In the past few years, as oil and gas prices began to drop and investment capital dried up, ‘business-as-usual’ models began to die a painful death for those companies that did not have a targeted digital transformation goal, or (at least) a strong eye on the prize with an actionable plan already in place.

The digital transformation journey can look very different for each company depending on what (if anything) you already have in place; but there are some pretty easy; highly effective and easy wins you can score right out of the gate.

It is providing constant situational awareness with mobility tools to power enhanced collaboration. That means secure, on-demand access to information and expertise regardless of location, enabling action and collaboration through shared, relevant information.

Our Zedi Go Mobile App was designed for oil and gas producers. When you're in the field or out of the office, Zedi Go will keep you updated instantly and allow you to access your most recent production and operational data.

We tend to lose a lot of things around the house like the TV remote, keys, or phone making us add more stress to our lives as we tend to frantically search for these lost items. Fortunately, we live in an era when automation exists, and you can get key finders to locate items. These detectors can be easily attached to things such as keys, bags, wallets, or even your pet, allowing you to quickly find your lost item, saving you time and stress from searching for them. It's as easy as clicking a button and you know where they are.

For the oil and gas industry, tracking the location of assets can also be a challenge. Using Emerson's Zedi Roughneck, a fixed asset management software solution, allows you to track equipment like compressors for example. When a compressor is not used, it is sometimes moved to be utilized at a different site. In my experience, the only person who would have known about this relocation would be the area foreman.

Way, way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I had a very annoying flip phone that was really only able to make and receive calls and (upon the rare occasion) get and send a few random text messages from other techie types. The main reason I found this phone so annoying is I wanted it to be able to do so much more; and it seemed like it shouldn't be all that difficult to make it happen.

But, that's all there was on the market at the time.

I continuously wondered why on earth someone didn't make them to fetch my email, or have a decent camera in them. Then it finally became a reality and just like that we all became more mobile than we had ever dreamed of being! It was AWESOME being set free from waiting for an email, and unchained from my desk where I would often be found waiting for information to be sent.

When we’re placing an order for a great breakfast, we want the server to be an expert on what’s on the menu—especially if we have special dietary needs. And we want them to listen—to be all ears.

That “all ears” attitude is me when I meet with a new client for the first time. I want to know all about their field automation needs and how we can chauffeur them to their destination. Like, be their tour guide.

I’m not pushing a widget or a program. My purpose is to learn about their business and how they are operating today.

Now that you’ve automated your production, you're getting your well site information in real time, not waiting for the pumper to bring in tickets at the end of the day—or the week—and able to react to changes in real time.

Welcome to the new, efficient, you.

As great as that is, there’s more that we can do for you. If you’ve fully automated everything, your system is collecting thousands of data points every hour. Every day.

If you ask around for a single term that describes getting the right production data, most engineers in oil and gas would hesitate to say “simple” or “straightforward.” Here at Zedi, data is our thing; we live it and breathe it – heck, some of us even dream about it - you can’t control when innovation may strike! Our customers continue to benefit from solutions that are streamlined and straightforward thanks to our software development and engineering people.

After all, the value of production data could not be simpler: optimizing production leads to increased profitability. That said, here are my top 5 tips to help increase your oil and gas production:

The basic formula for increasing oil well production is pretty clear to me: the more the pump runs, the more oil it pumps. The real issue is how to reduce downtime, so that it runs more, and pumps more.

What wasn't clear to me is why on earth about 100,000 pumpjacks in the US alone are not monitored—other than by someone driving all the way out to the well site every couple of days. With that method, a pump may have been down, or even worse leaking for a day or so before it’s noticed by anyone. That’s several hours of production time that can never be recovered.

Things used to be so much simpler. Every home had one phone line. Every store took cash or checks, and almost every well had a rod pump over its whole life span.

Complexity though, can be really great for your bottom line.

With cell phones, we can call for help from just about anywhere. Debit cards are way faster than check writing. And using a series of unconventional lifting methods on unconventional wells is unlocking much stronger potential for oil and gas production—and profitability that we could only dream of a few short years ago.

When you go to a restaurant, do you order straight off the menu? Or do you substitute mashed potatoes for fries, do you ask for extra tomatoes, or do you ask for rye instead of wheat? Or do you just ask for a number 5, pay your money and go sit down?

When it comes to ordering reports on your field data, you can’t settle for a “Number 5.” There are certain things you need to see first, there are certain ways you want things listed and there are ways you need it broken out.

Want it “your way?” I’m glad you asked. That’s exactly why we put together Emerson's Zedi Vital.