SAP starts oil and gas industry solutions network

The so-called industry value network (IVN) brings together a network of ISVs (independent software vendors), systems integrators and technology vendors with SAP and oil and gas customer execs to focus on business challenges. This new forum joins similar IVNs in banking, chemicals, consumer products, high tech, retail, public sector and the forest and paper industries. “Today, achieving leading-edge innovation requires the input of more than one business entity and IT vendor,” says Bob Martin, SAP integration project manager at Conoco Phillips, and chairman of the SAP Oil & Gas Global Industry Advisory Council, whose members include Petrobras, Statoil and Tesoro. “The SAP Oil & Gas Global Industry Advisory Council sees industry ecosystem collaboration supported by SAP’s IVNs as the way of the future… We see promise in this approach to enable us to increase our productivity and supply chain performance, lower total cost of ownership and provide a new level of interoperability and standards.” Currently, IVN members include Accenture, HP, IBM, Implico, KSS, LogicaCMG, Meridium, NRX, Quorum Business Solutions, TechniData, Triple Point and Vendavo. Initial subject areas agreed are around maintaining assets and securing or growing reserves leading to a focus on the ‘digital oil field’ and the hydrocarbon supply chain. Scope agreed is the delivery of systems for integrated exploration and production, land lease management, real-time gas allocation management, asset life-cycle management, secondary distribution and terminal management, commodity trading, and price optimisation and margin management. By delivering pre-integrated, standard, end-to-end solutions and services based on a common technology platform, SAP says it will help customers avoid costly integration projects.