Data & Digitalisation Blog 2: Why Digitalisation Is Crucial For Geological Consultancies

Why Should We Care About Digitalisation?

Welcome back! In our previous post, we began exploring the growing call for geological consultancies, particularly for those in the oil and gas sector seeking to contribute to the energy transition, to embrace digitalisation. Today, we’re going to dig deeper into why digitalisation is so important for PetroStrat, what problems it helps us address and solve, and how it will support future success for us and our clients.

Solving Old-School Problems, With New Approaches

It is evident that the traditional or ‘old-school’ way of doing things have become inadequate to meet the demands of modern operations. Here are some examples of the main challenges we are facing currently;

• Data Overload: We’ve got mountains of data coming in from public domain sources, recent strategic acquisitions, as well as generating large data volumes as part of our day-to-day proprietary work., This includes well logs, core samples, scanned images and much more related data. Manually sifting through this vast dataset is a time-consuming and inefficient process.
• Slow, with Duplications: Of course, our industry expects timely results. However, traditional methods involving manual data handling and interpretation across multiple software packages and databases can lead to project delays and redundant, duplicated efforts.
• Communication Challenges: With teams spread across different locations and time zones, effective communication isn’t always easy. That can risk duplicate work, missed info, and slower progress.
• Missed Opportunities: Relying on basic data analysis means we could be missing out on game-changing insights that advanced tools could provide. By integrating larger, diverse datasets, we can unlock valuable information that was previously difficult to obtain.
• High Costs: Manual, repetitive tasks aren’t just time-consuming; they’re also expensive, leading to inflated budgets and wasted resources.

These limitations hinder our ability to deliver the timely, accurate, and valuable insights that our clients expect and deserve.

Digitalisation: A Solution to Our Challenges

Digitalisation is like a toolkit that, when used effectively, can address the aforementioned limitations. Here’s how it can help us:

• Streamlined Efficiency: Digital tools allow us to automate routine tasks, such as data entry, to reduce errors. This allow our scientists to get back to what they do best: interpreting data, resulting in better, more informed decisions. This leads to improved efficiency and faster project completion.
• Better Accuracy: With digital tools, we minimise the potential for human error. Accurate data enables more reliable predictions and novel insights, particularly when combining different data types. This is exactly why our clients come to us in the first place, accurate data drawing from our unrivalled knowledge pool.
• Smoother Collaboration: Digital platforms foster seamless collaboration among teams, regardless of their location. Real-time data sharing and virtual meetings ensure everyone is aligned and can contribute to the interpretation process at critical stages.
• Uncover Deeper Insights: Employ advanced data science techniques, like machine learning and predictive analytics, to extract valuable insights from large, complex datasets. These insights can help identify opportunities and mitigate risks for our clients.
• Lower Costs: By automating routine tasks and streamlining workflows, we can reduce costs and allocate resources to other strategic areas, such as scientific and technological development, training, and client engagement.

Enhancing Client Satisfaction and Service Delivery Through Digitalisation

Measuring Success: Key Performance Indicators

How do we benchmark the effectiveness of our digital workflows? By tracking the right numbers! Here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) we will closely monitor:

• Faster Project Completion: We are building operational systems to track how long it takes to finish key tasks or projects, both before and after digitalisation. A significant reduction in project completion time indicates improved efficiency and faster delivery, signalling we are on the right track to improving our operational efficiency.
• Data Accuracy: Track the frequency of errors detected during data checks. A decrease in errors signifies improved accuracy and reliability.
• Client Satisfaction: Employ surveys or feedback mechanisms to gauge client satisfaction before and after digital transformation. We will be looking for an increase in positive feedback and repeat business.
• Cost Reductions: Quantify cost savings resulting from automation, by measuring the reduction in rework volumes, or accelerated delivery times.

Better Teamwork: Monitor the frequency and effectiveness of communication between internal teams and with clients using digital tools. Reduced delays and smoother project execution indicate successful digital integration

Final Thoughts: It’s Time to Get Moving!

It’s becoming clearer: digitalisation isn’t just a “nice-to-have” — it’s a must if we want to tackle the challenges we face and deliver gold-standard services to our clients.

In our next post, we’ll talk about how we are starting to build a solid foundation for digital transformation, starting with evaluating our company’s current state and setting the plan of our journey ahead.

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Blog series brought to you by Our Digital and Data Team (part of the New Ventures department)