Good Stuff Happens in 1:1 Meetings: Why you need them and how to do them well
Accenture Energy IT Trends
1. Accenture’s Top 10 Technology Trends
in Energy
IT innovations that can help drive high performance
in the oil and gas industry
2. Upstream and downstream energy companies
face the likelihood of significant changes over
the next 20 to 30 years. There will be greater
demand for more and different types of energy
sources from consumers and governments
alike. As renewables and alternative transport
fuels come on line, oil and gas companies
will face higher capital costs to transform
operations to meet the new energy mix,
causing a corresponding shift in industry
operating models and ongoing investments
in new computing technologies.
Information technology (IT) will Accenture believes 10 technology In a recent Accenture survey, we
continue to benefit oil and gas trends have significant potential to found that less than 25 percent of
companies in supporting the transition support energy companies in their energy IT executives, managers and
to a new energy era. Companies are evolution to a new energy era. These staff believe their companies have
more readily investing in accelerating are trends we see developing in our embraced many of these trends and
the use of computing innovations everyday work and research, and innovations, such as service-oriented
beyond the early adopters, as they in working with strategic business architecture (SOA), cloud computing
clearly see the business benefits partners such as Microsoft and Oracle and shared services, yet these are the
of doing so. The key going forward Corporation, as well as key industry technology innovations that will drive
is to filter through technology providers such as Honeywell, OSIsoft high performance.1
developments and target the ones that and others.
will deliver the greatest value to the This paper outlines our high-level view
organization. of technology’s future in the energy
industry, as well as how we see some
energy companies harnessing these
trends already.
2
3. Accenture's Top 10
Technology Trends in Energy
1. Greater consolidation of applications
2. Greater industry collaboration
3. Better business intelligence
4. Rise of the private cloud
5. Rise of the public cloud
6. More shared service organizations
7. Increased wireless networking
8. Increased use of service-oriented architecture
9. More integrated operations
10. Better IT security for industrial control systems
3
4. The critical question for the energy executive:
Which of the top 10 trends represent the best
opportunities for your company to leverage
technology for increased competitive advantage?
1.
Greater consolidation of applications
Across the energy industry, companies According to Accenture Companies are also now deploying
are eliminating redundant software experience, many of the energy vertical and horizontal enterprise
and using fewer applications to do applications to replace nonintegrated
supermajors have undertaken
more. Overall, application portfolios custom software, improve visibility
of companies have typically grown
initiatives to reduce their and standardize process control on
haphazardly, making them redundant number of applications— a global basis. For example, we have
in functionality, cost and support in some cases by as much as seen one oil and gas company reduce
requirements. Individual operating 50 to 70 percent. its number of applications from more
units often run their own IT-supported than 6,000 down to 2,000 over a
business processes in isolation, which six-year period. The benefits most
can diminish opportunities to collaborate often cited from this type of greater
for better economies of scale and consolidation of applications include
industry leading practices. As a result, easier access to more accurate
energy companies cite issues of having information and enhanced collaboration,
difficulty in capturing and archiving which leads to the next trend.
data, being unable to find data
trapped in individual repositories, or
having too much redundant and/or
unnecessary data available.2
4
5. 2.
Greater industry collaboration
In the past, IT organizations tried to Such collaboration comes in many As industry professionals collaborate
achieve integration by modifying their forms, including: more, they are more motivated to
existing applications and adding more • Creation of simple, web-based integrate operating principles, standards
functionality. Today, however, there workflows or applications that allow and information management more
are smaller, more specialized tools users to manipulate or manage tightly, both within the enterprise and
available in the marketplace with open data better than with manual filing among various industry players.
interfaces that companies can use or e-mail. For example, the field
to integrate with other systems and workforce can use a mobile data entry
Oil and gas professionals are
increase collaboration, both across screen to enter instrument readings, working together more than
the enterprise and outside the four which are then automatically uploaded ever, with 34 percent reporting
walls of the organization with other into a centralized system. that they are collaborating more
market stakeholders. According to the
• Implementation of electronic forms with other stakeholders in 2010
Accenture and Microsoft Oil and Gas
Collaboration Survey 2011, oil and gas to standardize and/or automate data than in 2009.3
professionals are working together collection and processing.
more than ever, with 34 percent
In fact, more than one third of the
reporting that they are collaborating
respondents who participated in
more with other stakeholders in 2010
the Accenture and Microsoft Oil and
than in 2009.3
Gas Collaboration Survey 2011 cited
industrywide collaboration among key
players as most likely to bring about
needed improvements.4
5
7. 3.
