Case Study
Based on www.mindlinksoft.com
A Europe‐based shipbroker has about one hundred employees working from different locations
around the world. The shipbroker provides services to other companies, which need to have access
to information on ship and cargo movements in real time to ensure successful operations.
The shipbroker receives about five thousand emails relating to tracking of ships and merchandise per
day. This information is important to the shipbroker's core business, because accurate information
enables them to provide more efficient brokering, making them more competitive.
The shipbroker needed to
Reduce the time spent on answering emails.
Enable its employees to access information on‐the‐go, from remote locations.
Implement automatic email routing to ensure that emails reach employees responsible
for resolving specific issues or answering queries faster.
The shipbroker implemented an enterprise chat solution from MindLink. The resulting system allows
the employees to log into group chat channels using Android and iOS devices, such as mobile phones
and tablets. Each employee can maintain an individually customised list of channels. The system can
automatically filter information relevant to specific teams. All incoming emails are redirected into
relevant chat channels. Further, the system generates regular digests from chat channel discussions
and forwards them as emails to the shipbroker's customers, who can reply to this information in real
time.
MindLink, the providers of the enterprise chat solution, claim that the following benefits are
achieved for the shipbroker:
• Instant access to chat channels & information via mobile devices
• Reduction of email volume equating to faster response to business issues
• Improved on‐time & on‐target deliveries
• Increased collaboration with third party companies and better decision making
• Increased customer satisfaction due to proactive notifications
• Improved operational efficiency, risk & incident management
MindLink describe their product as "a fully mobile, deeply integrated, secure & compliant persistent
Chat solution that will transform how your teams collaborate."
Question 1
Characterise the information provided by the enterprise chat solution from the perspective of the
characteristics of good information.
Question 2
Analyse the security threats the shipbroker faces because of the introduction of the enterprise chat
system and suggest the appropriate safeguards, focusing on human safeguards.