As a global organization with almost 50 production facilities in Greenland, Canada, and Germany, as well as sales activities on all continents, the company is committed to bringing wild-caught, high-quality seafood from the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean to consumers around the globe.

To maintain safe-running operations for both employees and customers during this global pandemic while keeping customers supplied with fish, all the company’s locations have worked closely with healthcare and food administration authorities.

Lars Bo Hassinggaard, corporate IT manager at Royal Greenland, believes the company will emerge from the pandemic in good shape. “Food service is down, so we have struggled with sales, but internally we are still going strong,” he says. “We have fish coming in every day. We are supporting the local communities. We still have a big focus of keeping the goods moving. We are in the food supply service, so it’s very important for us to keep the industry going.”

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Nevertheless, according to a published by The Nature Conservancy, supply chains involving seafood are uniquely complex – especially the ones that are based on wild-caught fish, which face higher uncertainty and risk than farm-raised chains due to ever-changing environmental and biological conditions.

“That is a difference between wild-caught and farmed,” says Hassinggaard. “We cannot really control our productivity – what is coming in. And that is what we try to accomplish and overcome using our IT systems.”

Hassinggaard explains that the main challenges in the company’s vertically integrated fishery supply chain are based on a combination of management measures. These include maintaining ongoing dialogue with local suppliers, like individual fishermen working out of their dinghies, and, most importantly, ensuring all fishing activities are registered and carried out in full compliance with laws and regulations and reported to the appropriate government or fishery management authorities.

To help optimize this process and improve regulatory compliance, Royal Greenland implemented . This cloud-based solution has helped advance the company’s forecasting and planning capabilities and improve data transparency by establishing a common, integrated platform for sales and operations.

“We are trying to digitalize the process of bringing the fish into factories and tying this together with the full quality control and registration process,” Hassinggaard says. “We have developed apps for all these scenarios, and we’re using this strategic platform to build a close collaboration with the local fishermen.”

As a member of the , Royal Greenland also has a strong focus on driving sustainable practices for the fisheries in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.

“We have invested heavily in sustainability in many ways,” says Hassinggaard. “We are using fish remains for bait, and we are trying to develop additional smart bait mechanisms. We are investing in brand new trawlers that leave no, or very little, fish remains.”

In order to stay ahead as a leader in the seafood industry, Royal Greenland recognizes that innovation is the key at every step in the value chain. By utilizing technology, such as remote-sensing applications, combined with extensive fishing experience, the company has been able to enhance the efficiency of its harvesting operations, which results in reduced fuel consumption and, therefore, reduced emissions.

“We catch what we need, fast and efficiently. Instead of sailing around using a lot of fuel, we go directly to where we can optimize the catch,” says Hassinggaard. “We are sustainable, and we want to keep it that way because we want to fish today but also tomorrow and in 10 years. So, we try to think ahead”.

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As the virus spreads, so does fake news. From to wild speculation about government plans and even possibly harmful unproven “cures,” disinformation is flooding the Internet and posing a serious threat to public health.

As a result, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world is facing a catastrophic epidemic of misinformation about COVID-19, calling it an . In a message posted on his Twitter account, Guterres said that “to overcome the coronavirus, we need to urgently promote facts & science, hope & solidarity over despair & division.”

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In response to the evolving issue, the UN is advancing communications efforts to make sure people have the latest and most credible information about the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a series of and is working with search and media giants like Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and others to help counter the spread of rumors, which include misinformation like 5G mobile networks spread the virus; that it cannot survive in the hot weather; that drinking methanol, ethanol, or bleach prevent or cure it; and that consuming spicy food, garlic, and special herbs can prevent infection.

At this crucial moment, tech companies are feeling the pinch. They face an unprecedented challenge: How do they strike the , and only provide information that will help the global community get through the pandemic in the best way?

New App Cuts Through Fake News with Real-Time Facts on COVID-19

To help address the flood of misinformation, the Innovation office in 51·çÁ÷Asia Pacific Japan (51·çÁ÷APJ) stepped up during early stages of the pandemic. In only two weeks, the team developed a chatbot-based application using Experience Management (XM) technology, with the goal of providing users with accurate real-time information on COVID-19, along with personalized guidance on how to cope with the virus.

Called “,” the app collates news from reliable sources including public health authorities like the WHO and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as relevant government agencies at a global and local level.

One 51·çÁ÷customer, a global pharmaceuticals firm, has already rolled out the app for its staff. With access to bespoke data on the number of COVID-19 cases, searchable by hospital location, employees at the firm are now able to predict likely demand for medical supplies and respond accordingly.

“In times of crisis, effectiveness of communication and reliability of information become paramount,” Scott Russell, president of 51·çÁ÷APJ, affirmed.

51·çÁ÷plans to soon begin rolling out the app globally to customers that have 51·çÁ÷Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement. It will run on and be accessed as either a webpage or as an Apple iOS application, free of charge.

Russell believes Bridge-IT is the perfect example of how combining experience data (X-data) with operational data (O-data) is a simple and powerful way to deliver better experiences: “We’re bringing sentiment data and accurate operational data together, and there’s no better way to show the strategy of SAP.”

The app offers the following features:

• Data platform: Powered by 51·çÁ÷Cloud Platform, the data platform collates information from trustworthy global and local sources, as well as specific country, governmen,t and company data to provide as accurate information as possible, in real time.
• Chatbot: Powered by the 51·çÁ÷Conversational AI service, the chatbot provides a user-friendly tool to answer questions and provide access to company-specific FAQs or healthcare guidance.
• Automated guidance tools: Powered by XM solutions from SAP, personalized surveys ask respondents a range of questions about their situation and appropriate resources are provided based on their needs. The survey includes questions about COVID-19 symptoms so that tailored healthcare guidance and resources can be provided based on users’ answers.
• Dashboard: Visualizations of real-time data are provided, such as the impact of COVID-19 on supply and customer-based data, including public sentiment, on 51·çÁ÷Analytics Cloud.

Listen to the full interview withĚýScott Russell, available onĚýĚýandĚý.