Matt Danna is the senior director of product strategy FieldFX at ServiceMax. Matt has been working in software for over 25 years, with a depth of knowledge in software engineering, sales engineering, and product management. His primary function is to work with customers, key stakeholders, implementation managers, account executives, and developers to ensure alignment across all parties. Prior to ServiceMax, Matt Danna led product strategy at LiquidFrameworks, which was acquired by ServiceMax in 2021.
The oil and gas industry is navigating a new era—again. Few would argue many factors are piling pressure on decision-makers in recent months. The challenge is how to ease those pressures while balancing IT and other spending. With so many issues to address, it may feel a little overwhelming at times. Understanding the fundamental demands of assets and the impact that errors and downtime can have on an organization is central to enabling a clearer vision.
Anyone in the industry is already aware of all the pressures—macroeconomics, geopolitical unrest, sustainability, energy transition demands, volatile markets, and skills gaps. Most organizations are no strangers to data. Getting access quickly to the right information is the common goal. This is where differing levels of competency and approach emerge regarding data quality and overall data management. Recognizing this issue is an essential first step in trying to move forward and best manage change for the better.
The challenge is that so many oil and gas businesses are unclear as to what that change looks like. While there is an understanding it must happen, breaking the status quo is proving difficult. Most organizations are funneling their IT spending towards maintaining existing systems, managing compliance, and systems upgrades, leaving little left for innovation.
Business trends can drive change
The key to knowing where to focus IT energies is in understanding the business trends for both OFS and upstream businesses. This is multi-faceted, but OFS organizations need to look more closely at the emerging trends within upstream businesses to stand any chance of meeting expectations.
A good example of this is in energy transition. Companies providing services to the oil and gas industry need to adjust their operations or offerings to align with the changes happening in the upstream sector due to energy transition efforts. But this is just one area where OFS organizations need to play.
Based on insights by Gaurav Verma, Research Director, IDC Energy Insights, there are four main business areas where OFS firms should focus:
Product and service innovation
- Automate and streamline well design process
- Simulations, engineering & design
- Drilling plan optimization
Operational efficiency for operators
- Digital twins of production platform
- IoT-enabled asset monitoring
- Autonomous Well Operation
AI and GenAI
- Cognitive applications to G&G data analysis
- LLM in subsurface data
- GenAI for drilling/well operations
Sustainability and decarbonization for customers
- Electrification of oilfield operations (e.g. electric-powered fracturing fleet)
- Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
- Digital solutions to optimize water usage, energy management, and emission management
Fundamental to each of these business capabilities is data management. The problem many organizations face is a lack of readily available data that can be quickly acted upon and trusted. This means siloed assets and OT systems could undermine communication and decision-making intelligence.
One way to better capture trusted data, quickly, is to implement a field service management solution. Modern solutions can digitize every point of data entry to gain greater insights into current trends, helping to fuel innovation.
“The adoption of FSM in O&G is growing faster than ever. Some O&G companies even show interest in experimenting with innovation-enabling technologies such as generative AI (GenAI), 5G, extended reality (XR), and the Internet of Things (IoT),” explained Gaurav Verma, Research Director, IDC Energy Insights.1
It’s an imperative across the business trends. Understanding asset health and performance in real-time is essential for enabling change to drive business improvements.
AI can accelerate optimization but…
This becomes even more apparent when businesses explore how artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies can help achieve greater efficiency and optimization. IDC recently conducted research to assess the role technologies play in O&G operations2. Survey respondent results revealed:
- 68% use IoT integration with smart devices for real-time monitoring
- 60% use advanced/predictive analytics to anticipate maintenance needs
- 49% use AI and ML to optimize scheduling and resource allocation
Interestingly, upstream organizations are starting to recognize that to truly deliver change, there needs to be investment in core, end-to-end data management and asset management capabilities. There is a desire for increased automation and to utilize the growing influence of GenAI on application data, but that desire needs to be matched by investment priorities.
While oil and gas businesses have their business objectives, it is the underlying technology that will determine how efficiently and intelligently they achieve their goals. Understanding assets and enabling teams to see and manage those assets effectively, is key to planning and decision making.
Data, digital asset management, and IT-OT convergence should be priorities to enable organizations to realize operational efficiency improvements. This will then enable upstream organizations to focus on their key levers for success – supplier relationships, collaboration, and performance.
As change continues in this sector, an understanding of how to prioritize IT investment becomes increasingly critical. Technology can enable quick and accurate analysis of Geological and Geophysical (G&G) data, improve asset reliability, and elevate customer satisfaction. Further, technology is now enabling carbon footprint measurement, impact, and reporting across the value chain to address sustainability requirements. The industry will continue to move forward – the only question is how well future challenges can be overcome and managed and how well your organization can achieve these requirements, compared to the competition, with purpose.
1. The Role of Field Service Management in Optimizing O&G Operations While Navigating the Efficiency Path by Gaurav Verma, Research Director, IDC Energy Insights, March 2024, EUR151962524
2. Ibid
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