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rations. As a result of these new technologies, oil & sensors has plummeted, allowing companies to
gas companies, their partners and suppliers, and accelerate their digital transformation programs
customers will need to reevaluate their cost and ex- and leverage a highly mobile work force. Smart de-
pense models. In this new world order, those who vices like Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)
learn to master the nuances of the new relationship gather process data and send it up to the cloud for
between data, analysis, cost savings and profitabi- analysis. This evolution / revolution has been dub-
lity will be the winners. Success in this data-driven bed the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) by the
environment will require a new level of understan- press.
ding both of how the market behaves and of which
skill sets are necessary for oil & gas companies to Business benefit derived
thrive. In fact, marketplace real-time data will now These sensors act as data gatherers. This increa-
need to be directly linked to internal oil & gas pro- sed data collection and associated analytics then
cess dynamics in order to achieve profit-driven op- leads to more informed decision making–allowing
timization of operations. enterprises to act on all the data in a more strate-
gic manner for more streamlined operations and
As social, economic, and technological greater profitability. One area where sensors are
changes sweep the industry, success in providing value is predictive maintenance. Using
real-time data gathered from sensors to predict and
this volatile environment prevent breakdowns can reduce downtime by 50%
[3]. Downtime, whether from repairs, breakdowns,
Many organizations are currently challenged in their or maintenance, can keep machinery out of use
ability to exploit some of these big data benefits. 40 percent of the time or more. As downtime costs
According to a Bain & Company survey, big data in the oil & gas industry easily reach hundreds of
analytic advantages could help oil & gas compa- thousands of dollars per hour, the cost savings po-
nies improve production by 6-8%. That same sur- tential will have a significant impact on bottom lines.
vey of over 400 executives also revealed that that
only about 4% of companies have the capabilities Influencer #2: Connectivity-driven big data
to use advanced data analytics to deliver tangible One certainty is that “big data”, the foundation for
business value [2]. the transition to these emerging technologies, alre-
The new mix of technology enablement and mar- ady has a firm foothold in many organizations. Data
ketplace uncertainty can help adopters to gain warehouses, whether they be centralized or distri-
competitive advantage. If their digital transforma- buted, have locked within them the true potential
tion projects are properly executed, they can take of accelerating corporate growth, a significant part
the leap forward while their competition remains of which can be driven by digitized operational
stagnant. The gold at the end of the rainbow, as practices. The value of all of this is increased and
it pertains to oil & gas process digitalization, is im- enhanced visibility to be market trends and internal
provement in business agility. The adopter procu- operational shifts.
rement organizations have already unearthed signi-
ficant opportunities for cost savings and efficiency Business benefit derived
gains, and many are now focusing on new ways to Equipped with this improved operations visibility,
create additional value. refineries, for example, can act to improve opera-
tional efficiency without spending more–and with a
Deriving business advantage more informed understanding of plant asset safety.
Today, about 36% of oil and gas companies are
from industry trends already investing in big data and analytics. Howe-
ver, only 13% use the insights from this technology
As social, economic, and technological changes to drive their approach towards market growth and
sweep the industry, success in this volatile envi- for generating competitive advantage [4]. Thus, the
ronment requires a pragmatic openness to reco- potential for using big data to drive profits and lo-
gnizing what technologies exist to help drive pro- wer costs remains largely untapped (although mo-
fitability in a low-price commodity environment. mentum in this area is quickly building).
Establishing the link between technology and bu-
siness growth is not always easy, but this process Influencer #3: Digitization, Digitalization, Digi-
can be simplified if the implications of each major tal Transformation
market shift are first analyzed individually and then, These three terms are often confused but they re-
as a second step, considered as a holistic strategy. present innovations that are critical for understan-
Below is a list of individual influencers. ding how the industry can better position itself to
compete.
Influencer #1: Low cost and ubiquitous con-
nected sensors Digitization
Over the last several years, the cost of connected Digitization is the process of converting information

24 Impiantistica Italiana - Marzo - Aprile 2018