Camper & Nicholsons announces technology merger with Nowboat to launch pioneering yachting platform
Camper and Nicholsons International (C&N), the oldest, largest and most prestigious name in yachting, has announced a technology merger with Hong Kong based seafaring company Nowboat. The collaboration will see the launch of a unique platform that will deliver bespoke experiences and data to industry stakeholders, including owners, brokers, shipyards and guests.
The revolutionary platform has been designed by a dedicated team of software engineers in C&N’s Monaco headquarters. By Q4 2019, it will be accessible to every industry player across platforms and devices, from mobile, tablet and desktop. The platform will distil every item of yacht intelligence including fuel usage, marina logs, staff profiles, search history and social media presence into one simple-to-use tool with dedicated solutions for every stakeholder including customers, yacht owners, brokers and captains.
The first step of this exciting merger consists of the launch of a brand-new website: www.camperandnicholsons.com, happening this 5th of June 2019. The new portal redefines the digital customer journey by offering interactive imagery and a live chat option that immediately engages clients. Bespoke itineraries everywhere from the Adriatic to Southeast Asia have been crafted with the assistance of leading travel journalists to entertain adventurers and curious travellers alike. Richer content, from drone footage to 360° on-board videos, will lend further depth to each yacht for sale and charter. Finally, an updated news section will maintain Camper & Nicholsons as the company of record.
Lester Lam, the company Chairman of Camper & Nicholsons Asia comments: "This company has delivered yachts to royalty, celebrity and racing legends since 1782. On such longevity was the Camper & Nicholsons brand born and its pioneering spirit has kept the company ahead of the pack. Camper & Nicholsons have introduced almost every industry innovation from composite hulls to America’s Cup challengers. More recently we have worked on several structural updates to equip the company for the radical market and customer behaviour changes we are facing. This new platform, the first of its kind in the business, is a continuation of our pioneering spirit. Nearly 250 years since its inception, Camper & Nicholsons is sailing further than ever before."
Giovanni Alessi, who joins C&N from Nowboat as Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, says that: “By 2020 the global superyacht market will be worth $35bn*, but technology and data from all stakeholders is managed in an extremely hazardous way. For example, information from brokers, clients and shipyards is stored in Word documents, email archives and handwritten notes or through third party service providers. As the industry’s leader, Camper & Nicholsons holds market intelligence dating back 240 years. By collating and sifting that information we can provide a datadriven solution to almost every industry query.”
Paolo Casani, CEO of C&N, says that: "I strongly believe that today companies don't need a digital strategy, but a strategy for a digital world. Requests for real time data concerning broker history, port data, events in itinerary locations, weather projections and much, much more has been requested by our guests, clients and shipyard partners. Our new platform will deliver that information to the entire yachting community, not only our sales and charter brokers across 12 global offices. Most importantly it will do so through an in-house tech team who will consistently improve the platform based on data from, but not limited to, customer journeys to incoming yachts."
The forthcoming C&N platform has manifold uses. In the hands of a yacht owner it will deliver real time information concerning guest feedback, energy usage and comparative yachts competing for market share. A broker will be able to access a particular vessel’s engineering upgrades, port log history and the prices of similarly sized and aged yachts.
Luxury yacht guests will also be able to access the system via mobile or desktop. Besides information about a certain yacht’s heritage and its typical month-by-month itineraries, there will be statistics about how much it would cost to build or charter a similar vessel. The distillation of big data will even allow shipyards to receive projections of sales and technology trends based upon tens of thousands of searches.
Alessi confirms that C&N’s new platform will empower industry players, rather than disenfranchise them. “Our industry innovation isn’t aimed at market disruption. That’s not a word I like to use. This single ecosystem is designed to make the yachting business easier to manage and more enjoyable for all. Those two tenets have been safeguarded by Camper & Nicholsons since 1782.”
*Source: Yacht Charter Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 - 2020