Built by customers: the co-creation story behind Aura APM
Author: Ilari Lemmetty
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Shipowners managing large fleets face a familiar problem: data exists, but it is fragmented across systems. Aura APM is Elomatic’s answer to that problem: a data platform built to give shipowners better visibility into fleet operations. What makes it different is how it was designed: in close collaboration with the shipowners who would use it.
Innovation rarely starts with a blank page. Building Aura was no exception: it meant listening, learning, and rethinking how value is created and delivered in a fast-changing market.
Why existing tools weren’t enough
Our starting point wasn’t an abstract idea, but years of hands-on work with maritime customers across projects, deliveries, and operational phases. That exposure gave us a clear view of where digital tools repeatedly fall short: too rigid, too complex, or too disconnected from everyday decision-making.
Rather than discarding this knowledge, we treated it as a real asset. The right question wasn’t “What can we build?” It was “What do customers actually need help with – today and tomorrow?”
Listening to the market through dialogue
To answer that question, we turned to the industry partners we have built fruitful relationships with over the course of many projects. Conversations with new partners, potential customers, exploratory meetings, and structured workshops all became central to how we developed Aura.
These conversations were primarily about discovery, not sales. We listened for pain points, unmet needs, and emerging expectations. Customers shared their frustrations with existing tools, their concerns about usability and cost, and their hopes for solutions that could grow alongside their business rather than slow adoption down.
Mapping the problem together
Workshops proved especially valuable. By bringing together customer representatives, domain experts, and our own development and business teams, we could map processes, challenge assumptions, and design better user experiences. These sessions built a shared language and a shared understanding of what good tools should look like.
We also listened not just to what customers said, but to what they prioritized. That distinction helped us separate features that sound attractive from capabilities that genuinely deliver value.
As the product vision evolved, it became clear that the business model needed rethinking, too.
From insights to a clear product vision
As insights accumulated, clear patterns emerged. Many customer challenges weren’t isolated technical problems, but systemic ones: fragmented data, disconnected tools, and solutions that failed to support decision-making across the full lifecycle. That realization shaped the core vision of Aura. Rather than focusing on narrow functionality, we set out to build a solution that supports users holistically – combining clarity, usability, and actionable insights in a single platform.
Simplicity became a guiding principle. Customers didn’t want another system to manage. They wanted a tool that fits naturally into their workflows and supports better decisions without unnecessary complexity. Flexibility mattered just as much. Customers operate in different contexts, with different maturity levels and future ambitions. Aura needed to adapt to those realities, not force customers into predefined models.
Rethinking the business model alongside the product
As the product vision evolved, it became clear that the business model needed rethinking, too. Together with our first customer, we developed a more collaborative approach to software development and implementation. This unconventional way of working reflects the actual value we deliver, not just what we happen to have on the shelf.
The model lowers the threshold for adoption, strengthens customer relationships, and keeps quality high. Customers can start small, validate value quickly, and expand as their needs grow. When customers succeed, we succeed. The model also supports ongoing development. Feedback is built into the relationship, so Aura evolves in response to real usage rather than assumptions made at launch.
Collaboration as a competitive advantage
One of the clearest lessons from this journey was that innovation didn’t happen in isolation. It emerged through continuous interaction between experience, insight, and experimentation, both inside Elomatic and with our customers.
Internally, business, technology, and domain expertise came together early. That reduced handovers, accelerated learning, and let us test ideas quickly: discarding what didn’t work and refining what did.
Externally, we treated customers as partners rather than end users. Their willingness to share challenges and join workshops directly shaped both the product and the business model. That shared ownership built trust and kept Aura grounded in real needs from the start.
The new approach will continue to guide us
This process produced more than a new software product. It shaped a new way of thinking about how we innovate, engage with customers, and create sustainable value. By combining existing experience with fresh perspectives from customer discussions and workshops, we moved faster, reduced uncertainty, and built something that addresses real needs. The new business model reinforces this by making adoption easier and value more transparent.
Markets evolve, technologies advance, and customer expectations rise, but the principles stay the same: listen closely, collaborate openly, and build on what truly matters. The next big thing isn’t born in roadmaps or innovation programs alone but rather with humble openness and a willingness to observe industry trends and listen to customers.
Ilari Lemmettu
M.Sc. (Industrial Engineering and Management)
Ilari is a maritime and digital professional with a strong background in shipyard production process modeling, simulation, and marine software development. He has worked at Elomatic for seven years across Marine, Industry, and Pharma units. Alongside his central role in Aura APM development, he works as Business Development Manager in Elomatic’s Digital Transformation unit.
ilari.lemmetty@elomatic.com
Want to know more? Check out these articles:
Aura APM: Elomatic’s vision for the future of Asset Performance Management
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Aura: The future of asset performance management
This year’s SMM in Hamburg will see the launch of the Aura Asset Performance Management System, the culmination of two years of collaboration between Elomatic and Europe’s largest private AI lab, Silo AI. We are excited about the end result: the creation of a highly customisable, 360-degree asset performance and technical support system that is designed to utilize cutting edge AI technology to support enhanced operational efficiency.
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