The majority of Vopak companies use the PEPI system developed by Vopak for their day-to-day operations. The continuous availability of this system is vitally important for handling customer orders, planning vessels, invoicing and other activities. Vopak has availability, security and data integrity standards and manual emergency procedures and has worked out clear arrangements for the operating departments and suppliers with respect to these standards. Vopak’s operational processes are also increasingly computerised. As a result, process security has improved further, thus reducing operational risks. Process computerisation is linked to, but operates independently of, the PEPI administrative system.

The rendering of services to customers can be adversely affected by ICT systems with sub-standard availability and quality. Vopak has set up a professional governance model to monitor the entire ICT performance and take remedial action if necessary. The effectiveness of the ICT governance model is regularly tested, for example by having network security scanned externally and by implementing and testing an updated disaster and recovery plan. The ICT environment has been examined with the assistance of an external consultancy bureau. The overall conclusion was that the existing system provides an extremely robust basis for Vopak’s further growth strategy. Training requirements have been identified in the PEPI-Lift project and standardisation of processes has been initiated and partly implemented.

ICT is identified as a significant supporting ‘enabler’ in strategic projects, with ‘ICT realignment’, ‘ICT support tools’ and ‘business intelligence’ receiving additional attention.