Marine Technical Surveyors teams up with CSN Group to create a fully integrated and customized platform.
Since 1993, Marine Technical Surveyors (MTS) has specialized in various types of bulk and liquid cargo surveying. The company has grown beyond its roots in the fertilizer industry and now focuses on multiple cargo types, including chemicals and petroleum. It also offers services that include many bulk and liquid cargo inspections and observations, bulk vessel cargo management, and bulk cargo tonnage surveying.
In the pursuit of greater efficiency, MTS spent several years developing an in-house computer program that has grown increasingly larger. However, the company never got close to the level of simplicity and integration it needed. It continued to rely on Excel spreadsheets and laborious, error-prone manual processes that could take days to complete. MTS unequivocally needed a unifying computer program that was easy to learn and use.
It continued to rely on error-prone manual processes
—Chris Zeringue and Tommy Prejean, Owners of Marine Technical Surveyors
MTS teamed up with CSN Group to develop an integrated and customized platform.
“One of our employees, who knows a lot more about computers than I do, sketched out how we needed to get from A to Z and be able to publish a report,” said Chris Zeringue, President of MTS. “We presented that sketch to CSN Group, and CSN built exactly what we asked for. We called it ACE, which stands for accuracy, communications, and efficiency.”
Now when users look up a job, the ACE system works in the background to pull together the documents, photographs, and videos that the surveyor has compiled using an iPad while in the field. It is no longer necessary for surveyors to contact the office or come in for meetings; they can complete their work from anywhere in the world.
An easy-to-learn system and immediate access to real-time insights from a single data source eliminate error-prone manual processes.
Information flows quickly and easily when surveyors, managers, and clients all have instant access to the same data.
Surveyors can complete their work from anywhere in the world, and the data they upload is accessible and reportable the moment they enter it into their iPads.
When surveying is complete, the ACE system works in the background to pull together the documents, photographs, and videos that the surveyor has compiled using an iPad while in the field. It is no longer necessary for surveyors to contact the office or come in for meetings; they can complete their work from anywhere in the world.
“In the past, it would take months to train surveyors to work within our system,” said Chris and Tommy. “Today, we can give them just a little document training, hand them an iPad, and send them out to a job. If you can use Facebook, you can use our system.”
All of the data is accessible and reportable the moment surveyors enter it into their iPads. When the surveyors finish surveying, the process is done—no more back-office work is necessary. As an added benefit, MTS has been able to grow without the expense of increasing office staff.
“The system CSN Group has built for us is perfect for us and for any company that has people out in the field needing real-time access to data and reports,” said Chris and Tommy. “It’s the solution we needed.”
—Chris Zeringue and Tommy Prejean, Owner of Marine Technical Surveyors