CLIA Technology Advisory Forum

For a number of years now ICE has been trying to raise awareness and focus on technology in the cruise industry. In this digital age, every cruise line has its own digital transformation strategy with some digital departments employing hundreds of technical staff.

Every company, whether they sell cruises or manage cruise passengers in a destination will need to become more digital, by reviewing their processes, changing their organisational structure and implementing software and integrate their systems. Not just at the customer facing level but right the way through the operational departments and back-office.

The cruise industry’s main goal is to give their guests memorable experiences in a frictionless way whilst keeping them at all times safe and happy. Technology is paramount in delivering all these goals.

This is why CLIA and ICE have initiated the CLIA Technology Advisory Council which had its first kick-off meeting in Miami in December 2017. ICE is extremely proud to be one of the founding members of the council and to be leading the efforts and direction as chair throughout 2018.

The CLIA council brings together a number of first-class technology vendors involved in cruise and our goals are to address the major challenges that affect the industry through the use of technology.

Main Goals

One thing all the council members have agreed on is that the initiative is not a platform only to be used to sell their products. We have decades of collective experience in the industry combined with the best technical know-how. If we understand and agree on the main challenges then we can pool our knowledge and resources to try and address those challenges. 

With that being said, the main goals for the council are:

• To be proactive towards the industry
• To pool knowledge and resources
• Address challenges in our industry
• Provide insight on technology trends

Ian Richardson and Conor Byrne discussing the goals and objectives of the council

One of the first tasks will be to get an understanding of all cruise lines challenges and what they would like the CLIA council to focus on addressing. It was ratified in the meeting in Miami that an anonymised data collection exercise would be undertaken. The output of which will drive the strategy and focus going forward. We will also be organising some events open to all cruise lines to discuss various topics that are common across the industry.

How can cruise lines help?

We need  input from the cruise lines to share their experiences and challenges. We want everyone’s involvement. If we pool our collective resources, knowledge and experience, we will accomplish great things for the cruise industry, the result of which will improve the guest experience and bring benefits to all stakeholders involved in cruise.