Author: Mikko Saariaho, Chief Impact Officer, Fintraffic
The Finnish Government published its national transport system plan on 15 April 2021. Never before has such an extensive twelve-year plan been made for transport. Top marks for this!
When you dare to look far enough into the future and create a mutual aim, the State, municipalities and businesses will be able to progress in the same direction. In transport system development, a “quarter” is often years long.
In the coming years, overhauling transport will be about much more than just switching from diesel to electric or building a new track. Above all, it will be about making much better use of all kinds of traffic-related data.
In order to create the strongest possible foundation for a sustainable transport system in Finland and enable the breakthrough of new traffic services and solutions, data must flow smoothly between routes, vehicles, different modes of transport, service providers and end users. It doesn’t matter what we’re talking about – travel chain services, autonomous vehicles, boosting the efficiency of logistics nodes, shortening warehousing times for goods, or the increasing volume of drone traffic – information flow between the various parties is essential.
Every day at Fintraffic, we work to ensure that data flows as smoothly as possible within the transport system and is accessible to everyone. This lies at the heart of our traffic management operations on land, at sea and in the air. We also encourage all transport operators to take a more ecosystem-oriented approach. In our opinion, it’s important for operators in the sector to make a sufficiently strong commitment to common objectives, shared operating methods and standard practices. If we all did this, new service solutions for customers would not fail to get off the ground due to dozens of different operating methods and interfaces.
Digitalisation has already revolutionised numerous industries. The customer experience currently provided in banking and telecommunications is only possible because, years ago, the companies in these sectors agreed on how their various solutions and services would fit together. When you use your mobile to phone Brazil, you won’t notice which operators’ networks seamlessly transmit your call.
Transport is a strong candidate for the next sector to be shaken up by digitalisation. If Finland takes a bold stance and questions old operating models, we can act as a model for the rest of the world in this area as well, while also providing Finns with an unprecedentedly good service level in both passenger and goods transport chains. And at the same time, we can create new business opportunities for transport operators both at home and abroad.
Shall we do this together?
