Engaged: Tor Inge Dale, Chief Sustainability Officer at Solstad Offshore ASA (left), and Rune Vatnamot, partner manager at Profitbase (right).
Security is the keyword – both when it comes to the software and, not least, on a personal level. It’s not just the company Solstad Offshore ASA meeting the company Profitbase; the interpersonal meeting is just as important.
– On clear days, you can see significantly farther towards the Netherlands, says sustainability leader Tor Inge Dale, facing the natural canvas visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows in the meeting room.
Today, however, is not such a day. Quite the opposite. The waves demonstrate their raw power by crashing over the rocky shores in Skudeneshavn. Tor Inge settles into his chair.
-That’s right, I was involved in bringing in Profitbase as a supplier for us ten years ago, he confirms.
He recalls that they needed a collaboration system and the need to integrate financials into it.
-That’s where Profitbase came into play. They presented solutions and sketches of how it could be done, and I thought this was interesting. We needed to share fundamental data and data structures, depending on data from various sources, to show things live. The whole idea was to show as much data as possible, down to the lowest level, he reminisces.
A Solid Company Needs Solid Subcontractors
Four years earlier, in 2008, he started at the shipping company. Since then, he has had various roles in the shipping company. He has been an operations manager, a member of the executive management, a fleet manager, and is now in a position as head of sustainability. Solstad Offshore ASA is a large offshore shipping company boasting a fleet of nearly a hundred ships of various categories. They have over 3,000 employees, work globally, and have numerous offices worldwide. They have hundreds of subcontractors, with Profitbase still being one of them. Something Tor Inge bases on several factors.
There When Needed
-It is clear that no customer relationship is entirely perfect, and we don’t expect it to be. It’s the same for us with our customers, where there are things we need to improve. But that’s not the point. The point is that we always know that Profitbase is there when we need them. That they are responsive and that things can be discussed. We can pick up the phone and call Rune directly when it’s urgent, and we know that he will do what is required. All hands on deck. That gives us a sense of security, Tor Inge says clearly.
He emphasizes that having respect and understanding for the fact that each represents their own company and its operations strengthens the relationship.
-They listen to our needs. And Rune has consistently checked in with us on how things are going. We’ve had overarching ‘what’s happening?’ conversations ongoing. So he has been someone who ensures that things always work.
Stood Rock Solid
-Since I started at Solstad, we have had to replace some systems from various suppliers, which for various reasons have not worked so well. But what Profitbase has delivered has stood rock solid the entire time, says the sustainability leader, mentioning the reporting, forecasting, and loan module.
-We haven’t made any quantum leaps in software development, but we have made improvements here and there as different needs have arisen, he explains.
An example is creating a comment function on numbers.
-It has been very useful and contributes to greater ownership by those who use the software, he says.
Tailor-Made
Solstad Offshore ASA has indeed been involved in setting the guidelines for the software.
-We report our needs to Profitbase, what we want, and then we usually have both physical meetings and via Teams. Often physical meetings at the start to brainstorm around the table on how it should be. Then more Teams meetings, and versions are made available to us so we can test them and provide feedback. This way, we get to be part of the process from start to finish. Having an ongoing dialogue gives us the opportunity to get it tailored exactly how we want it, he says.
The same was true when a risk module was recently created, which Solstad Offshore ASA has adopted over the past year. Something that fits well with the company’s strong focus on sustainability.
Tor Inge pulls up a world map on the screen and shows how he can always stay updated on where all their ships are and, not least, what mission they are on. It’s just a matter of clicking on the ship you want information about. He explains that they depend on good systems and subcontractors to deliver the best possible results themselves.
Quick Overview
-As already mentioned, Profitbase’s systems give employees greater ownership. And then we keep coming back to finances. The time savings. The system Profitbase has created on the backend, which allows you to quickly drill down from ship to region to company to group, is very efficient. And not least that you can drill down to the invoice level on each ship with just a few clicks, that provides good cost control. And that’s what it’s all about. Lower operating costs, he says.
