Jón Heiðar Pálsson, director of sales at Wise
Powerful innovation and active technological development have driven the excellent results achieved by the Icelandic fisheries sector in recent decades. As the fourth industrial revolution sets in, digital transformation shapes all areas of society and business. Sjávarafl visited Jón Heiðar Pálsson, director of sales at the Icelandic software and business solutions company Wise, to discuss the future of the industry and how technology provides valuable insights into the seafood value chain.
All the data in one place
Wise, formerly Maritech, has made a good name for itself in Iceland and abroad for its comprehensive software solutions that enable users to make good and well-informed business decisions. Wise offers solutions based on Microsoft’s business and accounting software Dynamics 365 Business Central, of which Wise is one of the largest resellers in Iceland. For two decades, Wise has provided fishing companies with their specialized fishing solution called WiseFish and Jón Heiðar estimates that between 80 and 90 percent of all catch in Iceland goes through the system in one way or another.
Wisefish gathers all the data on the seafood value chain and provides a unique insight and comprehensive overview of the complete process, from fishing and production to sales and distribution.
When WiseFish became available it marked a major revolution for the industry, says Jón Heiðar: “In most cases, fishing companies were running multiple systems that could not be integrated. You had to use special accounting software, a separate inventory system, thirdparty sales software, and calculate fishermen’s payroll with yet another program. Wisefish brought all of this together into a single whole. Wisefish gathers all the data on the seafood value chain and provides a unique insight and comprehensive overview of the complete process, from fishing and production to sales and distribution.”
Before WiseFish, this information was scattered throughout the value chain but the software made it easy to collect everything in a central database where nothing has to be entered or registered more than once since the data flow from a single source to where it is needed. When Navision, now Business Central, entered the scene it provided the basis for integrating the data and simplifying processes. “Our job is creating the ‘fish’ interface for this system that is used by over 150,000 businesses worldwide. We focus on adaptations and additions tailored to the demands of the fishing industry, without the need for developing the business, inventory, and accounting systems from the ground up. WiseFish was the first system to bring all these aspects together for the fishing industry, so now everyone can simply focus on what they do best,” says Jón Heiðar and cheekily adds: “A salesman does not have to know the first thing about accounting, they just need to know how to sell fish!”