Digital Transformation in Oil & Gas: Transforming the Experience
April 27, 2017
It is nearly impossible to listen to public radio or read the news without running into a story that highlights how quickly technology is outpacing humanity. While many of us are still getting used to the Internet, technology has moved past us to digital transformation, nextgen customer experiences, smart technologies, asset management, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and even further to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Businesses today have the opportunity to transform and change its existing models, structures, policies and organizational patterns. It’s digital transformation that makes this possible. Whether a business is just beginning to digitize by managing its assets to monetizing on a deeper digital level, it is a fact that digital solutions are rapidly redefining the way business operates.
The oil & gas industry is experiencing a rapid paradigm shift in regards to digital transformation. We have entered into a new era of “smart” technology during a time when price cuts on crude oil cause oil & gas companies to decommission rigs and cut investment in exploration and production.
Like any other industry that needs to stay on top of current technology in order to survive, the energy industry cannot simply rely on consumption to sustain and influence profit margins, according to Vasuki Upadhya, Technology Architecture practice head for E&C, Mining Industry at Wipro Technologies. The days of depending on society’s constant craving for oil and gas and cutting costs when prices descend are over.
“Many leading oil and gas companies are becoming more competitive by utilizing greater asset management practices; yet more still needs to be done,” says Upadhya.
The same digitalization that allows companies to more quickly see the need to repair and replace current equipment before it breaks down, thereby avoiding costly downtime, is a two-edged sword, he points out. To be able to take the greatest advantage of that technology, a company must be able to receive the massive flow of data that is a product of IIoT. Indeed, in and of itself, this new abundance of information is an entirely new asset, but can also be viewed as a liability if a company is not set up to deal with it effectively. This, says Upadhya, is one of the major challenges of digital transformation. An avalanche of data can disrupt the business when you are trying to use that very data to make the business operate more smoothly and efficiently...
Read entire articcle at Penn Energy.
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