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Member News: Onboard Tracker™ hosts sixth annual OnboardXChange with keynote from Sir Ian Wood

October 6, 2025
Member News: Onboard Tracker™ hosts sixth annual OnboardXChange with keynote from Sir Ian Wood

Market leading crew management software provider, Onboard Tracker™ united more than 80 global energy industry leaders as it hosted its sixth annual user forum – a full day event dedicated to shaping the future of digital crew management.

Held at ONE Tech Hub last Thursday (Oct 2nd), the event featured a keynote address from Sir Ian Wood, via video link, where he called upon energy companies to embrace digital transformation.

This was followed by a live client panel discussion to debate ‘The Global Workforce Challenge’. The forum was also the chance for Onboard Tracker™ to unveil the latest customer-led updates of its Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, in front of key decision makers from the energy, marine and renewables industries. Clients included Boskalis, Subsea 7, Stena, Semco Maritime, Archer, SBM, Vento, and Massterly, who travelled from across the globe for the much-anticipated Onboard Tracker™ calendar fixture, which helps shape industry standards and functionalities as well as driving industry processes to help support the future of crew management.

Onboard Tracker™ managing director Kevin Coll and his team of technology and crewing specialists engaged with delegates at the event, designed to give users a voice in shaping the technology’s roadmap through breakout sessions, and client-led discussions.

Users explored the increasing complexity of crew management, including taxation, global mobility, skills transition, and new market entry, while highlighting the opportunities a truly global workforce presents.

Developed by Solab IT Services in 2012, Onboard Tracker™ now supports over 150,000 energy, renewables and marine personnel in 110+ countries, across 8,000+ on and offshore sites, to help keep people safe in their daily offshore operations.

In his keynote, Sir Ian Wood praised the energy supply chain’s agility and called on UK energy companies to double down on digital transformation, “Solab and Kevin Coll have been pioneers of this sector with Onboard Tracker™ a leading example,” said Sir Ian.

“The oil and gas sector is evolving and the 45,000 jobs supported by this sector in the region are changing. As the energy industry changes, so do the opportunities for our skilled workforce. Most of these jobs are in our world class supply chain.”

Sir Ian hailed digital tech companies, like Onboard Tracker™, as vital for the energy transition and as ‘the backbone of the energy industry.’

“They take their expertise from oil and gas and use it to drive forward the growing energy industries of wind, hydrogen and carbon capture, supporting jobs and generating economic value to this region and indeed the whole of Scotland and the UK.”

Urging the energy sector to work in partnership with digital tech companies, he added, “By embracing change, we can ensure that our workforce remains at the forefront of the energy industry.”

Sir Ian also reaffirmed the North-east of Scotland’s position as the UK’s fastest growing digital tech sector, pushing for investment in innovation and the development of the next generation of energy professionals.

Founded in 2012, Onboard Tracker™ was born out of a need to replace paper, spreadsheets, and whiteboards with a scalable, connected platform for managing crew across thousands of global sites.

“Our clients not only use Onboard Tracker™, but they help shape it and its future direction,” said Kevin. “Our annual OnboardXChange forum is about listening, learning and innovating together.

“The energy sector is changing fast, and our clients are on the front lines of that transformation. Ten years ago, the North Sea ran on spreadsheets. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still work to do,” he said. “We’re proud to be working with our clients to lead that change, and events like OnboardXChange are how we stay ahead as a united front.”

Onboard Tracker™ is calling on the wider energy industry to invest in digital transformation, not only to support efficiency and safety, but to retain critical workforce skills, attract new talent into STEM, and ensure the region remains a global centre of excellence.

Addressing forum attendees last week, Kevin said Onboard Tracker™ users had already made an investment in the future.

“We’ll keep investing in our clients to transform crew management, and most importantly, help bring our energy workers home safely to their families.”

For more information, visit www.onboardtracker.com

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AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

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AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables
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Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
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The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy
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Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall
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Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

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