The oil and gas industry has truly pushed the boundaries over time and delivered projects that were considered unthinkable not too long ago. Technology has truly been an enabler. Yet, despite the undeniable role that technology has played, it is also clear that there is significant room to further accelerate the speed of technology deployment and realise its true value proposition, particularly in today’s challenging business environment.
Operators naturally hold many of the keys to accelerate the uptake of technology within their organisation, and they can increase the effectiveness of technology deployment and replication by considering all critical success factors for technology deployment, see one of our earlier blogs.
But there are also things that suppliers can do more of, such that the chances increase that technology is getting deployed then and replicated by others.
In this blog, we want to share 3 tips for suppliers.
1. Is it clear what business need your technology addresses?
There are many amazing technologies on the market, or under development, and the number is growing every day. Whenever we read about a technology, it’s not always clear though what business need the technology really addresses.
Whenever we support suppliers with our Tech Positioning Programme, we spend a significant amount of time on working with the supplier to clearly articulate the business need that is being addressed, and to define the person in the company who would or should be most interested in the technology; in >50% of the cases, it is a different person than the one the supplier considered as the main target. Obviously, it is of key importance to get this right, and it is time well spent to reflect on this within your company as well as with people who can provide an external perspective, particularly people that understand the Operator side of things.
2. Influence the decision-maker and the movers & shakers
The moment the decision-maker in the company has been identified, it is equally important to understand who the movers & shakers are around the decision-maker. It may be difficult to get access to the decision-maker, or the person may have very limited time.
It is essential to feed the decision-maker, as well as the movers & shakers, with the right information.
The people that you’re targeting are all human beings. And like in our consumer lives, these human beings are very sensitive to reviews from other users or independent experts. Hence use them to your advantage! Think about the way you took major decisions yourself, based on recommendations from people around you that you trust!
For this reason, a technology page on TechnologyCatalogue.com has space for reviews and deployment references. As a supplier, you can easily invite independent experts or users to write a review. Such review doesn’t need to belong; a few sentences or even just a few words can be sufficient to give another user the confidence that this may also be a technology that can be replicated in his or her asset!
You may argue that the above doesn’t apply if you are working on a novel technology that hasn’t yet been deployed. However, this is only partially true. Also, when you’re working on novel technology, you can attract reviews from independent experts. However, the lack of deployment references does mean that you need to apply different tactics, something that we will cover in a future blog.
3. Spread the word
Once you have addressed the above two elements, it is time to spread the word using multiple types of media channels, including LinkedIn and Webinars. By truly understanding your customers, you can approach the right people to listen to your story, instead of a shotgun approach. For example, it is better having 20-50 people in your webinar that have a deep interest in what you do, instead of >100 people who politely listen to your story but don’t do anything with it!
Conclusion
Technology deployment does not happen automatically, it is a lot of hard work. We know that from experience. Fortunately, there are things that can be done to attract the best buyers for your technology, and in this blog, we shared three tips.
FREE Online coaching for suppliers
This month we are offering all suppliers that have a data analytics subscription with TechnologyCatalogue.com, ½ hour coaching session for free. During this coaching session, we support you with the three elements as highlighted in this blog and provide you feedback. Based on the outcome, you can expect an increase in the number of visitors to your technology page, visible via your data analytics dashboard! The deadline for registering is Aug 31st. You can register by sending an email to info@technologycatalogue.com.
About us
The founders of TechnologyCatalogue.com led technology deployment activities in support of assets across Shell. Over 600 deployments were successfully delivered, resulting in a very significant impact on safety, production and cost. We understand what it takes to get technology deployed, including all change management aspects related to it. Since starting TechnologyCatalogue.com in March 2018, we have supported multiple Operators in Upstream and Downstream with technology deployment.
Our platform TechnologyCatalogue.com was developed based on the first-hand experience that it is often difficult for decision-makers to stay up to date on available technology-driven improvement opportunities for their business. It was launched in Q3 2018 and is steadily growing in terms of content & functionality. Since the launch, ~30,000 unique users have accessed the platform. We’re also developing customised versions of the platform. For example, jointly with National Energy Resources Australia, we have delivered a customised version of the portal for Australia (Nera.TechnologyCatalogue.com). In Q3 2020, the UK Energy Technology Platform will be launched, in partnership with Carjon-NRG.
In addition to TechnologyCatalogue.com, we also support suppliers and end-users with getting technology deployment done, through consultancy & workshops.