Wireline Magazine Autumn 2020 Issue 49

3t Energy Group president Paul Stonebanks OBE

“If you fast forward to five years from now there’s going to be a much more sophisticated strategy towards learning in different ways, via the use of technology, and that includes simulation.”

In turn, he says, this is filtering back into the longer- term planning around training, especially as more people become aware of the power and benefits of these kinds of technologies. “There will be a bit of education as people watch others, but if you fast forward to five years from now there’s going to be a much more sophisticated strategy towards learning in different ways, via the use of technology, and that includes simulation,” he adds. Industry’s rush to consider new, remote solutions to training and skills has evidently been spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, and it is unlikely that it will recede once restrictions dissipate. Systems like E-Sim and 3t’s, coupled with the ability of smarter management systems to boost knowledge retention and help students learn more flexibly, are certain to become standard for the offshore industry and others. The test will be in how quick organisations are willing to adopt and embrace these technologies as empowering tools for their workforce. For Erisort’s Dougie Macleod, much of the proof will be in users experiencing these types of training for themselves to realise the power they can have within their organisation. “A lot of people started off like me, unsure of whether it can be achieved,” he says. “But once we do the E-Sim demonstration they come away overwhelmingly positive about the software, the ability to train people and also about the enhanced benefits of doing it online in terms of data, and the safety element of being trained in their office or home.”

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