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igital transformation” is a
Fig. 1 - Digital is about how
trends are combing to drive
change
than digital is only a keyword or something that
key discussion topic in ev- must be approached because markets are asking
ery business discussion of for it; indeed, digital technology is transforming dra-
the last years in the oil & gas matically this sector.
industry. Before going in the To ride that wave of change, and to avoid being
“Ddetails of the key pillars of swept under it, oil & gas Executives will have
this transformation, it is important to defi ne what to understand that digital transformation is the
we mean when we talk about “Digital”. reinvention of businesses to stay relevant – via
Digital is about applying the next generation of changes in “what” they do as well as “how”
technology and innovation thinking to today’s and they do it – in the face of stiff competition, new
tomorrow’s business problems, resulting in new technologies and rapidly changing customer
levels of growth, customer value, effi ciency and fi - needs. This present paper will go through three
nancial returns (fi gure 1). Four main mantras have main pillars of the digital transformation in this
to be declared before talking about digital: sector:
• Digital is happening now, technology innova- • understand that digital is a business transfor-
tion has happened for decades, but we are at mation;
an infl ection point prompted by the confl uen- • reconcile dreamers and doers within the or-
ce of three major trends — hyper-connectivity, ganization;
data proliferation and the exponential growth • create pathways to a defi ned digital destina-
in software and hardware processing power; tion.
• Digital is recombinant innovation, with new
ideas stemming from the combination of old
and new technologies; 1. Understand that digital is a
• Digital is a source of business value: ultimately business transformation
digital applications need to create real busi-
ness value, not just technology for techno- Many actors in the industry still think that digi-
logy’s sake; tal is referred to the introduction of some new
• Every sector has different dynamics. On this technologies within their current processes and
specifi c last point, it is easy to see why new systems, mainly focusing on analytics or big
– “digital” incumbents are perceived as the data approaches. The real view is much broa-
business model of the future. Companies like der: digital transformations lead to new ways of
Amazon, Spotify or Uber changed the rules creating value for customers and improved out-
of the Industries they’re participating together comes for the business – with digital technolo-
with the customer experience and the point of gies being an enabler. A static approach implies
view of the customers themselves, creating missing new opportunities available through ra-
new ways of working and a culture based on pidly evolving digital technology and advanced
continuous innovation and speed of change analytics.
not previously known in the market. To capitalize on the strengths of existing pro-
cesses and build the capabilities necessary to
This transformation will not take place in the same meet new goals, four steps can be pursued to
way in the oil & gas industry. Many differences guide the implementation of a digital strategy
DIGITAL IS ABOUT HOW TRENDS ARE COMBING TO DRIVE CHANGE
between these worlds are spreading the notion (figure 2).
Hyper-connectivity between companies, customers and products unlocking new
ways of coordinating, optimizing and upgrading systems
DIGITAL
Innovative recombination
of new and existing technologies
& business concepts to unlock Rapid
Data new sources of value technology
proliferation (or destroy value) advancements
and the delivering
application much greater
of advanced computing
analytics power and
create new software
opportunities capabilities
Impiantistica Italiana - Maggio - Giugno 2018 51