At Tideworks, we designed our products and support ecosystem to ensure our clients’ success and lead the charge in the modernization of terminal operations. We recently sat down with our team of Client Success Managers (CSM) to discuss the status of the industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and what changes they see on the horizon. During our time with them, we asked them to look into their crystal balls and imagine what things will look like in 2021 and ten years into the future. Here’s what they said:
What Has Been the Biggest Change for Tideworks in 2021?
Converting From Legacy Systems
Geoff Perry
I think the biggest thing is getting through the deployments we’re doing. That’s gaining momentum as far as credibility around these deploying remotely. We performed all of our marine deployments virtually and didn’t have clients feel like they need to have us there for it to be successful. Sure, there are times when having someone on the ground makes sense, but being able to provide the one-on-one, end-user help they need via video is huge. That way, those folks doing that work — the Client Solutions Specialists (CSS), the Client Support Specialists (CSS) — they can handle three or four clients that need a little bit of help on something like that, whereas before, you might have to send someone there for part of the day or a whole day, and it thins your roster a bit. This helped us add another layer of support and service.
Cherese Moss
I think the Mainsail 10 deployments and, of course, the TC Beacon deployments. It is a huge effort. We’ve already got a few under our belt. Every deployment we get through is another one under our belt, and that’s another smile my team and I get to have at the end of the day.
Justin Clifford
The biggest change would probably be our new terminal operating system moving forward. Many of our clients are on our legacy systems but, now, we’re in a heavy upgrading process. It’s a really big push forward. We’re getting everyone upgraded around the same time. While it’s a challenge, it seems to be well accepted by all of our clients. They’re excited to move forward.
Where Do You See the Terminal Operations Industry in 10 Years? What Will Be the Most Significant Differences?
Automation Technology
Terry Hart
So, things that are cutting edge for us today will be old hat 10 years from now. That will be everywhere. You’re going to see 100 percent automation of terminals. Your UTRs will be 100 percent automated. Your lift equipment will be automated. You will probably see those autonomous trucks coming. How will that work? The terminal will end up having more of a flow during a 24-hour period. Maybe, in 10 years, things will levitate instead of being on wheels. I don’t know.
Scott Duncan
The most significant difference between right now and 10 years from now will be automation. There’s a lot of automation in the container terminal operating industry, not as much in the intermodal space. But that’s where it’s headed for efficiency and safety. For the intermodal industry’s growth, we’ll have to figure out ways to scale automation or scale down when we use automation. Automation is heavily used in major facilities with a large throughput. We’ll have to figure out how that scales to smaller facilities.
New Technology and Integrations
Justin Clifford
The biggest difference will probably be the bits of automation and connections to the terminal. I believe everyone used to handle very specific parts of a terminal operation — which to us is the TOS, or Spinnaker, or IPRO with just the rail or just the vessels. I think that a lot of it will be piecemeal in the sense that we will be integrating and working with many other companies alongside. So, we will retain that connection as a premier maker of TOS and applications, but we’ll be working with others. Automation in small parts will definitely take over for little parts — not reducing jobs because there will always be jobs for that automation and maintaining it — but it will definitely be implemented on the terminal as time goes on.
Jeanette Rowan
The biggest difference they will see is the footprint Tideworks will have on the intermodal rail industry. That will look like IPRO and Traffic Control having more of a presence in North America and a global presence in changing the way intermodal rail is utilized. In 10 years, we will see more organizations have started using a more advanced TOS system to move their products and services at a faster pace with efficiency and expediency.
Predictive and Data Analytics
Geoff Perry
I expect the data analytics and predictive analytics related to terminal operations will be there. That’s the next generation of all this. You go from Excel spreadsheets to having a planning system to, now, having machines tell you how to run your operation better and do that based on impacts from the weather, a slightly delayed vessel, or a truck that got in an accident upstream. Now, you can start knowing and navigating those. That will be a really neat game-changer. I think that’s where we’ll be pretty soon.
Increased Diversity and Inclusion
Michele Evans
Ten years is quite a long time. I may be retired in 10 years. But 10 years from now, I think some of the key things I would expect to see are no more data centers — everything’s in the cloud. More people will be bilingual. There are already Spanish classes to help us because we will need to know Spanish to work with our colleagues where that is their first language. So, I think it’s going to be normal to be able to be bilingual, to have the cloud, to have diversity in thought, in people. As we grow, people will feel that belonging and as though we’re growing together to the next stage. They’re going to feel comfortable doing that, and they’re going to feel like they are an integral piece in that development.
How Is Tideworks Uniquely Positioned To Help Its Clients Get Through the Next 10 Years?
Terry Hart
The big thing we can do is take these innovations that we’re doing, standardize them, find a way they apply to all of the clients — all of the rails, all of the potential clients — and package it so they all can use them. Over the next few years, getting things into the cloud so the client doesn’t have to host them and making our software and systems more accessible will help the client and make it easy to add functionality. You think of how Apple updates your iPhone whenever they need to and pushes out a new version with bug fixes or enhancements to you seamlessly. We need to be able to push out those enhancements and updates just as seamlessly. They won’t even know they’ve happened. If you can push it out at two in the afternoon or two in the morning, it won’t matter; it’ll update. We won’t have to plan for an update; we don’t have to shut down; we won’t have to worry or sweat that it will change something; it’ll be seamless to the client. We want to make it easy on the clients and make it easy for them to do business.
Scott Duncan
Tideworks is uniquely positioned for automation because we’re already working with intermodal clients to automate equipment. We’ve successfully integrated with automation at our largest intermodal clients now. It’s 2021. Other software being used in the industry is nowhere near saying they can integrate with an automated environment. When we talk to our clients and the railroads, automation is one of the things on their minds. So, as long as we continue to build on that with the software, we’re going in the right direction. As long as our clients continue moving in that direction, we’re very well-positioned.
Michele Evans
As we grow and as people within Tideworks grow and feel that they’re making a difference, the clients benefit because we’re excited about what we’re delivering. Then it’s not just a job. I see people very excited and coming up with new ways to help our clients with their businesses, all to benefit them in various ways we can’t even think of now. So, I think a lot of that outside-of-the-box thinking will become more of a reality because people will be excited to bring forth their ideas. We give it a try. It may work, it may not work, but we give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we figure out what didn’t work, and we move from there and just keep at it.
As Tideworks’ resident client advocates, CSMs have their fingers on the industry’s pulse. They are some of the first to see the daily changes and challenges on terminals across the globe. Their foresight, coupled with the rest of the Client Services team’s knowledge, will lead Tideworks and its clients into the next generation of terminal operations.
