How cloud accelerates the energy race

Are we working toward an energy transition or are we in an energy race? It’s a race. The Energy industry needs to safely and sustainably…

Phil Schwarz profile picture

Phil Schwarz

July 21, 20233 minutes read

Are we working toward an energy transition or are we in an energy race? It’s a race. The Energy industry needs to safely and sustainably deliver energy to 9.7 billion people worldwide by 2050, and the companies that get there first will gain real advantage. In this race, information is every bit as important as energy and the cloud will be a key enabler for the Energy sector.

In my previous blog, I talked about the role of information management in facilitating the energy transition — the move from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The sector has been slow to embrace the need to change – some would say glacial – but there’s no doubt that the race is now on.

Improving information management

To win any race you have to be fast and agile. In the Energy sector, this means being able to make informed decisions quickly and act on them effectively. The foundational element in all of this is information. The better you can manage information and the more insights you can draw from your data, the more potential you have to succeed.

The fly in this ointment is that Energy companies haven’t traditionally been good with information. One report says 80% of energy employees’ time is spent looking through unstructured data to simply do their work, which is more than three times the average across all industries.

This is unsustainable in today’s Big Data world. Energy companies need to dramatically improve the way they capture, organize, integrate, protect, govern and exchange information. And they need to do it at scale. The current on-premise IT infrastructure of many firms is not capable of the task. If information management is the foundation of future business, the cloud is its key pillar.

Accelerating the energy race

There are many benefits to moving information and content to the cloud. Chief among them is the ability to drive transformation and innovation while significantly reducing costs associated with traditional, legacy infrastructure. In fact, some have demonstrated savings of up to 30% in managing and maintaining information management solutions.

However, I don’t believe cost is the only factor driving the nine-fold increase in cloud spending within oil and gas this decade. Companies need the compute power, scalability, performance and security that only the cloud can deliver. They need to shorten the development and deployment times of new digital functionality. And organizations are well aware that continuing with on-premise infrastructure is costly and ineffective.

Introducing a better way to manage information 

Soon cloud computing will transition from strategic differentiator to table stakes within the Energy sector. However, there are still massive opportunities for Energy companies that move to cloud now. Asset Information Management for Energy from OpenText™  helps companies deliver visibility, insight and control over enterprise information to facilitate successful digital transformation and put themselves in pole position for the energy race.

A screenshot showing the user interface of the Asset Information Managment for Energy workspace.

Learn more about how Asset Information Management for Energy can help your organization transform and innovate.


Share this post

Share this post to x. Share to linkedin. Mail to
Phil Schwarz avatar image

Phil Schwarz

Phil Schwarz is the Industry Strategist for Energy at OpenText. With two decades of energy industry experience, Phil has become a trusted SME, having supported operators, EPCs, service providers, and OEMs across the entire value chain. Phil is an engineer by education and has a MBA, M.S. in Economics, and a Graduate Certificate in Smart Oilfield Technologies. He resides in the Anchorage, Alaska area and loves to hike and enjoy the outdoors.

See all posts

More from the author

OpenText Summit | Houston Energy 2024 summary & key takeaways

OpenText Summit | Houston Energy 2024 summary & key takeaways

A deep dive into the future of energy operations with AI

March 22, 2024 10 minutes read
How fast can you access vital asset documentation?

How fast can you access vital asset documentation?

The world is in a race for energy and that race is just as much about information management as it is energy itself. Trillions of…

January 9, 2024 3 minutes read
Top 5 information management predictions for energy and utility sector in 2024 

Top 5 information management predictions for energy and utility sector in 2024 

Hello from Alaska!  The world is in a race for energy, and that race is just as much about information management as it is about…

November 9, 2023 5 minutes read

Stay in the loop!

Get our most popular content delivered monthly to your inbox.