Steve Taylor, Principal Systems Engineer at ITI Group, delivered a sharp and engaging presentation on the future of industrial software strategy, challenging organisations to make a clearer choice between standardising their technology stack or embracing disruption.
The presentation examined why oil and gas companies now rely on such a large and complex mix of applications across operations, engineering, analytics, data management and asset performance. Steve explained that many of these tools were adopted as technology matured over time, but the result is a crowded software landscape that can be expensive to manage, difficult to integrate and underused by teams.
At the centre of the session was a strategic choice. Organisations can standardise by extracting more value from the platforms they already own, reducing unnecessary licensing, retiring legacy tools and simplifying their digital estate. Or they can disrupt by exploring newer technologies, challenging long-standing platform decisions and replacing parts of the stack where better solutions now exist.
Steve also highlighted the difficulty of replacing real-time data systems, comparing it to changing the plumbing of a house while everything still needs to keep running. His message was not that one path is always better than the other, but that hesitation is costly. Companies that make a clear strategic decision, whether to standardise or disrupt, will be better placed to build a more effective digital future.
Watch the full presentation to hear Steve’s perspective on the end of the “app wars” and the choices that will shape future technology strategies across oil and gas operations.
Speaker
Steve Taylor, Principal Systems Engineer, ITI Group
