Thomas Otter

When it comes to HR technology, I tend to think of it largely as a horizontal play. Yes, there are some exceptions, like hospital or retail shift management, but most of the time HR seems like it is just HR. To borrow from Depeche Mode, People are People. Vendors who do well in one industry tend to do well in several. Market fissures tend to be by country, rather than by industry.

I had my eyes opened today.

photo via oneeighteen cc licence. Great nautical photos.

I had a demo from a Norwegian HR vendor who focuses on shipping and other maritime stuff.  I started off thinking that you could do it with a horizontal HR system with strong configuration capabilities but the more I watched, the more I realized that some niches run deep.

How do you run a payroll on a ship? With no connection back to land? How do you handle the competency requirements and scheduling to meet the myriad of shipping laws? Can the second mate on a vessel of size x work as a first mate on a vessel of size b?  A citizen of the Philippines is working on a Panamanian flag vessel for a Norwegian oil company?  What happens if he transfers to a different vessel?  Which training courses are running in the next port of call? How do you sync the offshore and the onshore payroll.  Rum rations?

If you own a fleet of ships, you may want to chat to these Norwegians.

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Category: HCM HR software industry     Tags: HR tech, norway, shipping, vertical

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