Enabling reliable, integrated digital ferry services through Total Quality
Challenge
Ferry services are a lifeline for island communities, so failures in booking systems, onboard payments or vessel technology can quickly affect access to work, healthcare and everyday travel.
Approach
Resillion tested the service as people experience it in real life – from online bookings to handheld payment devices exposed to wet, hot and cold onboard conditions.
Results
eBooking platform went live without system-wide or performance-related issues, helping passengers book and manage journeys online with greater confidence from day one.
A leading ferry operator connects the mainland with remote island communities across a coastal region. The organisation provides an essential public transport service and plays a critical role in supporting local economies and communities. For many island residents, reliable ferry services are a lifeline to healthcare, work and everyday life.
The challenge: Ensuring reliability for critical national infrastructure
In 2025, the organisation embarked on a major investment programme to modernise its fleet, infrastructure and digital services, alongside a long-term transformation of its operations.
Alongside fleet modernisation, it had clear digital objectives:
- Enable more passengers to buy and manage tickets online
- Integrate ferry travel with wider transport networks
- Improve reliability, resilience and customer experience across digital and operational systems
At the same time, the organisation faced practical challenges, including increasing system demand, limited historic quality metrics and technology operating in harsh marine environments – such as onboard payment devices failing in wet or overheated conditions.
Significant investment was needed to ensure the organisation could continue to provide reliable services to remote communities. New senior IT stakeholders were also seeking assurance that suppliers could deliver quality-led outcomes, rather than competing primarily on price.
Our approach: End‑to‑End digital and operational assurance
As the organisation entered a new long-term service agreement, Resillion expanded its long-standing quality engineering engagement into a broader Total Quality model. This brought together quality engineering, performance, operational technology and cyber assurance to provide a more comprehensive approach to quality, reliability and security across its operations and fleet.
Digital e-booking platform assurance
Resillion provided end‑to‑end quality assurance for the operator’s eBooking platform, supporting both customer‑facing journeys and back-office systems.
This included:
Performance testing to validate the platform under expected demand
Automated cross‑browser and cross‑platform regression testing across core customer journeys
Shift‑left quality improvements, helping teams define clearer requirements and acceptance criteria earlier in the delivery cycle
The objective was to reduce delivery and go‑live risk while supporting the orgnaisation’s goal of increasing online ticket sales and integrated travel journeys.
Onboard device environmental testing – payment systems
The operator had identified reliability issues with handheld payment devices used on board ferries, where exposure to wet, cold and hot conditions caused devices to fail in live service.
Resillion delivered a structured environmental and operational testing programme, captured in a formal Statement of Work, which included:
Independent, side‑by‑side testing of shortlisted rugged handheld devices
Validation under simulated marine conditions, including temperature extremes and moisture exposure
Evidence-based output designed to inform procurement decisions rather than relying on vendor claims
The testing approach was designed to be reusable for future device refresh cycles and aligned to fixed public sector funding timelines.
New ferry OT cybersecurity testing – accelerated delivery
As part of their fleet renewal programme, Resillion carried out operational technology (OT) penetration testing on one of their newest ferries.
Due to an unplanned rescue operation during the vessel’s transit, dock availability was reduced from 4 to 5 days to a single day. Delay to delivery of this lifeline to the island communities was not an option.
Mobilised 3 OT penetration testers at one working days’ notice
Delivered the full scope of testing in one intensive day using extended shifts
Maintained coverage without reducing the agreed test scope
Results: Reducing operational risk
Across digital platforms, onboard systems and vessel technology, Resillion helped the organisation to reduce delivery risk while building confidence in quality‑led decision making.
Key outcomes included:
Successful launch of the eBooking platform, with no system‑wide or performance related issues at go‑live, and full operational stability achieved within days
Improved resilience of onboard payment services, supported by independently verified device performance data to inform procurement and future refresh cycles
Demonstrated operational resilience, delivering multi‑day OT security testing within a single day without reducing scope, supporting assurance of critical ferry infrastructure
Expansion of the engagement from standalone quality engineering into a broader Total Quality model, spanning quality engineering, performance, operational technology and cyber assurance
The Total Quality perspective
The ferry operator can now manage risk across their digital journeys, physical devices and critical infrastructure, using a single, trusted assurance partner who can adapt delivery models without compromising quality.
For a transport operator who offers a lifeline to island communities, Resillion’s joined-up approach gives them confidence in meeting their commitments in their public contract, and in the quality of their investment. For their customers, they now have a more seamless and reliable journey experience from the digital booking to the transit across the water.
