For Riela Yachts Ltd — a company that provides cybersecurity, safety, technical, crew, fiduciary administration and emergency response services to superyachts — safety and quality service are top priorities. Using Laserfiche, the organization recently transformed the way that it manages information related to safety standards in order to make critical safety processes and procedures more efficient, effective and transparent. This digital transformation has supported crews in their ability to focus on their day-to-day jobs, and further enabled owners and their guests to fully enjoy their superyacht experience.

Navigating Digital Transformation

Modern superyachts — commercially operated luxury yachts that are 24 meters or larger — have some of the most advanced technology onboard, including engineering and navigational equipment, plus sophisticated “toys” like tenders, helicopters, cars and fully-equipped cinemas. Dedicated to providing services that fully complement superyacht operations, Riela Yachts also leverages leading technology in order to provide a modern experience for those they serve.

The company used this tech-forward approach when developing a new solution for meeting the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, an international standard for seagoing vessels.

“It was shocking to understand that on the bridge of these vessels they were operating with huge amounts of paper,” said Christian Moore, technical officer at Riela Yachts.

Riela’s Safety Management System (SMS) is made up of standard operating procedures, contingency plans, operating manuals, reporting forms and more. Prior to using Laserfiche, this information was managed manually, on paper — employees had to print, scan and file documents related to the ISM Code. When updates were made, manuals had to be flown to vessels’ locations, which could be anywhere in the world. A single superyacht could use over 5,000 pages’ worth of forms and manuals each year. The paper and manual processes involved with updating them led to the possibility of ships having outdated versions onboard, and made audits extremely cumbersome.

Riela Yachts recognized an opportunity to digitize and streamline the updating of these manuals, enabling yachts to work smarter and crews to focus on day-to-day operations.

Riela Yachts set out to reduce the amount of paper being used onboard, decrease crews’ administration load as well as improve auditability, to support and simplify ISM Code compliance. By digitizing the manuals that were once made of thousands of pages of paper, Riela Yachts can now store them in an electronic repository. The company also automated the process of updating the manuals of all the superyachts it serves, so that once a change is made, all vessels receive the latest information within minutes.

“We wanted to achieve a fully paperless superyacht where possible and improve the time spent on the SMS for crew, so they can get back to their real job, which is ensuring the owner enjoys their asset to the fullest,” Moore said.

Using Laserfiche Forms, Riela also developed more than 30 electronic forms in the SMS that help individual crews streamline regular procedures. These forms include arrival and departure in port, accident reporting, and checklists for when the engine room goes unmanned.

Now, all information related to these critical safety procedures is collected digitally and automatically sent to Riela’s staff at headquarters in the Isle of Man, so it can be reviewed and stored in a central repository.

Smooth Sailing

Riela Yachts and their customers have saved significant time and money from working smarter and digitizing, centralizing and automating safety manuals and processes. Vessels have the most recent information at their fingertips, making compliance with the ISM Code much less of an administrative burden. Crews are freed from many of the previously required manual tasks and captains are able to audit completed tasks as needed by the ISM.

The company is now also using Laserfiche to digitize more forms including permits for work, standing orders as well as management minutes. Also currently in the works: moving to a mobile app version of the SMS, which will allow captains to access the system through a tablet.

Riela has also been able to recoup administration costs associated with the manual processes and gain new clients as positive reactions to the modern, digital SMS system experience have spread through the docks and shipyards.

“We are excited to for the future and even greater returns on investments as the company grows and expands,” Moore said. “The savings, returns and new business we have gained from introducing Laserfiche have been significant and, after just celebrating our one-year anniversary as a company, we see Laserfiche aiding our success over the years to come.”