborate on how to improve the business of shipping.
As our products develop, they become more knowledge driven, enabling better decisions through increased data visibility. The ONCOURSE audience got an early view of our new integrated business intelligence reporting solution. With this tool, users are able to easily filter data, join datasets, create interactive reports, and connect various external data sources to information generated by their organization. The demo got attendees really excited and left them thinking about how to use the information they currently have in order to make smarter decisions faster.
The conversations that take place at these events, along with your individual
feedback, provide a foundation for product direction. I look forward to continuing the discussion.
Best, John Veson
It is apparent that a lot of hard work has been done in preparing for the conference and that there are top-notch people working at Veson.
Appreciate getting together with other similar companies to discuss commercial systems, in a friendly and positive atmosphere.
Thanks a lot for a very well organized conference. Looking forward to next year.
Knowing what the road ahead will be, gives me as a user an ability to foresee how I can develop my organisation to fit even better to the application.
followed by dinner at Sel de la Terre in the Mandarin Oriental. Clients were able to interact on a social level, deepening the feeling of community.
Attendees also responded to our annual customer satisfaction survey and confirmed what they most value about Veson Nautical solutions: user friendliness, integration of the system and ease of interfacing, Veslink, the new reporting capabilities, and continuous overall product improvement.
70% of ONCOURSE attendees opted to stay for the two-day in-depth product workshops. The workshops allow participants to interact with Veson Nautical consultants and get hands-on training.
We are happy to report that 100% of those who filled out our conference survey found their time in Boston to be worthwhile, and many are already thinking about next year’s event, as are we. For clients interested in receiving updates about the 2013 conference, please email Brenna Venkatesh ([email protected]).
VESON NEWS
500 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116 USA tel +1.617.723.2727 web www.veson.com email [email protected]
Stolt Tankers B.V. operates one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated fleets of deep sea, regional, and inland parcel tankers. Before becoming a Veson Nautical client, the company used a number of internally-developed systems for voyage management. “Our software had served us well, but we knew it was time to move to an integrated, dynamic system that would allow us to be efficient and move from a retrospective to a forward-looking view,” said Nick Jones, Business Applications and Process Manager for Stolt Tankers.
Stolt regional fleets—managing a constant flow of ever-changing data Stolt installed IMOS in all its regional fleets; the ships in these fleets make short voyages, lasting from one day to up to a week. “Because each of these vessels can make numerous voyages each month, our team learned a lot in a short period of time,” Jones explained. “With the regional fleets, there is a constant flow of ever-changing activity. IMOS is particularly well suited to managing this dynamic situation.”
Longer voyages, greater complexity, and challenges. Unlike the regional fleets, the world-wide Stolt-Nielsen Tanker Joint Service (STJS) vessels often carry up to 50 different cargoes and have voyages lasting up to two to three months, with numerous port calls. “In spite of the complexities, we are now creating a real-time decision support system with information on freight, voyage and port time, bunkering, time charter out, and time charter in—all the factors that are critical to P&L,” said Jones.
Financials integrationStolt Tankers have a bi-directional link between IMOS and Oracle Financials, so that accurate data flows automatically to the Stolt Finance department. Virtually every financial transaction starts life in IMOS, ensuring that IMOS and Oracle are constantly synchronized. Greg Albers, Accounting Manager for STJS noted that “compared to our old systems, the real-time nature of IMOS demands that we work ahead of time, but the benefit is that we then have a faster month-end closing.”
With IMOS operational, Stolt Tankers are now part way through implementing Veslink. We look forward to reporting on the Veslink installation in a future issue.
CASE STUDY:
Stolt-Nielsen Limited
VESON NAUTICAL KNOWLEDGE BASE When you have an IMOS or Veslink question, be sure to check the Knowledge Base. In the last four months, about 1000 pages of external information and almost 2000 total have been added to the Knowledge Base. It currently features about 6,000 pages of product documentation and FAQs, and material is added and improved daily. The Client Engagement Process page, under Veson Policies in the General space of the Knowledge Base, has been updated with the new three-times-a-year IMOS and Veslink release schedule.
To learn more, go to the Home page and click Navigating Through the Knowledge Base or click Tutorials and watch the Knowledge Base tutorial.
SINGAPORE ExPANSION Veson Nautical’s Singapore office has relocated to a larger space specially designed to offer on-site training and other services to regional clients. The new offices were designed by Studio Watt O’Keefe, who was responsible for the design of the company’s Boston headquarters. The interior space includes a training center that can accommodate demonstrations to large groups, “Lunch and Learn” sessions, and specialized instruction, and is configured to encourage ongoing collaboration.
New HiresBoston
Sean Riley, Vice President, Commercial Operations
Prior to joining Veson, Sean worked at PowerAdvocate, a leading software company focused on supply-chain operations in the energy industry. At PowerAdvocate, Sean was responsible for sales, product delivery, and customer support for several products. Prior to PowerAdvocate, Sean was a strategy consultant with The Parthenon Group, a global consulting firm, where he led projects focused on asset-intensive and consumer-focused businesses.
Caroline Ma, Commercial Solutions AssistantPursuing BS in Organizational Communications Northeastern University
Dan Lovria, Technical WriterBS, Professional and Technical Communication Rochester Institute of Technology
Perry Mosbacher, Technical Solutions EngineerBS, Management Information Systems Rochester Institute of Technology
Ethan Peters, Intern, Software Developer Rochester Institute of Technology
Past Viewpoints can be found at www.veson.com on the News page.
