Why poor data management is holding maritime back

Data is at the heart of digital transformation in maritime – but poor data management comes with real risks. In our latest conversation, Robert Platt, Head of Content at Intent Communications, spoke with Katherine Howell, Director, Central Operations, EMEA Delivery at Uber, about why strong data governance is critical.

Here’s what we learned:

•  Compliance risk: Without tight controls on who can access and use data, organisations risk breaching increasingly strict regulations. Digitalisation amplifies this exposure.
• Data value depends on usability: Data is only useful if it can be trusted and leveraged. Governance, master data management, and clear sources of truth are essential to unlock insights.
• Single source of truth matters: Every object – whether a customer, employee, or vessel – can be represented in multiple ways. Katherine highlighted that even something as simple as inconsistent capitalisation can cause problems. Having one master dataset: ensures consistency across reports; supports higher-level analysis and strategic decision making; enables machine learning and predictive analytics.
• Avoid wasted effort: Conflicting data sources create unnecessary work – teams spend hours reconciling reports that should match if a single source of truth existed.

Katherine emphasised that establishing the right ways of working and governance structures is critical to ensuring that data becomes a powerful asset rather than a liability.