Assembling world-class crews for Aurora Expeditions with Salesforce Field Service
For Aurora Expeditions, no two voyages are ever the same. Each journey unfolds in real time, shaped by weather, wildlife, and location. One day might bring polar wildlife. The next could be photography, history, or kayaking, depending on what nature allows.
Because of this unpredictability, getting the crew right from the start is critical. For Aurora, Field Service isn’t about fixing broken equipment; it’s about assembling the right experts upfront, ready to adapt as the journey unfolds.
ProQuest partnered with Aurora to help reimagine how expedition crews are assembled and managed, delivering a solution that drives real operational impact while supporting exceptional guest experiences.
Aurora Expeditions is an Australian-owned adventure travel company that has been operating small-ship expeditions since 1991.
They are known for delivering immersive, expert-led journeys in some of the most remote environments on the planet.
The Challenge
Aurora runs around 75 voyages each year, supported by more than 1,000 specialist contractors across 20+ expedition roles. Managing this scale meant coordinating hundreds of contractors across multiple roles and changing availability. As the business grew, relying on manual processes made this increasingly difficult, without compromising the high standards Aurora is known for.
And that challenge is only growing: a third vessel was about to be launched in a few months, which means even more complexity and pressure on their current processes. They needed a smarter, more scalable way to manage contractors without slowing the pace of adventure.
About the project
Working closely together, ProQuest and Aurora implemented Salesforce Field Service as a central platform to support contractor coordination and expedition operations.
What we delivered:
- Integrated Salesforce Field Service with Kaptio for Expression of Interest and booking workflows, connecting voyage planning with contractor availability, skills, and role preferences
- Skills-based crew matching to ensure the right experts are assigned to each voyage
- Clear visual scheduling, with each ship treated as a service territory to give planners instant visibility into coverage and gaps
- A simplified contracting model that supports multiple roles per contractor without duplicate agreements
- Mobile-first tools that support expedition leaders and contractors with schedules, tasks, reporting, and reviews from anywhere in the world
- A scalable foundation that supports future voyages without increasing operational complexity
The results
With Salesforce Field Service in place, Aurora Expeditions now has a more connected and consistent way to manage expedition crews across voyages, ships, and roles.
In practice, this means:
- Less time spent coordinating crews, thanks to a single system of record replacing spreadsheets and inbox chaos
- Better cost control through cleaner, more specific contract terms across multiple roles
- Greater visibility into contractor availability, utilisation, and time tracking to support better planning and decisions
- The ability for the same operations team to support additional voyages in the future without increasing overhead
- A better day-to-day experience for expedition leaders and contractors, supported by mobile tools designed for life on the move
Aurora recognised the impact of this work with a 5/5⭐ CSAT rating, reflecting both the outcomes delivered and the strength of the partnership throughout the project.
“The ProQuest team were phenomenal to work with. They were professional, knowledgeable and very organised, while being easy to talk to, easy to work with, flexible when required. I’d have no objections with highly recommending PQ to anyone.”
Dominic Sasse
Head of IT, Aurora Expeditions
Looking ahead
This project highlights what’s possible when Salesforce Field Service is applied thoughtfully to real-world operational challenges.
This is the kind of Field Service challenge ProQuest is known for solving.
Complex environments. Dynamic workforces. Non-standard requirements. Delivered with care, clarity, and confidence.
For organisations managing specialist teams, shifting schedules, or operational complexity, the right platform and partnership can make all the difference.
If you’re exploring how Salesforce can support your own or your customer’s operations in smarter, more flexible ways, we’d love to continue the conversation.
