Digital Business Transformation in Ports: IoT Applications in Port Management and Strategies

Introduction

As digital transformation offers a number of opportunities for organizations (Wessel, Baiyere, Ologeanu-Taddei, Cha, & Jensen, 2020), many businesses around the world have started to adapt to digital transformation and take advantage of digital technology in recent years. Because, making use of digital technology enables one to do things in less time, need fewer employees, reduce costs, use information and resources effectively, produce the most products with the least resources and consequently increase the profitability of the enterprises. The term transformation refers to a fundamental change in the organization that has a major impact on the organization’s strategy, the structure of the organization, and the distribution of power in the organization (Berghaus and Back, 2016). The term digital transformation can be explained as organizational transformation in the digital age where market demands are driven by developments in information technologies (Tanniru, Xi, & Sandhu, 2020). Information technology is the technology that includes the development, maintenance and use of computer systems, software and networks for data processing and distribution. (Al Amoush, & Sandhu, 2020a). Of course, the transition from a classical business to a digital business is difficult and time-consuming. However, the magnitude of the results to be obtained and the fact that it provides effective solutions to the problems faced by the business raises the appetite for Digital Business Transformation (DBT) in all sectors. DBT aims to achieve organizational change through the use of digital technologies to materially improve performance in a business. However, in order to achieve organizational change, systems consisting of digital technologies must first be integrated into the enterprises.

The philosophy of IOT technology can be defined as the fact that every object in the world is connected to the internet and each other. Mobile phones, tablets, and computers make up the largest proportion of internet-connected objects today. With the development of internet infrastructure and the increase in internet speed, the number of objects connected to the internet is increasing day by day. In this way, it is aimed to make all kinds of non-smart objects smart and to create a smart world as a result. This idea reveals the IOT concept. Nowadays, IOT has started to be used in many applications such as smart transportation and smart city (Singh, Rathore, & Park, 2020). Every object connected to the internet generates information and this information can be stored through the internet. This information is very valuable information in the commercial area. Because these reflect people’s habits, behaviors, and desires. The most valuable aspect of smart systems is that they produce this valuable information. Information generated by objects that are not connected to the internet is lost. In the coming years, with the connection of all objects to the internet, the information produced by each object will be recorded and processed.

Ports have accelerated DBT in recent years in order to carry out all activities in the complex environment in the ports in the fastest, most practical and least costly way, to ensure good port management, and to determine the short, medium, and long term strategic plans accurately. In this context, they have started to benefit from various information technologies. IOT is one of the leading information technologies, which is being used in port management and determining port strategies, and its areas of use are increasing. Therefore, the research question in this study is, “Can IOT provide solutions to problems in port management and strategies to achieve digital transformation in ports?” determined as. As a result of the literature review, it has been determined that IOT has started to be used in many areas such as supply chain management and cargo tracking at ports, optimizing port traffic and port equipment, the transition from classical systems to digital systems, standardization, calculation of port performance indicators, green port applications, and port security. In the study, applications conducted with IOT technology in ports are examined under subgroups related to port management and strategies. The aim of the section is to introduce the potential uses of IOT technology in port management and strategies within DBT and to provide insight into how IOT technology will create an opportunity to solve current and potential problems in ports.