Case Study

Building a Digital Center of Excellence for a National Oil Company

BCG Platinion realized the necessity for a Digital Center of Excellence (DCoE) that would integrate all the independent digital products being managed by individual departments and act as an innovation hub driving the digital agenda for the company.

Companies in oil and gas understand that adding innovative technologies, simply because they are new, into an existing operating model and launching digital projects in isolation is counter intuitive. By creating a Digital Center of Excellence, companies can integrate their digital capabilities within individual functions while at the same time it can double as an innovation hub driving the company’s digital agenda.

eyeem-100004253-137057485.jpg (5452×3635)

The Challenge

The value of data remained untapped due to severely underdeveloped digital capabilities, leading to reduced efficiencies in critical business activities, especially in exploration. Short-term remedies would not have brought the desired long-term value. The client had to begin cultivating a digital culture that embraced new opportunities derived from data, AI, cloud services and quantum computing.

Our Approach

BCG Platinion realized the necessity for a Digital Center of Excellence (DCoE) that would integrate all the independent digital products being managed by individual departments and act as an innovation hub driving the digital agenda for the company. The endeavor brought together a multidisciplinary team with BCG Platinion and BCG Gamma developing the business, technology and data science departments that would begin to evaluate and prioritize new innovations to support exploration, production and development of hydrocarbons in the Middle East.

Out of the DCoE, BCG Platinion designed a new digital operating model, a use case roadmap and the architecture for a new digital technology stack.

eyeem-100004253-96448283-1.jpg (4096×2730)

The team also developed a digital cluster strategy and designed repeatable processes that could help the client prioritize new use cases and select the best-fitting software solutions. To launch the DCoE, BCG Platinion and BCG Gamma developed two MVPs to prove the value proposition for the center, one based on processing vast volumes of time-series data and another on image analysis. The success of the digital use cases helped to illustrate the digital credentials of the hub and encourage further innovation.

Impact

  1. Enhanced the company’s ability to leverage the value of data
  2. Aligned digital initiatives with company strategy
  3. Created a digital-centric culture that embraced IT at a more senior level

Looking Into the Future

The culture of innovation that emanated from a central authority was a catalyst for collaboration amongst specialist skills that were, before, working in silos.

Now the combined assessment and experimentation with emerging technologies in advanced analytics, AI, and quantum computing has expedited the exploration and production of the country’s crude oil production and natural gas supply.

eyeem-100004253-109485127.jpg (4096×2713)


More to Explore

Teaming Up For Disaster Mitigation

Everybody is feeling the impact of climate change on the environment – for instance, in the form of dramatic natural disasters in areas that were previously rarely affected. As such, a catastrophic natural disaster in the heart of a Europe has severe consequences, including loss of lives and livelihood. BCG and BCG Platinion were immediately on hand to enhance resilience in a European region hit by the worst catastrophe in its recent history. The team worked with passion and deliberation to develop a sustainable and resilient concept to better deal with similar situations in the future.

Read more
Teaming Up For Disaster Mitigation

The Core & Beyond - A Tailor-Made Transformation

Replacing or keeping the legacy Core Banking System (CBS) is one of the most fundamental decisions for a financial institution to make. This strategic bet should be carefully evaluated, with three key aspects in mind: a clear view on the entire IT platform (wider than legacy CBS and its constraints), a strategic vision set within a specific time horizon, and the return on investment. For organizations with a burning platform, CBS replacement may be a necessity, but in many cases the real investment potential is located elsewhere – in areas such as data platforms, integration layers, portals, or process engines. This alternative approach leads to numerous non-trivial questions: Where does the value come from? Is legacy the real issue? Which areas to reinforce and in which order?

Read more
The Core & Beyond - A Tailor-Made Transformation

Setting up a Secure and Resilient IT Infrastructure in the Cloud

Everybody who considered Europe’s energy infrastructure as safe against attacks got an eye-opener when the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline erupted on the Baltic seabed: It clearly is not as safe as previously thought. With the winter looming ahead, energy service providers have to assure the security and resilience of critical infrastructure. This is not only limited to physical buildings, but must also focus on IT, especially in the light of a rising number of cyberattacks. Especially for older IT infrastructure that is difficult to modernize, migration to the cloud has proven to be a solution, severely improving security and resilience, not only in the long-term, but also in the short-term.

Read more
Setting up a Secure and Resilient IT Infrastructure in the Cloud