Better business intelligence
IT energy executives often cite the Companies are increasingly integrating In addition, successful BI solutions are
problem of how information is isolated BI more directly into business processes those that keep the business user in
within individual business units, in and decision making to shift from mind, go for the ”low-hanging fruit”
databases and with process owners, simply measuring “what happened” and move companies forward in small
causing their companies to have multiple (historical data) to making more steps, rather than trying to solve all
versions of the “truth” about their accurate forecasts of what will happen. problems at once. For example, Eastern
operations. To address this problem, European oil and gas company MOL
energy companies have turned to Adopting BI, however, has been more started its BI initiative with operations
business intelligence (BI) solutions to difficult than many IT and business reporting at just one refinery.6 Over
enable better decision making. professionals had expected, even time, the company centralized more
though it has been at the top of the sites and data sources to create a
Business intelligence ranked CIO agenda. A move to more open single reference for different types of
number five on the list of the systems and simpler data structures, data—such as shop floor, supply chain,
in which business users can use finance, and health and safety.
top 10 technology priorities for
self-service tools to consolidate and
chief information officers (CIOs) analyze data, will help improve BI’s
in 2011, according to Gartner's adoptability and success.
annual global CIO survey
published January 2011.5
7
8. 4.
Rise of the private cloud
As computing has become more of A recent Accenture industry study We estimate energy IT
a commodity, energy companies are reveals that CIOs are finding real cost organizations could save up
striving to simplify their hardware savings from cloud computing, and we
to 50 percent in hosting costs
and software into more common estimate energy IT organizations could
environments. Standardization has save up to 50 percent in hosting costs
annually with cloud computing.7
gone the way of cloud computing as annually with cloud computing.7
companies virtualize hardware (servers),
software (software-as-a-service) and In addition to reaping these significant
processing power outside the four walls savings, many major energy companies
of their organizations into dedicated are moving to cloud computing to
environments (private clouds). increase asset utilization, go “green” and
free up internal resources. For example,
Private clouds are already a known ExxonMobil Upstream is building a
quantity and a proven approach at new cloud-based infrastructure service
some energy companies. Rapidly with IceWeb to deliver geo-imagery
increasing amounts of data and a to land exploration workers wherever
growing requirement for real-time they are.8
access to that data, however, are
accelerating this shift.
8
9. 5.
Rise of the public cloud
Virtualization has grown even more in The savings from eliminating the cost Smaller energy companies, especially,
the public domain to support back- of hardware, software, maintenance have discovered the benefits of SaaS
office and other critical but noncore and IT labor, along with the benefits for web-based and vendor-hosted
functions, in standardized applications of replacing a capital expense with solutions, for functions ranging from
hosted and offered to entire industries. a pay-as-you-go utility, make public maintenance management, to HR
Public clouds extend a company’s clouds even more appealing. For management, to collaboration and
data center capabilities by enabling example, Google offers its e-mail file exchange in capital expenditure
the provision of IT services from service at only $50 per user per year. projects. Some energy companies
third-party providers over a network. Contrast this with the costs of running also deploy SaaS for front-office
Many companies are using software- internal mail systems, which can applications, such as Salesforce.com,
as-a-service (SaaS) to replace legacy typically be $250 per user per year.9 to help assimilate acquired companies
software, while others are using it to and consolidate operations across
deploy new software in support of business units.
business processes that previously
were not very software driven.
9
10. 6.
