1. Col laborat ive ly Dr i l l ing Oi l in the Dark Hol lows o f the Ear th
By Kishore Jethanandani
Dr i l l ing Engineers navigate hazardous o i l well s in ear th ’s
dark ho l lows not in the manner of the swashbuck l ing Ind iana
Jones but co l labora t ive ly wi th s ta id geophys ic is ts and
geolog is ts who parse terabytes of data to ca l cu la te the r isk
of the next cascade of rocks or an exp los ion. 3D visua ls of
se ismolog ica l data , super imposed wi th sensor fed rea l - t ime
data , he lp of fs i te pro fess iona ls to co l labora te wi th engineers
work ing a t we l l - s i tes .
The dr i l l ing mach ines a lso generate st reams of data wi th an
array of sensors used for wel l logg ing. The data i s
t ransmi t ted to remote s i tes where i t is aggregated and is
access ib le to geolog is ts and geophys ic is ts . These sensors can
read geolog ica l data such as hydrocarbon bear i ng capac i ty of
rocks as wel l as the data re lated to the r ig operat ions such
as the boreho le pressure , v ibrat ions , weight on the dr i l l and
i t s d i rec t ion and much more a l l in the context o f the wel l
envi ronment .
A major breakthrough has been ach ieved wi th the abi l i ty t o
pool data coming f rom a varie ty of sources in a s ing le
repos i tory wi th help f rom standards under the rubr ic of
Wel ls i te In format ion Transfer Spec i f ica t ion (WITS) . The
ava i lab i l i t y of a storehouse of wel l data opens the way for a
bevy of f i rms, spec ia l ized i n read ing the geolog ica l and
operat ions data , to f ind pat terns and guide engineers to f ind
the most opt imal ways to exp lore and produce oi l in complex
wel ls in the depths o f the ear th and the oceans.

2. A typ ica l case of o i l and exp l orat ion companies encounter ing
Catch-22 s i tuat i ons is that of PEMEX which ran in to the dead
end of a sa l t dome underground. The al ternat ive was to
c i rcumvent the dome. The rub was the r isk of get t ing in to a
quagmire of mud. A game plan was cra f ted over eight months in
co l laborat ion wi th a mul t id isc ip l inary sta f f that inc luded
pre l iminary test ing , 3D model ing and simula t ion and
cont ingency p lanning. The enti re exerc ise determined that
except iona l pressures were l ike l y to be encountered due to the
presence of the sa l t dome in the vic in i ty of the a l ternat ive
route compounded by a host o f o t her probab le r isks.
For managing the r isks , a predi c t i ve model was wr i t ten based
on the ava i lable geo log ica l data and i ts per formance was
moni tored by compar ing i t wi th the actua l performance data,
generated dur ing dr i l l ing . The var iance between the pred ic ted
va lues and actual s revea led unant i c ipated hazards and in formed
act ion p lans that eng ineers cou l d use to dea l wi th r isks .
The oi l f ie lds today range f rom the icy Ar t ic wi t h i ts sh i f t ing
i cebergs and thawing permafrost to the rag ing storms at the
deeper ends of oceans wi th t hei r eas i ly igni ted submar ine
methane and the cavernous rocks of sha le o i l . Oi l companies
look to pro tect the i r mul t i -b i l l ion do l la r investments in the
pro jec ts and thei r s ta f f f rom cer ta in death i f any of the
r isks are mis j udged. For tunate ly , they have accumulated
mul t id imens iona l data now avai lable on a standard pla t form. 3D
v ideo co l laborat ion br ings together the human ta lent f rom
dis tant locat ions to crack the codes that he lp to improve the
standards o f sa f ety and e f fec t iveness.

3. Col laborat ing away f rom the br idge
By Kishore Jethanandani
Scheduled meet ings and conference br idges were synonymous when
co l laborat ion was only poss ib l e in rooms. Enterpr ise v ideo
conferenc ing now is ak in to the f low of news feeds on news
channels—news breaks at any locat ion at any t ime and the
broadcast ing company has to be able to connect wi th i ts
sources wherever news breaks.
Financ ia l serv i ces indust ry is typ ica l of confe renc ing needs
these days. News impinges on dec is ions on asset a l locat ions.
Decis ions on t r ading tac t ics f or der iva t ives are recons idered
when news breaks about macro-economic ind icators. Traders work
wi th Main St reet c l ien ts , such as buyers of energy hedges in
the ut i l i t y indust ry , who are l ike ly to be in some remote
plant s i te . The i r meet ings are impromptu and some of the
par t ic ipants are unl ike ly to be ava i lab le at conference
br idges.
A study by Frost and Sul l i van found that v ideo conferenc ing
systems and Telepresence so lu t ions are some of the least used
of the devices ava i lab le to users . Video conferenc ing systems
were repor ted to be not used at al l or sporad ical l y used by 69
percent of the users whi le the numbers for ons i te and of fs i te
Telepresence systems were 75 percent and 79 percent . By
cont ras t , the number for mobi le phones is 54 percent . Clear ly ,
the f lex ib i l i t y to ho ld a conference anyt ime and anywhere
helps to ho ld conferences on smar t phones.
The emerg ing p l ayers in the v i deo conferenc ing bus iness are
incorpora t ing streaming v ideo into the workf low so that a team

