The yachting industry remains one of the most conservative industries on the market. However, over time we can see how modern tech is changing how yachting businesses are run: yacht marketing and yacht brokerage are undergoing a complete transformation in the age of online platforms. To remain competitive, the yacht business should keep pace with the rest of the world and other industries such as fintech, food tech, and property tech. On the other hand, since tech trends are just emerging in this niche, it is a captivating spot for tech entrepreneurs looking for a market that needs innovation.
My name is Arseniy Maximov, I am a tech entrepreneur building products in the yachting industry, and I want to share my opinion on how technologies can shape the future of yachting business.
Digitizing Yacht Spending
One of the good examples where digitalization can make a noticeable difference is in the collection and analysis of yacht expenses by optimizing yacht management price. Modern products make analyzing yacht expenses more effortless and efficient. Good old data science & AI (by applying LLM/GPT-like algorithms for example) can be used to identify areas where costs can be reduced and gain insights into the yacht's overall performance — as a result, saving a decent amount of money for the yacht owner. There are already some products on the market, such as the Voly yacht accounting platform, which offers yacht owners the yacht fintech accounting tool to keep track of and analyze expenses on yachts.
However, you might still need an experienced yacht broker who can take into account subtleties, while AI-based systems still can miss. You know, AI is only a helper for humans.
Yacht Fleet Management with IoT
Another area in which IT innovations can benefit the yachting industry is yacht fleet management. A growing Internet of Things (IoT) trend can have an excellent application for improving a yacht's efficiency. In particular, a vessel can be equipped with sensors and hardware that can be monitored and managed remotely.
Applications like that can help to reduce costs and alert a crew if there are risks of yacht hardware problems. With real-time data and automated alerts, yacht management companies can better manage their fleets and ensure the highest level of safety and performance for their clients.
In this context, I would name Seanapps application by Groupe Beneteau (a large french yacht builder). This application allows you to check fuel, battery charge levels, other technical specs or scheduled maintenance operations in one click. The company develops hardware (onboard computer, sensors, etc.) and software that allows yacht owners to see their boat in an app — just like Tesla!
Another recent invention, which is worth mentioning, is the release of Starlink Martime — cheap satellite internet on the sea. Having an instant access to internet on the boat is a great thing for yachting IoT products in my opinion.
Automatizing Yacht Sales
Many yacht companies still need the proper digital infrastructure to manage their sales. Although it may be obvious, implementing a CRM system (Client Relationship Management) can significantly increase the sales team's efficiency. If brokers can access centralized customer data while the sales processes are authorized, they can focus on building relationships and closing deals. Unfortunately, there are still many yacht brokers who work without proper sales management, so probably you, the reader, can offer a great product for resolving this problem?
Smart Yacht Search
And, of course, the pinnacle of business models — how about building a marketplace? That’s what my team and I have chosen to bring as innovations into the yacht market. We are building the best platform for yacht search, purchase & and expertise. We try to make it easier than ever for prospective yacht owners to familiarize themselves with the entire yacht market without spending hours on Google searches.
This is an exciting tech niche where you have to work on a database of yachts, constantly experimenting with data science to improve the quality of the search & your content.
Conclusion
I believe there’s still a few blind tech spots on the markets which you can successfully close with your innovative product. The deeper you get into the industry, the more you find what you can still improve. I hope these insights were helpful and that you find inspiration to make the yacht business more innovative.
What do you think about innovations in yachting? Please, let me know in the comments if there’s something you might be interested in the next articles about the yachting industry & IT?