By taking a step back and looking at the entire value chain and the systems around it, we design and build digital products for aquaculture companies that move away from single-point solutions and link the entire value chain together.
With a holistic digital ecosystem, companies can uncover synergies between key areas of their business, identify and predict impact, and allow for human intervention before things go wrong.
Increased demand and accelerated production can bring unintended side effects
Earth’s population is growing rapidly, and it’s estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that by 2050 we will need to produce 60% more food to feed a population of more than 9 billion. Furthermore, the global demand for seafood is expected to nearly double by 2050.
Increased demand and accelerated production can lead to unintended side effects which damage the oceans and negatively impact biodiversity, while also decreasing fish welfare and increasing pollution, oxygen depletion and parasite outbreaks.
Producing more seafood in a responsible, sustainable way is one of the greatest challenges facing the aquaculture industry. If food demands are to be met through aquaculture, it requires new ways of thinking and acting. New methods of collecting and analyzing data. New way of streamlining operations. And resilient digital ecosystems to tie the entire value chain together—on a global scale.
Stand-alone applications will not get us there
Today, the solutions landscape for aquaculture is filled with stand-alone applications that address narrow areas of the value chain. These solutions are self-enclosed and offer limited data sharing and optimization across the business—and they will not be enough to effectively improve the way we produce seafood.
The key to reducing pollution and improving fish welfare in a high-demand future hinges on the ability to see connections and get the right information to the right people in time to support faster and better decisions. Single-point solutions can’t get us there, but taking a more holistic approach can.
Finding synergies in aquaculture
When we look at the aquaculture value chain holistically, synergies between upstream and downstream begin to emerge. This helps us see how data collected at the hatchery can drive strategic decisions at the farming site. Or how real-time information about fish growth can optimize logistics and contracting. We see how feed formulations impact growth and disease, or how environmental changes affect the efficiency of the feed produced.
By relying on an interconnected digital ecosystem, solutions can communicate with one another, and data is shared easily. This creates visibility, connectivity, resilience and speed. Which are key elements for making the right business decisions, predicting their impact and adjusting accordingly.
Increasing visibility and speed at scale helps farmers make strategic decisions in all stages of the value chain. Data-driven decisions that will help improve fish welfare, mitigate disease, optimise logistics, reduce emissions, increase transparency and much more.
Building holistic digital ecosystems
Cognizant Ocean applies systemic design and human insights to unravel aquaculture’s biggest challenges and uncover new opportunities—from improving operations and sustainability to achieving business goals.
Systemic design combines two approaches into one:
- Systems thinking: A holistic approach to understanding an industry and where it sits in the larger ecosystem. Using systems thinking, we can understand how all parts of a system or value chain are interconnected, and see where things can be linked to create new value.
- Design thinking: A human-centred approach allowing us to target smaller areas of the value chain and co-create products and services built on the human insights of those closest to the problem.
By blending these two approaches, we generate a process that alternates between divergence and convergence and quickly iterates to streamline team interactions, reduce risk and accelerate learning. This allows us to receive perspectives from multiple stakeholders and determine where we can build synergies between products and services to generate increased benefits and enhance decision-making.
Over time, this approach will ensure that new products and services consider the entire value chain. And instead of single-point, stand-alone solutions, they will be built on top of unified platforms that deliver a truly holistic, interconnected digital experience.
To learn more about out blue energy initiative, take a look at our blue food page. You'll find more blog posts about Cognizant Ocean blow.
