Imagine you were a spy... Not the creepy kind of spy, but you know the James Bond type of spy; the super-slick, ultra-cool, well-spoken, always well-dressed and never gets caught kind of spy. I can imagine if offshore oil and gas production had a spy it would look and act like Emerson's Zedi™ SaaS platform. Minus of course all the fast cars, fancy dates and danger. But we can get you all the detailed information of what exactly is happening so far away - without disrupting what's actually going on; so it's spy-like, without all the showbiz-glitz, creepiness, or glam price-tags.

Many people enjoy knowing every little detail about something, even if it doesn't really correlate directly to them. All the power to them! Personally, I like people to get right to the point; tell me what I need to know - Don't dance around what you're trying to say, or give me so much info it makes my head spin.

Please, please, please just be clear and concise.

I'm pretty sure companies and their staff also want their data straightforward and easy to understand. Not such a large amount of data that drowns them with every tiny detail that isn't relevant, or actionable. Sometimes too much data can become pretty much useless because it would take you hours to filter through it all to find the data you actually do need.

When someone mentions something like 'cloud-native IIoT' do your teeth start to clench in stress and you immediately begin to search for your antacids to ward off the quickly approaching heartburn that comes with the topic? I hear you, understand your anxiety and totally feel your pain because I've been there many times before.

That's until I started thinking of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) differently; what it really 'means' to us, the humans of the world. How it can actually help makes our lives better in several ways; like increasing the safety of many very dangerous situations, how it can even prevent terrible problems before they even happen and how it can make companies be more profitable so more people keep their jobs and prices don't over-inflate for the end buyers.

Our software and IIoT platform enables operators to improve processes, enhance investments and maximize returns on their assets as they lean into an autonomous operation. A recent example of this includes how our experts have developed one solution to assist your operations in optimizing rod pumps using AI (artificial intelligence): Emerson's Zedi Autonomous Rod Pump Management.

I think it's safe to safe that many of us have experienced different times in our lives that we knew we didn't have all the information; times when we simply knew there was more to the story, or something missing that we should know in order to make an informed decision. Some people call it intuition, others say it's a 'hunch' - call it whatever you like, but either way having that feeling is certainly frustrating at best; potentially even life-threatening at worst.

When it comes to your operations, I hope you don't get that feeling very often - But if you do then we can help.

The cost of distractions in life is high. What can often seem like a minor distraction can have a giant impact on life; a distracted drive to work could cause a crash, distracted while reading email could cause you to miss an important request from the boss, or being distracted while spending time with family could result in a loved one that doesn’t feel heard anymore, or think you care.

When it comes to your operations distractions can cause just as much havoc and loss. Distractions cause the risk of safety of people; and the environments around you, and the health of the bottom line. Those distractions could be losing your organization hundreds of thousands of dollars. Without your eye on the prize you could be risking the sustainability of your organization; here today - gone tomorrow happens all too often these days.

While most oil and gas production is somewhat remote from the office, offshore sites are much more distant. Instead of driving a hundred miles or so in a company truck, your management and production staff are helicoptering across gulfs, seas and oceans to stay at least a couple of days before flying back—at great expense, and safety risk.

There are indeed times when that has to happen. But those times can stay few and far between with reliable, fast, cloud-native production data provided by Emerson in the Zedi IIoT platform that's complete with SaaS and a mobile app.

The Great Resignation is far too real for most production companies to keep up with—in the past couple of years many workers are leaving old jobs to find opportunities that are better aligned to their professional and personal values and goals that usually also come with bigger paychecks, more benefits and even larger promises of bright days ahead.

Some people have left the oil and gas production industry all together to take a new path that isn't as volatile or have joined organizations that don't trigger extended family meltdowns at holiday dinners because select narratives don't support oil and gas production.

These are the same types of pressures on people as they start their career that usually pushes them away from the energy sector all together into something 'safer' or what they have been told is more socially acceptable also add to the workforce shortage.

Digital transformation projects usually require many complex steps. Each of these steps requires a well thought out, budgeted, and highly detailed plan. Who provides that plan will be your companies key to successfully reaching that desired destination for your operations on your time-frame and your budget requirements.

Many companies undervalue the importance of project management as a crucial component for project success. Instead the project(s) become everyone's baby; not one person. Strong leaders prefer to have one person accountable and responsible for the project as a whole; or as some leaders like to say 'one throat to choke' (I write that with a smile on my face and all due respect). This way everyone knows the exact time line, expectations and one person is in charge of the budget so it doesn't run wild.

As more and more E&Ps look to digitally transform their operations for efficiency and profitability, it may be surprising to learn that the digital oilfield can also help the environment, employee satisfaction and retention rates. In other words, going digital can help you make significant gains in your ESG strategy.

Having abundant data from monitoring systems is great, and it’s even greater when that data is clear, useful and readily available to authorized users anywhere they may be, and at anytime. It makes your people feel—and be—more productive, able to concentrate on finding and producing oil and gas instead of calling around to see who has the latest production report on their laptop, digging through stacks of paper to find a missing truck haul ticket or wasting time and money to drive to a remotely located site just to 'check on things'.