More shared service organizations
Individual plants sometimes struggle While a more distributed environment Often, moving to a shared service
to find sufficient resources and skills characterizes the global nature of model can mean full outsourcing.
to support their IT operations full time. the energy business, companies For example, Talisman Energy chose
With separate IT shops, CIOs lose the that consolidate computing power to outsource back-office finance
opportunity to leverage economies of and resources can also achieve operations by transferring select
scale and leading practices. more control over exactly how they finance and accounting processes
will source specific services—e.g., to Accenture’s delivery center in
A shared service organization internal SSO, partnered SSO and Bangalore, India. The entire transition
(SSO) offers a one-to-many outsourcing. For example, we have was completed within five weeks,
model to help centralize seen one energy company develop its and the partnership has delivered
operations, standardize IT support organization as a stand- numerous innovations via more than
alone business, turning “users” into 60 key performance indicators.11
computing, control costs and
“customers.” This new model employs
deliver more reliable, consistent specialized managers to interface
service to all users. between IT and the business owners
and own the responsibility for all IT
delivery and support.
10
11. 7.
Increased wireless networking
The growth and ubiquity of safe, fast For example, until recently, technology Marathon Oil is using a wireless-
and reliable wireless communications has limited the industry’s ability enabled gas detection system that
can now provide access to data in to prepare for and respond to helps protect workers in potentially
any part of the plant. Operators emergencies. However, with the hazardous environments. The solution
can interact in real time through all advent of new wireless systems, combines WiFi and location-based
manners of mobile devices—from made possible by the integration of technologies with gas detectors to
“traditional” notebooks, to tablets, existing standard technologies, oil allow companies to remotely monitor
to smart phones—to exchange voice, and gas companies are improving incidents in locations previously not
video, photos and data without the safety. Location-based technology can suited for wireless networks.12
need to install expensive networking now determine the whereabouts of
infrastructure. employees, while also collecting data
on gas levels from multiple sources to
More specifically, wireless technology raise alarms or to alert nearby workers
adds business value by improving of any incidents.
process quality, BI and regulatory
compliance. Wireless sensors feed
continuous data on business processes
to BI specialists who can analyze and
report on the data back to internal and
external stakeholders—all in real time.
Such capabilities help a company
manage cost, risk and performance.
11
12. 8.
Increased use of service-oriented architecture
While service-oriented architecture Most energy companies have already While SOA can reduce overall
(SOA) has been on the CIO agenda established SOA as the standard for costs, the less obvious but
for several years, the technology has interfaces, though there are exceptions
equally important benefit may
really materialized in the past three in which SOA is not appropriate—
years, as most software vendors have such as for real-time communication
be the flexibility SOA can deliver
now adopted it as standard, even for from distributed control systems by helping the business to
vertical applications in the energy (DCS) or supervisory control and become more nimble.
industry. SOA replaces the typical data acquisition (SCADA) systems.
client-server architecture with multiple SOA is most appropriate where it
levels of functionality that include makes sense for business managers
foundational applications, such as to design and alter a software-driven
enterprise resource planning (ERP), a business process without specialized
web services repository and a business software programming skills. In such
process management system (BPMS). cases, the system links business users’
requests with the right applications
and relevant functionality/systems,
from which point web services do the
rest. This method increases the ability
of IT organizations to keep up with
changing business demands.
12
13. 9.
More integrated operations
The term “integrated operations” Perhaps most important, integrated With integrated operations,
refers to mixing onshore and offshore operations enable energy companies companies can reduce
operational processing centers to to move personnel further away
operational and capital asset
standardize and automate critical from potentially unsafe operating
business functions. With the growth environments in the field.
costs; accelerate production
in speed and bandwidth of network with 24/7 delivery; improve
computing, IT professionals can One survey of upstream oil and gas leading practices through
more seamlessly collaborate by professionals showed 44 percent of greater collaboration; increase
deploying uniform platforms, systems respondents felt “the upstream data
data access; spread operational
and procedures across the world in explosion has had a negative effect on
their ability to get their work done,”
risk across the organization;
global delivery centers. As a result,
compounded by “the difficulty and and move personnel further
companies can reduce operational
and capital asset costs; accelerate time-consuming search of diverse away from potentially unsafe
production with 24/7 delivery; systems to find information.”13 As operating environments in
improve leading practices through a result, we have seen many oil the field.
greater collaboration; increase data companies adopt integrated operations
access; and spread operational risk under different programs using
across the organization—all of which advanced technologies and real-time
extend the life of oilfield operations. data to drive organizational change.
13
14. 10.
