Microsoft and Accenture Oil and Gas Industry Collaboration Survey 2009

For almost a decade, Accenture and Microsoft have been teaming to deliver business and technology solutions on the Microsoft platform, quickly and at scale. The alliance is one of the largest and most significant relationships of its kind for both companies. Together, Accenture and Microsoft founded Avanade, a global IT consultancy dedicated to using the Microsoft platform.

Recently, Microsoft and Accenture conducted a study to examine collaboration tools and their potential in the oil and gas industry.

See the presentation about the Oil & Gas Industry Collaboration Survey 2009 [PDF, 877KB]
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The online survey conducted on behalf of Microsoft and Accenture, by PennEnergy in partnership with the Oil and Gas Journal Research Center, gathered the responses of more than 270 oil and gas industry professionals. Personnel included engineers, project managers, business unit heads and geoscientists as well as mid- and senior-level executives of various ages and levels of experience, from a cross-section of the industry.

Survey participants represented upstream, midstream and downstream industry sectors with participants from North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, South America, Europe and Africa. The study asked specific questions about the use and potential of collaboration tools, including tools such as instant messaging, wikis and blogs.

The survey provides a good insight into how users feel about the potential of collaboration tools. These include:

• Forty percent of oil and gas professionals view new social media tools as useful to boost collaboration and productivity at work, but only one in four report using these newer tools to capture and share information internally.
  
  
• The majority view collaboration and knowledge-sharing as important for critical initiatives, such as capital projects, well management and the health and safety of workers. Conversely, most respondents stated that their organizations are still using older means of collaboration, such as face-to-face meetings, e-mails and phone calls.
  
  
• More than 60 percent of respondents reported spending over one hour a day searching for information and knowledge sources relevant to the jobs.
  
  
• Industry professionals are concerned about the need to capture knowledge from experienced workers before they retire or leave the company.
  
  
• Only one-third of the respondents believe that their companies are fully prepared to exploit the enhanced sharing and capturing of the company’s intellectual capital.