Tor Inge explains that a few years ago, the shipping company started what they call “Vessel Team.” The idea was to create more of a team around each ship, a core team consisting of a crew coordinator, a purchaser, an inspector, and an operations person.
-Previously, people didn’t have the same overview of what the ship earned or spent in costs. It depended on, for example, accounting reports. What we wanted with this model was to integrate it into financial reporting. In budgeting. Into the team. It is the team that should budget for the ship, report continuously, and see how things are going compared to what was budgeted. To achieve this, we were completely dependent on such a system. So now people work together with the same numbers. It’s not like these are mine and those are yours; they are common numbers in the same system, he says, explaining that the company’s revenue is often dictated by the market.
-We can’t decide that we want more now. But we can do something about the costs – what we spend every day. That’s why this is so important. And we have full control over it.
Geared for the Future
Another thing the shipping company works to have good control over is the future. Tor Inge explains that when the company was undergoing restructuring, they had to present five-year plans.
-We had to think five years ahead for all the ships, all the offices, all the costs, all the revenue, on a day-to-day basis. All planned dockings, he says, explaining that this was in connection with refinancing.
-This was something we were to follow up on continuously afterwards, and we quickly saw that spreadsheets were not sufficient, he says.
That’s what the company had started with initially.
-Suddenly, we saw that we could build further on what we had in the Profitbase system, and thus get five-year forecasts in there, he says, explaining that it is also easy to make changes along the way.
-Where will you be in five years? You will always miss. Look at airfares now, for example, which are twice as expensive. Things happen. The currency changes. When the currency changes by a few kroner for us, it suddenly means billions in value changes. But all this is entered, and you get a new five-year forecast based on the adjusted rate. If we had done this in a spreadsheet, it would have been… difficult, shall we say?!
He explains that what is now done is that all the numbers are entered into the budget module. Then people work on it almost continuously.
-If we didn’t have these tools here, it wouldn’t be possible in practice, not at that level of detail anyway.
-How would everyday life have been then?
-You can say that, we would have had to do it in a simpler way. We managed before too. People lived in the Stone Age as well. You manage with what you have, but you have less detail, and before we only had an annual budget.
Security in the System Provides External Trust
When asked if the systems help provide greater security, Tor Inge gives a firm answer.
-Yes. And it’s about trust. We can show banks, our board, and our owners concrete numbers, that we have control with our systems. For example: In 2024, we will refinance again. Therefore, we are already looking at how to get the results we want next year to get good refinancing in 2024.
He explains that if you use the system and already have five years in it, you have quite good control over what you expect in costs and revenue. If things change, you enter the changes.
-Imagine if it was in a spreadsheet and you had to go into 80 ships and all offices. We have 1500 subcontractors that we buy goods from at any given time. There are so many variables that if you had to go into each individual thing, it would be almost impossible. It is not manageable.
-And now you can do it with a few keystrokes?
-Yes. And that gives security when you have reliable systems and are presenting numbers. You can quickly bring up the numbers, make new calculations, and it’s enormously good, he repeats the importance.
-And on the contrary – if you’re fumbling around in spreadsheets, you can quickly lose trust and credibility, no matter how skilled you are, he says, again emphasizing the value not only of having good tools but also of having reliable people delivering the tools.
Sharp Focus
-I say it again – when unforeseen things have sometimes happened, when there’s a bit of a crisis, something technical fails or something, Profitbase has had sharp focus and seen the importance that this is super critical. They get it working quickly again. We have an incredibly good relationship considering we can completely trust Profitbase, and not all suppliers are like that, he says, continuing:
– If you’re sitting with the annual report or quarterly figures, there are auditors, it’s the stock exchange, there are deadlines and dates a month in advance, and suddenly it doesn’t work one morning. Then we must know that we have attention. If you called a company in Singapore, for example, which might be in a different time zone, it wouldn’t necessarily be so easy. So the advantage of a key supplier like Profitbase is that we have a good and close collaboration. It means that, for example, negotiating the pricing of services has also been respectable both ways. We have a mutual understanding – Profitbase delivers niche products, and we are a good customer for Profitbase. After all, it’s a customer relationship that has now lasted for over ten years.