4. of employees can view the same content and confer to come to
act ionab le dec isions . Each of the par t ic ipants gains access to
a conference from a browser us ing any devi ce anywhere or
appl ica t ion whether Skype or Google Hangout . The sof tware can
be eas i ly in tegrated wi th corpora te d i rec tor ies , ident i fy
exper ts , send not i f i ca t ions to prospect ive par t ic ipants and
help to choose and connect t o a communicat i on too l whether
ins tant messenger , a ce l l phone or a v ideo-conferenc ing device
depending on the need. This group of companies i nc ludes Magor ,
Vidyo, and B lueJeans Network .
The dis t inc t ive feature of the so lu t ions f rom a company l ike
Magor is that i t has the f lex i bi l i t y to inc lude any content
tha t is needed to he lp a team f ind a so lu t ion. Publ ic safe ty
agenc ies these days crowd source in format ion dur ing
emergenc ies f rom the smar t phone cameras of c i t izens. In a
wi ld f i re inc ident , for example, they could be get t ing feeds
f rom neighborhoods which most need help f rom f i re rescue
teams. The superv is ing leader can ident i fy the cameras wi th
help f rom the i r GPS and disp lay the i r feeds whi le dec id ing on
the tac t ics to t amp the f i re in the targeted locat ion.
Meet ings are held to f ind a solu t ion to unreso lved prob lems
of ten in unexpected s i tuat i ons. Serend ip i t y is common,
espec ia l l y in cr i t i ca l condi t i ons, when members bounce ideas
before they come to a conc lusion . An in teract i ve and f lu id
v ideo conference is a help to examine assumpt ions and s imulate
the outcomes for a l te rnat ive dec is ion choices. The new video
conferenc ing tools are empowered wi th the i nte l l igence of
the i r so f tware t o f ind and parse content and data they need.

5. Gen X and Y pre f er impersona l rela t ionsh ips wi th wea l th
managers
By Kishore Jethanandani
High touch has always been the mant ra in the c lo is tered wor ld
of weal th management adv isors . Baby Boomers valued in -person
communicat ions wi th the i r adv isors and paid p l um fees. Gen Y
and Gen X have grown up wi th t he se l f -serv ice cu l ture of the
web and are leery about the exorbi tant fees.
In ternet research is a lso second-nature to Gen X and Gen Y and
they prefer f i nanc ia l content del ivered on co l laborat ive
dig i ta l weal th - management p la t fo rms. Advisors are seen to be
seers who help them guard against mis judgment in assessment of
f inanc ia l t rends and data. The star t l ing fac t i s that on ly 2
percent of the bequests to adul t ch i ld ren cont inue to be
managed by the advisors to the i r parents .
Gen Y and Gen X prefer an arm’s length re lat ionsh ips wi th
the i r weal th advisors . Whi le st i l l neophytes in f inanc ial
dec is ion-mak ing, Gen Y and Gen X prefer to make the i r own
dec is ions ra ther than delegate them to the i r advi sors . They do
need help to fi l te r and ass imi la te the f inanc ia l data and
commentary and consu l t wi th exper ts before coming to a
dec is ion. One study found that onl ine educat ional v ideos were
the most popular among Gen X and Gen Y close l y fo l lowed two
other opt ions; on-demand video conferenc ing wi th f inanc ial
plann ing exper t s for consu l tat ions and co l l aborat ion wi th
advisors to comple te documentat i on for f inanc ia l p roducts .
The demand for f inanc ia l adv ice f rom Gen X and Gen Y has only
grown as the cost of poor dec i s ions has sky- r ocketed. Whi le
Gen X and Gen Y wi l l benef i t f rom the bequests they wi l l

6. rece ive f rom one of the weal thies t generat ion of forebears ,
they a lso are l i v ing in a per i lous economic env i ronment . Al l
the consequent i al l i fe events , such as purchase of a home,
heal th , co l lege educat ion, carry wi th them enormous downside
r isks wi th potent ia l l y devastat ing impact in an increas ing ly
vo la t i le f inanc i al env i ronment .
Gen X and Gen Y are ins t inc t ively inc l ined to par t ic ipate in
onl ine communi t i es where they can learn f rom the exper iences
of the i r cohor t s. Weal th managers can gain thei r loya l ty by
br ing ing the i r exper t ise to such communi t ies and in terac t ing
in the conversat ions on the i r pr iva te co l laborat ive p la t forms
or protec ted groups wi th in pub l i c soc ia l communit ies l inked to
the i r s i tes .
The use of soc ial media by Gen Y as wel l as Gen X for ga in ing
knowledge about persona l f inanc i al management is so widespread
tha t i t cannot be ignored. Accord ing to a research study
conducted by Cogent Research and quoted by
Pr iceWaterhouseCooper , 44 percent of Gen X and 70 percent of
Gen Y have used soc ia l media for personal f inance and
investment . Wealth managers have been wary of communicat ing on
soc ia l media s i t es because of regula t ions. The complex i t ies of
compl iance notwi ths tand ing, some l ike PIMCO, Frank l in
Temple ton, T Rowe Pr ice have a r obust soc ia l media presence.
Onl ine co l laborat ion and dis t r ibut ion of content has upped the
ante for weal th managers . In teract iv i ty and thought leadersh ip
on onl ine channel s counts for a lo t more than t rus twor th iness
as was the case in the past . And c l ients need ass is ted
f inanc ia l adv ice for asset a l locat ion as much as for smar t

7. spending ava i lable on l ine so that i t is access ib le anywhere
anyt ime.