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.

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.

The benefits of making oil and gas production autonomous are many. Production increases based on the ability to detect and remedy problems in seconds rather than hours is topmost, followed by safety, efficiencies when physical repairs are needed and more precision in PM schedules are among the others.

We’re not there yet—some would point out that the Oil Patch, due to its boom-and-bust nature, lags behind other industries in this area—but we’ve made big strides since the 2015-16 bust. Necessity being the mother of invention.

Maybe you’ve declared your intention to digitally transform your production. That’s great. It’s a growing trend and it will really boost efficiency. But the jury is still out on whether to do it in-house or to let us do it for you.

I have a question that may clarify that decision for you:

What are you good at?

You’re good at evaluating leases, considering how to economically produce a field and to get that oil and gas to market. If you were to jump into the field of developing a cloud based platform, what would that look like in terms of hiring, training and implementing?

I’ve been an obsessed angler for years. I don’t need a special reason, or day to go fishing either – I go any chance I get. Sunny 108-degree Texas days, chilly Christmas mornings, or drizzly-grey cool days, it doesn't matter to me.

It isn’t about the temperature, or location – it’s simply about the experience.

There is something about the peacefulness of being on the lake, or a river that captures my senses, and instantly relaxes me, while at the same time ignites my creative side with a new sense unlimited possibilities. It isn’t the excitement of actually catching a fish at all (since it’s not my favorite meal) – but it’s the experience that captivates my mind, warms my soul, and energizes my spirit.