Wireline Magazine Autumn 2020 Issue 49

strategy

improvement.

maintained

need it

Results related to the value drivers for digital provide a clearer picture of the fact that organisations are prioritising data, even if the reality for those further down the organisation is that there is still some way to go.

THE TOP DIGITAL VALUE DRIVERS RELATE TO DATA Respondents were asked to rank eight digital value drivers in order of importance. Overall score out of 100 was assigned based on average rank.

Increase availability & access to data

Increase quality of data

Increase level of insight from data

Most important digital value drivers

NON- OPERATORS

Reduce cost

Reduce time

50

OPERATORS

100

Reduce risk

Develop user centric ways of working

Source: Data & Digital Maturity Survey Report 2020

UKCSData&DigitalMaturitySurvey 2020

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Paradigm shift The survey’s follow-up phase, beyond a now-regular schedule of meetings among the stakeholder organisations to maintain the impetus behind the digital push, includes one-on-one engagement with operators. It will help build a bigger picture of individual and collective progress, as well as an understanding of the broader support required. “The survey showed we’re all in this together,” says Dave. “Often in oil and gas businesses can do a lot on their own, but the survey unlocks the realisation that everyone is joined up on digital, up and down individual organisations and across the operator and supply chain communities. “There’s no textbook that tells you how to do digital transformation. It’s a learning process as you go along, based in part on the cultures and needs of individual companies as well as the culture of the wider sector.” Following on from the findings, the OGUK Information Management Forum intends to explore the impact of digitalisation on data professionals in the industry. These efforts will be led by the forum’s Education Task Finish Group, and a new study will be launched focusing on the impact upon those roles tasked with managing their organisation’s data. Sakthi says this will also consider requirements for embedding digital culture across the wider industry. She adds: “We really want to foster a culture that’s reflective of this holistic approach to data and

able to articulate it as something made up of these four building blocks: data, people, innovation and technology.” Echoing Stephen’s point, Sakthi notes that one of the survey’s most important findings is that - contrary to common misconceptions - organisations are good at collecting and accessing data. However, issues arise when users want to do something useful with that information. “What the survey tells us is that they’re not spending time looking for it, they know where we can get it, but they do spend a lot of time manipulating it before it’s useful,” she explains. “It shows us that availability is less of an issue, but that exchange between organisations is now more of a pressing matter.” Thisdifficultyinexchanginginformation,amongother factors, may be one of the reasons why collaboration is universally encouraged amongst industry, but rarely well executed. As with data accessibility, the problem appears to be less technical and more about organisational attitudes and processes. For that reason, Sakthi says that organisations have to drive this cultural shift from within and ensure that it is driven by leadership and corporate values, whilst also being supported by the data-users. “It has to be bottom-up driven, but top-down empowered - and you can’t have one without the other,” she adds. “It has to come from the workforce, but people at the top have to empower those people to be innovative and ambitious with data.”

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