For many E&P companies considering field automation, it may seem that installing a SCADA system gives them all the information, alarms and control they need to reach the real goals, which include boosting production and reducing costs. And SCADA does help, but not nearly as much as installing automation through the Cloud.

In this ever-increasing digital world, people and companies rely more and more on the Cloud for data storage and integration. IIoT brings that missing piece where field data and process data can join the rest of your information on the Cloud.

Thankfully, technology is evolving in giant leaps and bounds today. It's a great time to be alive and witness the new advancements every day. But with all the change it can also leave some producers and operations wondering when the right time is to replace the old with the new really is; given that some tech is only 'new' for a week or two, and then will be quickly outdated by something bigger, better, faster, smarter and will have more shelf life.

When producers invest in new technologies for their business, they can expect more profits, more production, and more sustainability but deciding when to purchase tech, and which tech to invest into that won't be outdated in a year (or these days a week), makes it more of a challenge to get right. And then of course, it comes down to what to upgrade, and as with everything in life; it comes down to 'how to leverage all that new tech'. Will the 'how' be so complicated it will eat away your team's time or quickly add value that contributes to fast gains?

We've been using machine learning (ML) for years. It's been a big factor in our development to help oil and gas producers on their digital transformation journey to autonomous operations using the exact solutions that will bring them more production, profits, and sustainability.

The daunting task of keeping track of your expenses can be time-consuming and overwhelming if not managed correctly and efficiently. With the right software and automation in place along with mobile apps and other productivity tools, managing expenses has gotten easier.

For oil and gas, managing lease operating expenses (LOE) has gotten easier with automation and software solutions. Now, there are fewer reasons not to have the costs eat away at your companies’ ability to operate wells and keep costs within budget without having to shut-in operations.

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.

Have you read about the advance of self-driving cars? With an array of sensors “seeing” obstacles, speed limit signs and other vehicles, tracking the speed, noting highway conditions such as rain or sleet, and using maps and tracking to plan the route, self-driving vehicles are approaching us in their own fast lane.

You may not be surprised to find that we have the same dreams for a self-operating oil field.

Now there will still be the need for repairs of worn-out equipment, damaged well-bores, and to perform PMs such as oil changes. There’s the need to do that for vehicles as well. The autonomous oil change is not here yet, but even that might be in line for cars someday.

Most people working today tend to work not only when we're at work, but also when we're at the movies, car wash or grocery store; we respond to emails and texts all hours of the day and night. Work-life balance is there, but it's also much more of a work-life blend today than ever before.

This blend is why you need your files and data to all be easily visible from top to bottom without relying on portable devices or clunky, undependable drives that should have been replaced years ago or, worst of all; boxes of paper files (I'm cringing at the thought of that one)!

Keeping your oil and gas production automation systems current is a delicate balance. You have to keep up with ever-changing hardware, interfaces with other software and with improvements on the one hand. On the other hand, you don’t want to spend hours with updates that save up all the changes for one giant yearly revision—that may come with unintended and untested crashes.

That’s the benefit of evergreen cloud software like Emerson's DeltaV SaaS SCADA. It grows in tiny increments just like an evergreen plant. From one day or month to the next, you don’t notice its growth—a new leaf here, a bit thicker trunk there—but it keeps growing and adapting to changes in seasons without skipping a beat.

In 2011, IBM’s Watson took on two of Jeopardy’s top winners in a contest of knowledge and speed. After three exciting days, Watson had more than tripled the winnings of either human. Let's apply that to oil and gas production data insights enabling you to triple your 'winnings' - by gaining more production, more profits and more sustainability.

In the digital oilfield that lives on data and is powered by computers light years past Watson, end users are starting to get answers to questions they never dreamed of asking before.

Instead of competing with computers, many oil and gas producers are teaming with AI (artificial intelligence) so that everyone wins. And keeps winning.

Oil and gas producers have been realizing the benefits of technology with SCADA, IIoT and sensors in the field for a long time now, and while these pieces have certainly been worth their weight in black gold to the bottom line (and safety) there is a new evolution coming soon to the oil field near you.

The goal line for oil and gas producers around the world is to take the digital transformation journey to ultimately gain all the many benefits of an autonomous oil and gas operation.

But should you take that journey?

This is not a journey for everyone. There is much to consider before you decide.