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Unique Challenges For Oil & Gas

Post Author: Joe D365 |

Companies in the Oil & Gas industry are facing myriad challenges in terms of maintaining profitability. Some of these challenges are inherent to the industry – volatile energy prices, emerging renewable and sustainable energies, and a constantly shifting  competitive landscape – and can’t be solved with technology. But there are plenty of other industry-specific challenges that sure can be addressed with an effective technology solution:

  • Breakdowns that halt operations
  • Lack of mobility and connectivity for field techs
  • Limited actionable insight into existing data
  • Limited resource scheduling capabilities

It might seem like a lofty goal to suggest that Microsoft Dynamics 365 can help oil & gas companies overcome these challenges, but it’s actually 100% accurate. Let’s look at how…

1. Breakdowns that halt operations

Dynamics 365 for Field Service, in conjunction with Microsoft’s Connected Field Service, connects IoT telemetry to business actions. This helps organizations view, track, and manage all aspects of their field service processes – from production to service and repair. This includes Rig Down notifications (the oil & gas industry term for keeping executives informed via email until the problem is solved). They can capture data from a machine, drive that data into Azure IoT, define the parameters to create an alert within Dynamics 365, and provide the analysis to define and refine predictive maintenance. In other words, they fix the problems that would have caused operations-halting breakdowns before they happen.

2. Lack of mobility and connectivity for field techs

Dynamics 365 and Connected Field Service provide field techs with complete mobile access and connectivity to the information they need to do their job effectively, increasing productivity and profitability by as much as 25%! How is this possible? Field techs benefit from real-time insight into work order statuses. Full connectivity eliminates delays in process and service delivery because field techs have real-time access to everything they need to succeed. Even when the tech is not connected (offline), work doesn’t have to stop. Workers can access and update what they need in offline mode and then provide their updates to the system when they’re back online. Also, organizations enjoy increased upsell and cross-sell opportunities because sales team can now receive real-time leads directly from field techs.

3. Limited actionable insight into existing data

For most oil & gas organizations, the problem isn’t a lack of data. In fact, managers typically have access to more data than they know what to do with. No, the real challenge is being able to derive meaningful insights and actionable conclusions from existing data. And that’s where Microsoft Business Applications come in to play. Power BI offers real-time dashboards, interactive data visualizations, advanced analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. Simply put, it is the linchpin to being able to use existing data to drive business decisions. And when businesses are ready to convert actionable conclusions into everyday organizational processes, they can simply combine Power BI with Power Apps. Working in tandem, these tools allow users to easily sync data to and from the apps they build to streamline processes.

4. Limited resource scheduling capabilities

Success in oil & gas hinges on effective management of the scheduling process, including appropriate resources and work orders from initiation to completion. Utilizing the schedule board in Dynamics 365 for Field Service, a versatile solution designed to meet the unique needs of organizations in industries like oil & gas, is the key. It makes it possible to ensure the right technician with the right skillset, right tools, and right availability is scheduled – on time, every time. It enables businesses to automatically schedule and assign resources based on skills, location, required parts, and workload, optimizing routes to meet SLAs, minimizing drive times, and increasing first-time fix rates.

The bottom line is that despite the many unique challenges facing oil & gas businesses, true operational excellence is an achievable goal. It simply requires a modernized field service solution. Fortunately, that’s exactly what Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Business Applications offer!

Learn more by downloading this digital transformation fact sheet.

Joe CRM
By Joe D365
Joe D365 is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 superhero who runs on pure Dynamics adrenaline. As the face of PowerObjects, Joe D365’s mission is to reveal innovative ways to use Dynamics 365 and bring the application to more businesses and organizations around the world.

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