Konkat Steers Their Infrastructural Ship with HCLSoftware Legacy Solutions

“Legacy”, regarding the noun-usage means, “the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life.” (Thank you, Google Dictionary. Special shout-out to Oxford.)

“Legacy” as an adjective in our world of software means, “denoting or relating to software or hardware that has been superseded but is difficult to replace because of its wide use.”

What if it also means 25 years of proven, tested, measured against its competitors, and still found worthy? What if it means loyalty and a good man in a storm?

Konkat (or Conkat) Technical Company, also widely known for their MarTime footprint and widespread presence on- and off-shore, has been utilizing HCLSoftware products for 25 years. Domino, Sametime, and Leap are all in their toolbelt. Workflows in web and mobile applications, mail infrastructure, application development all with 10+ companies with more than 20 vertical applications connected offshore and onshore – bound with Workflow and ERP. Solutions that work together. Each solution plays a role, but HCL Domino, “it’s the backbone.”

This company with its miles-apart locations, often at-sea, needed an IT infrastructure capable of communicating with vessels. “The company at that time was trying to create unification with the vessels and the onshore, procurement applications, integrate the ships, undisrupted communication no matter where they were. HCL Domino is the unifier.” Domino has yielded more than 100 applications – client and web together – over the last 25 years. It provides real-time communication and undisrupted application connection. 

Konkat has their mail and application ecosystem/base and applications themselves with integrated backends with frontends, giving them all the power and peripheral tools. Data from Notes clients with LN and BI ecosystems. This team is ahead of every curve and provides constant engagement with their properties. When asked about our competition, they laughed and admitted they tried. “One was considered for our mail infrastructure, Domino prevailed due to the MarTime application and simple mail system platform. (Popular file-sharing competitor) said they couldn’t replicate or recreate what we had with Domino.”

What was your implementation journey like? “Workflow is the engine with all its workflow capabilities, we appreciate that it’s robust. Domino is one of the oldest applications development platforms, but it’s the full system from adhoc. Certain applications today even cannot be recreated with such precision due to how the engine works. It gives us the kind of things that we require to do what we do.” Also named as a huge sticking point: rapid development and ease of use.

“We tried to change for various reasons, mainly for the application ecosystem built around the platform, which you cannot achieve with multiple servers – we created ALL of this on ONE server.”

And the integration? Instant. Konkat went from no system to a running mail system, initial applications running with the ships. Adding in more products with the Workflow was the next step in the evolution, gradually with more development migration to webpage-based from “legacy”, utilizing almost all of the products HCL Domino has in their suite (Leap, Sametime, Traveller, Nomad.)

What Konkat is doing is modernizing MarTime technology through applied management scenarios with data coming in through their ERP system and data staging happening on-board and on-shore. Application supply management using the supply inventory from the vessels, the vessel submits a request for food or materials, that request comes into ERP, requisition comes through the application module built on Workflow procedure and SQL database – ERP evolves the notes and receipt and it provides a full supply cycle. This entire process involves all of the platforms, provides real-time, constant feedback and communication, and allows everyone to function without missing a beat.

We (HCLSoftware) are always looking forward to the future. Speaking with Konkat, we asked how they are doing the same, “We’re always looking forward. We look at our product portfolio and are always focused on integration and providing a better and more secure product offering. We focus on our vessels and our people, no matter where they are offshore or onshore. We are always looking for ways to better support them and our clients, we believe in closing the loop.”

Konkat: Present-day and future-focused innovators with “legacy” solutions at the helm.