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assume you know what it can do, and a lot the in a virtual way.

time you may not have had any training on the software or been formally exposed to what it can How is SSI investing today?

do. So, this is one of our answers to ensuring that We’ve grown and are still hiring more people the end users are educated in terms of what they in what a lot of people call a depressed shipbuild- have, and it removes all of the traditional barriers ing market. Recently we’ve hired a number of that shipyards would have around not wanting to new individuals mostly in product development. take people of? ine when they’re working on ac- Again, we’re fairly lean on the sales side of the tive projects. It’s something that can be done by business because I think shipbuilders want to talk individuals in whatever time they have because to people who understand how the products are of the way that it’s delivered. And it ? ts really going to solve their day-to-day challenges and is- well with markets where the cost of labor often sues. So, we invest a lot on the product develop- doesn’t equate well with the cost of training from ment, R&D and technical sales, if you will. But software companies. those are people who truly understand how to

If you’re paying a few thousand dollars a year use the software or have worked in the industry. for a skilled naval architect in Vietnam or coun- We’ve hired a handful of people even in the last tries like that, often paying an equivalent amount few months on our product development teams to have that person trained, the cost bene? t is not and are hiring more.

necessarily there, but in an online delivery mode It shouldn’t be a surprise, but we believe in

I think it makes a lot more sense for these ship- technology. We’re investing in a lot of infrastruc- yards. The reason I say it’s unique is because we ture so that our employees have the best tools that take that approach where we want everything to they can possible have to do the things that they be easy to use and not require an advanced de- need to do: a lot of virtual infrastructure, virtual gree in CAD, but simply require a good working testing and automated testing infrastructure and knowledge of shipbuilding to be able to operate so on.

the software. We’re one of the few products that We’ve also invested in direct of? ces in Dubai can deliver that sort of online, self-directed, self- and in India because we see those as being mar- guided training in all of our products. Like I said, kets where we want to directly engage with the as long as you understand shipbuilding, every- customers, so we’ve hired teams there. Again, the thing you’re exposed to in the training you can majority of people we’ve hired are people with understand. You don’t need an additional set of shipbuilding backgrounds, who’ve worked in the context or rulebooks or core training on how to industry, who can take what they know and help do 3D CAD. You’re simply doing shipbuilding other people implement their software. www.marinelink.com 23

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