One of the aspects of my job I enjoy very much is traveling the world to meet with SSI’s users. I typically travel to about 20-30 clients sites every year and meet many more at conferences or shows.
Earlier this week I went to ShipConstructor super users Vripack, Peters Shipyards, Royal Huisman as well as Stolk Marimecs.
Each of our super users are super for similar reasons but are still very unique when you compare the type of projects, strategies, processes, culture, etc. of each client. I consider super users as the users who have leveraged the flexibility of ShipConstructor and have explored every corner of the software to create great products. They continue to align their ShipConstructor implementation and their business processes which allows them to create high quality deliverables very efficiently.
Every meeting I take away new information which definitely influences the decisions I make every day and these meetings were no different.
My biggest takeaway
One of the biggest takeaways I took from these visits was how our clients see SSI as a major solution partner and not just a software vendor. This is the exact type of relationship SSI always strives for as we do not only want clients, we want partners. I know this sounds cliché; however, it is so true for SSI.
During the meetings we did talk a lot about features and products; however, the majority of the discussion was how they can better use our solution and leverage SSI’s global expertise to be more productive. For some it might seem strange how a software vendor Solution ProviderJ can have global expertise but if you think about it you can see why.
SSI has clients who are distributed globally and who are working on different types of projects with unique constraints. We are very tightly integrated with many of our clients’ business goals, objectives and processes. We have seen many strategies that have failed for different reasons but more importantly we have seen the strategies that have worked. SSI personnel (including myself) probably have been to more shipyards and design firms than many other “marine experts.” This global practical experience combined with our marine focused representatives, who are experts in the local industry, is why our clients depend on SSI and their local SSI representative for guidance.
Another takeaway
On this trip I learned a lot about the manufacturing process and characteristics of composite ship building. This also included a very interesting history lesson about how it was done in the “old days” and how it has evolved. Thanks Nick Danese
Closing Remarks
A very important aspect of my job is to keep in touch with the market and our clients which I enjoy very much. These sleep depriving client trips allows me and SSI to learn from our clients what their ever changing challenges are and the solutions they have implemented to solve them. This in turn allows me as well as SSI to share these experiences with our clients partners so that they can be more productive. I will continue to visit clients in all markets for the foreseeable future and look forward to the day my travels take me to your organization.
P.S. I can easily be persuaded to come to your company with good food and wine 🙂
Here are some of the pictures from my visit which I can share.
