Case Study :

Voly provides solution for superyacht expense

management

Background

Lorian Smith is an experienced and well-respected captain, he has been in the maritime industry since the age of 17; including a spell in the merchant navy. He has held a Captain’s license for almost 8 years and currently captains a 44-meter yacht with a crew of 10. The vessel and its team spend their time cruising between the Netherlands and Caribbean, covering 20,000+ miles per year.

Voly

The Problem

Before Voly there was only one other viable product on the market that was specific to the needs of the yachting sector. It is an ok solution, but too basic, not compelling enough to migrate away from Excel!

There was nothing available to deal with variable currencies, multi-national credit card schemes and cash. And no system set up to deal specifically with di�erent departments on board the yacht.

Like many crews, we were using Excel to keep track of the yacht’s budget, expenses, expenditure and supplier payments. In many cases this is a budget upwards of £1.5M annually.

For me, in addition to the long hours spent on data entry, Excel is too exposed to human error. This means poor reporting and inaccurate record keeping.

There are so many aspects to ensuring a yacht runs smoothly, I barely have time to do the accounts, let alone check and re-check them for accuracy!

This sector desperately needed a ‘bells and whistles’ solution, something that intuitively understands the intricacies of running a yachting account and the demands on its crew.

I was looking for something bullet proof, with guaranteed stability and was easy for the whole crew to use, regardless of their technical capabilities or experience.Almost every other vital process on the yacht is now digitised, from monthly safety services to watch keeping, can now all be done on an iPad. The digital revolution means that technology is becoming more and more important to the daily running of the vessel. Even the nautical charts are now digital.

It makes no sense that we are still using manual data entry for accounts and budget management.

Case Study :

The Solution

Voly was recommended to me by a well-respected contact in the industry that came across the business at a yachting event.

There is no system integration needed and the entire crew can be up and running within 24-hours so we decided almost instantly to go ahead with a trial.

It was an easy decision, especially as there was no training needed!

Everyone on board now uses it including all departments and even the chase boat has its own account. I can now continually and instantly monitor team spending across the board, which saves me a lot of time and certainly reduces stress.

Voly

Moon Sand Setup

6 HOD users, Deal directly with the Owners Office who have admin access. Subscribe monthly.

There were very few small amends, based on personal preferences, as we got up and running – such as exporting data to PDF

for each individual account - but these were dealt with quickly by the Voly team who were easy to get hold of and responsive.

The Voly system works online but does a good job of keeping data flowing even when connection is slow.

We work directly with the owners, not via a management company and we were immediately able to improve our reporting to the owners office with the Voly system.

Results

We found immediately that we could track spend in real time, and follow through longer supplier on-boarding processes – from getting an initial quote through to account set up and invoice reconciliation.

Usually I work 3 weeks on 3 weeks off – and Voly provides a great handover tool between me and the other captains. It saves time and delivers accuracy. We all use Drop box to share invoices and accounts files to date but with Voly it takes just 2-3 mins to get up to speed to see status of finances on the yacht.

Ultimately, Voly reduces workload – it is so quick to input – it guarantees speed and accuracy for a process that is essential, but largely open to error.

More time for guests! Quicker you can do the accounts the better!

(A boat is like a baby, it cries when you leave it and Voly means less time away!)