Stop Doing IT Projects! Start the Digital Journey...
For decades, container terminals have invested heavily in technology projects – among those more and more IT projects, yet many fail to deliver real business value.
Why? Because traditional IT projects often prioritize technology over outcomes, resulting in costly systems that don’t align with operational needs. One of the common things would be that in the past TOS implementation was often headed by the IT department. This for the simple reason that it involved an IT system. In an industry where efficiency, safety, and adaptability are critical, this approach is no longer sustainable. The approach should change.
It’s time to shift from IT projects to operations digitalization initiatives, strategic efforts that embed technology into core OPS processes to create measurable impact on the business and not only implement software as tools.
Author: By Norbert Klettner, AKQUINET
Why IT Projects Fall Short
Overall research across various industries shows that many IT projects exceed budgets, miss deadlines, or fall short of expectations. A study by McKinsey in 2020 even discovered that 17% of large IT projects perform so poorly that they threaten the company’s existence.
Common pitfalls include:
- Technology-First Mindset: Solutions are built around tools, not business goals.
- High Costs, Unclear ROI: Custom systems require massive investments but rarely deliver proportional efficiency gains.
- Change Resistance: Often employees see IT projects as disturbance, not improvements.
- Lack of Flexibility: By the time a multi-year IT project is complete, business requirements have evolved – especially in a fast-changing flexible industry. Here agile approaches have improved things, if followed, but still did not solve it all.
Insights from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Benchmark
The BCG’s global benchmark of 30+ container terminals reveals a clear trend: digital leaders are pulling ahead while laggards struggle to keep pace. This benchmark matters because it highlights the tangible benefits of moving beyond isolated IT projects to holistic digitalization strategies along the main operational topics that exist on a terminal.
Key global trends identified by BCG include:
- Terminals with advanced digital maturity achieve higher efficiency with lower operating costs.
- Leaders leverage already AI-driven planning, IoT-enabled equipment monitoring, and predictive analytics to optimize yard and vessel operations.
- Integration with external stakeholders—shipping lines, customs, and inland transport—creates end-to-end visibility and efficiency – also improves customer satisfaction
Why does this matter? Because the benchmark proves that digitalization is not just a tech upgrade, it’s a competitive advantage. Terminals that have embraced digitalization—not just IT upgrades — report efficiency gains, including faster turnaround and lower operating costs.
Digitalization: The Smarter Approach
Digitalization is not only the new name of IT, but the initiatives are usually more driven from operations and management. This starts with a better approach because they keep the business objectives in the driver seat, aligning them with a digital focus, not just technology. They focus on:
- Operational Value Over Technical Features: examples can be automating gate and crane operations, using AI-driven predictive maintenance, and leveraging IoT data for equipment optimization.
- Agile, Step-by-Step Implementation: Small, high-impact phases—start with one process, measure results, refine, and scale.
- Data as a Strategic Asset: Turning raw data into actionable insights for faster decisions and better resource allocation. Use data standards as a key element.
Operational Impact That Matters
Measure the impact on digital projects and start with key objectives. Often it is said, that an improvement cannot be linked directly to an IT system – which partially is true, but same time they must have an impact. Otherwise, why would you use them in the first place.
So define realistic measures, no dream figures, then start improving these:
| KPI | Impact of Digitalization |
|---|---|
|
TEU Throughput
|
+x% via automation and optimized workflows
|
|
Equipment Utilization / operational availability
|
+x% through predictive maintenance
|
|
Vessel Turnaround Time
|
-x% with real-time data, forecast simulations of the planned shifts and volume prediction
|
|
Energy Consumption
|
-x% through smart routing and optimized use with automation (e.g. optimized acceleration)
|
|
Operational Costs
|
-x% by cutting waste
|
|
Use resources more efficient
|
x% reduction on ops planning effort (hours)
|
CEO & COO Perspective: Why This Matters
For CEOs:
- Strategic Advantage: Benchmark leaders outperform peers in both efficiency and profitability.
- Future-Proofing: standards such as TIC4.0 (Terminal Industry Committee 4.0 – www.tic40.org) ensure scalability and vendor neutrality, reducing long-term strategic risk.
- Investor Confidence: Demonstrable improvements in KPIs strengthen market position and shareholder value.
For COOs:
- Operational Excellence: Digitalization delivers real-time visibility, predictive maintenance, and automated workflows—key drivers of benchmark success.
- Risk Mitigation: Agile, phased implementation reduces disruption and accelerates ROI.
- Measurable Impact: Benchmark leaders report significant reductions in operational efficiency — metrics that directly affect competitiveness.
The Bottom Line: Why TIC 4.0 matters for Ports and Terminals Digitalization
The era of high-risk, low-reward big scale IT projects should be over. Digitalization is the future, and TIC4.0 standard is a cornerstone that makes it possible. TIC4.0 helps ports move beyond isolated digital projects toward a coordinated, data-driven transformation. By combining shared frameworks, interoperable tools, and applied innovation, it enables ports to link digitalisation directly to operational efficiency, electrification, and decarbonisation goals. It is a long-term advantage in enabling data driven processes across different departments and opens up opportunities to become more flexible in the solutions you use.
When do you stop IT projects and start with the digital transformation and have digital abilities add to the bottom line?