Better IT security for industrial control systems
New levels of interconnectedness Today, these systems are linked Advanced threats have accelerated the
have made industrial IT, especially to public networks, including the industry’s trend to reevaluate security
distributed control systems (DCS), Internet. As a result, companies face procedures and infrastructure, which
much more open and vulnerable more advanced threats from national can include a wide range of safety
than in the past. DCS and SCADA or international attackers who seek to measures, such as restrictions of
systems are no longer fully isolated damage, control or monitor industrial physical access, intrusion detection
from outside networks, systems and systems. According to a Data Breach software, more sophisticated network
users. As a result, energy companies Investigations report from Verizon segmentation with firewalls and
must work harder to find and deploy Business and the U.S. Secret Service, sourcing security to external providers.
expensive and scarce resources to the relative proportion of critical To be more proactive, security
secure their data and legacy process infrastructure breaches that come organizations must be able to actively
control systems, which were originally from outsiders has more than doubled visualize protocols, applications, content
conceived in a non-networked in the past decade.14 Moreover, older and users over all ports, in real time, to
environment. DCS or SCADA systems often lack even gain the situational awareness required
basic security and safety features. For to see and stop advanced threats
example, simple physical access to a before they get inside the network.
terminal or network cable can provide
user access to the entire system in
some cases.
14
15. Conclusion
The 10 trends presented in this paper are driving energy companies
to improve the way they operate in the ever-changing energy industry.
As the technology landscape moves toward more flexible infrastructure
and more open systems and processes, industry CIOs are becoming
service integrators who must become more involved with internal
business users and external stakeholders to keep pace with technology
developments. Today’s IT services are a utility that, at a minimum,
should make energy companies more efficient—through less time and
less cost—and at the bleeding edge of innovation, make companies
more market effective, with better business outcomes. Accenture
believes the IT trends and innovations presented here will provide
energy companies with opportunities to reduce costs, improve
competitiveness and increase focus on their core business and,
ultimately, achieve high performance.
Endnotes
1 Accenture and Microsoft Upstream szakmai_tudomanyos_kozlemenyek/ 12 “Accenture Life Safety Solution
Oil and Gas Computing Trends Survey muhely/semafor__ndash__ Brings Wireless Technology to Heavy
2010, www.accenture.com/us-en/ operational_performance_monitoring_ Industrial Locations,” March 3, 2010,
Pages/insight-upstream-oil-gas-trend- system_in_mol_refining. Accenture press release,
survey-2010-summary.aspx. http://newsroom.accenture.com/news/
7 Six Questions Every Executive in
accenture+life+safety+solution+brings
2 Ibid. the Energy Industry Should Ask About
+wireless+technology+to+heavy+indu
Cloud Computing, 2010, Accenture,
3 Accenture and Microsoft Oil and strial+locations.htm.
www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/
Gas Collaboration Survey 2011,
insight-six-questions-energy-executives- 13 “From Digital to Integrated Oilfields,”
www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/
cloud-computing-summary.aspx. January 2011, The Petroleum Review,
insight-microsoft-oil-gas-collaboration-
reprinted by permission of the Energy
survey-2011-summary.aspx. 8 Ibid.
Institute, 61 New Cavendish Street,
4 Ibid. 9 Ibid. London W1G 7AR, www.accenture.
com/us-en/Pages/insight-digital-
5 “Gartner Forecasts Global Business 10 Ibid. integrated-oilfields.aspx.
Intelligence Market to Grow 9.7 Percent
11 Case Study: Talisman Energy UK: 14 “2010 Data Breach Report From
in 2011,” February 18, 2011, Gartner
Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, Verizon Business, U.S. Secret Service
press release, www.gartner.com/it/
www.accenture.com/SiteCollection Offers New Cybercrime Insights,”
page.jsp?id=1553215.
Documents/PDF/Accenture_Talisman_ July 28, 2010, Verizon press release,
6 SEMAFOR—Operational Performance Energy_UK_Achieves_High_ http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-
Monitoring System in MOL Refining, Performance_Through_Outsourcing_ releases/verizon/2010/2010-data-
Workshop, March 2010. www.mol.hu/ Finance_and_Accountingpd.pdf. breach-report-from.html.
hu/a_molrol/mediaszoba/kiadvanyok/
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