5 Tips to make digital transformation easier in the oil and gas industry

Posted: December 2, 2019

Having worked for a long time in the automotive, aerospace and process industries, it has been interesting to see how organizations attempt to solve the challenges faced with digital transformation. Undergoing digital transformation presents many challenges along the journey, so it’s essential to understand the issues you may face and how you can overcome them.

1. Setting the right strategy

As we learn in all corporate environments, strategic planning is critical to ensure focus and direction as a collective approach to achieving the desired goal. This article on Medium.com[1] shows how you can break your digital transformation strategy into five simple steps:

• Create a vision
• Analyze the market
• Design the experience
• Assess a current standing
• Adjust infrastructure

2. Getting people on board

The oil and gas industry has long been a laggard in adapting to digital change. McKinsey wrote in an article online, “Digital Success requires a digital culture. An old-world organization will doom your reinvention for the new world”[2]. In order not to be doomed, companies should adopt a top-down culture, that allows broad access to information and the collective accountability to support the defined digital strategy.

3. Finding financial justification

The initial costs of implementing digital change can seem expensive. But it’s important to remember that to save money, organizations may need to spend money. Working with AVEVA, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) realized they could save 10,000 man-days per year just by solving poor information management issues that resulted in data silos. Pinpoint a specific KPI and enjoy early ROIs.

4. Setting the right targets for digitalization

So, what KPIs should be set in place for successful digital transformation? Whenever I discuss this topic, I have three typical things in mind: saving money, improving productivity, and reducing risks. According to Gartner[3] to create a digital KPI, you should begin by asking these key questions:

• What is being measured? An example might be the percentage of customer interactions that are virtual/digital.
• Where are we today?
• What is our target goal?
• What is our desired business outcome/benefit (for example, 50% better customer outcomes and 20% lower cost)?
• What is our balance point?

5. Developing your strategy over time

The world of digital transformation is fast-moving, so it's critical strategy is both developed over time and in a process of continuous improvement. Many organizations look internally to layout their digital transformation long term roadmaps, but software partners are key in this process. Looking to external partners is just as important. The right digital partner will help you assess the organization's digital success, but also provide you with a roadmap of where you can go next – choose those that have a good roadmap themselves!

Want to find out more? Get in touch to learn about how the technologies adopted by PDO allowed them to embrace digital transformation with the help of AVEVA.

[1] https://medium.com/@VitaliyZhovtyuk/how-to-develop-a-digital-transformation-strategy-step-by-step-guide-f8e4bd5719b6

[2] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-strategy-and-corporate-finance-blog/digital-success-requires-a-digital-culture

[3] https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/how-to-measure-digital-transformation-progress