Here at Helm Operations, our last quarter of 2019 certainly wasn’t our least. We reached new milestones, ran our most successful event ever, launched a major new feature, and made one big announcement you won’t want to miss. So what exactly happened in the last quarter of 2019 for us? Let’s take a look.
- Welcome Aboard!
Welcome aboard to all our new customers! This past quarter we added 91 assets on Helm CONNECT from 11 new companies. Some of these new users include:
- Turn Services from New Orleans
- SMS Towage from the UK
- Boone Towing from Texas
- Gore Marine from Georgia
- Carlsen Mooring from Texas
With the addition of these new companies we were able to reach a major milestone: there are now over 200 companies and over 4000 assets using Helm CONNECT! We’re humbled by the fact that it only took us three short years to reach this mark – thank you to everyone that has come aboard with us.
- Helm Conference 2019
We kicked off Q4 with Helm Conference 2019 which ran from Oct 7-9 in Nashville, TN. It was our most successful conference yet with over 100 people from 43 companies around the world present. On day one we ran a Helm CONNECT Advanced Training day filled with interactive sessions on a variety of topics. Check out these webinars to get a taste of what our attendees learned. The following two days were packed with presentations from Helm staff and partners, focused discussion groups, networking, and a whole lot of fun. You can watch the full highlight video here.
- Meet the Release: Helm CONNECT 1.17
In November we launched our biggest release of the year – Helm CONNECT 1.17. This release was full of great new features and enhancements, like the one so many of you have been asking for: Maintenance by Metric! With Maintenance by Metric you can now trigger your maintenance routines with any cumulative reading, whether that’s running hours, fuel burn, number of tows, or any other metric you choose. Check out this blog post to learn more about the future of preventive maintenance.
In addition to this highly anticipated feature, we also added the following features:
- In Helm CONNECT Maintenance, you can now select multiple assets on the Maintenance > Overview > Overview tab.
- For our Helm CONNECT Jobs customers, we added a warning so you can see easily if you’re assigning the wrong type of resource to a job.
- In Helm CONNECT Personnel, crew dispatchers can now add override earning codes while they’re planning their crew changes, instead of having to wait until the crew is on board.
- Also in Helm CONNECT Personnel, we added messages to individual payroll transactions to help your payroll clerks manage their payroll queues more easily.
To learn more about all our latest features, click here.
- The International WorkBoat Show
From December 4 – 6 we exhibited at our biggest show of the year – the International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans! This year we showcased our latest feature, Maintenance by Metric, which lets you use custom metrics to optimize your preventive maintenance schedule. We also shared the booth with our partner ShipTracks, who specialize in providing real-time vessel position information through AIS mapping, all of which is accessible through Helm CONNECT. Check out all our trade show photos here!
- Happy Sails for our CEO
After 20 years as CEO of Helm Operations, our fearless leader, Ron deBruyne, has decided to retire as of December 12, 2019. Although we’ll miss Ron very much, we all know that the company will still be in good hands. That’s because Nolan Barclay, Helm’s COO, will now be moving into the CEO position.
Nolan has a long history with Helm Operations, and was actually the first employee Ron hired. With Nolan’s energy, experience and enthusiasm, it’s clear that there couldn’t have been a better choice. It’s also clear to all of us at Helm that our core values will remain the same, especially our dedication to customer success. We’ve always thought of our customers as a “family” rather than an “industry”, and that won’t be changing any time soon. It’s a concept that was important to Ron, and one that we’re proud to carry on with. We wish him all the best and thank him for everything he’s done for us. Happy Sails, Ron!
To read the full blog post announcement, click here.
What’s Next?
February is going to be busy month for us here at Helm. From Feb 3-6, we’ll be in Tampa, FL, co-exhibiting with our partners Tug and Barge Solutions at the PVA Annual Convention at MariTrends. After that we’ll be heading to Orange Beach, AL for the TBS Conference from Feb 12-13 where we will speaking about Helm CONNECT Personnel and Ship Logs. There will also be a Helm Boot Camp, which is your chance to take a deep dive into the product and get additional training. See you there!
That’s all for now – be sure to check back in April for our next quarterly review. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us or book a demo!