A look back at the technology journey E&P companies have taken, from the mailroom to the modern energy workplace.

When it comes to modernizing business operations, E&P companies fall into three starting points for their technology journeys:

1. Starting from Spreadsheets – Outgrowing spreadsheets as the system of record for managing critical business operations.

2. Leaving Legacy Software – Experiencing an unplanned event, like a system interruption or a missed payment, that provokes change.

3. Merging Point Solutions –Bringing disparate data together from best-of-breed solutions to the point where the company reverts back to spreadsheets in order to combine the information silos.

Common among all of these starting points is a point of failure, or fatigue, when the software reaches its limit, whether it be age, capacity, or investment. To illustrate, consider the following real quotes from E&P companies about their technology journeys:

  • “We were doing a divestiture with multiple planned acquisitions after, so we were effectively going to double in size. After searching 10 years of spreadsheets and emails to find records, we knew that we needed to track everything more efficiently.”
  • “Reporting anything out of our outdated system was difficult—even pulling net acreage was a pain. It felt like putting information into a black hole because data was so hard to get out.”
  • “Data conversion in our system was frustrating. You had to input everything, in multiple places manually, and if you made a mistake, then you had to exit the application and start over.”

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. According to a 2017 survey by Ernst & Young, while 64 percent of oil and gas executives surveyed think first about front end (in the field) processes when asked about new technology, only 6 percent think first about back-office processes. But rather than focus on the missteps that led to this point in the journey, focus on the destination.

Explore the Modern Upstream Suite

Get more out of your data with a single software platform across your upstream operations. Explore below to see how a unified solution drives business performance.

While most E&P companies are not in a position to replace the totality of their back-office systems in favor of a single vendor platform, consider taking a phased approach to modernizing applications. Know what is available to you, and plan for each mile marker accordingly. To learn how more independent energy producers are integrating operations for land management, accounting, drilling and completion reporting, and production management, visit Quorum Software Upstream On Demand.

Additional Resources from Quorum Software:

Fleur De Lis Energy Customer Success Story

Weathering the Data Storm: The Path from Data Collection to Data Analysis for E&P Companies

Top 10 Reasons Why Small Energy Businesses Choose myQuorum Land On Demand