Oil and gas
industry professionals in Asia Pacific lead the industry in the use of social media
and collaboration tools at work, reports a recent Microsoft Corp. and Accenture
survey, with three out of four respondents from that region saying social media
tools improve their work performance. 

 

The
Microsoft and Accenture “Oil & Gas Collaboration Survey 2010” – that polled
275 professionals from the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and
Asia-Pacific – found that industry workers in Asia-Pacific significantly led
other regions in the business use of social media tools such as instant messaging,
video conferencing, social networking sites, mobile phone text messaging, video
or photo sharing and the use of blogs and micro-blogs, sometimes surpassing
their peers in other regions by margins of 10 to one. In fact, 37 percent
of Asia-Pacific respondents stated social media is “very valuable” for work
collaboration.

 

“Asia-Pacific,
with its rapidly growing demand for energy, will set the oil agenda of the
future, so driving increased productivity, enhanced collaboration and more
efficient operations is of top importance in this region,” said Dr. Ali
Ferling, Microsoft manager of worldwide oil and gas industries. “Oil and gas
professionals in Asia-Pacific clearly have their sights set on adopting the
newest technologies to help them keep up with the growing demand for energy.”

 

Drive to
locate information in EMEA

 

Over
one-third of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) respondents reported they
spend more time in collaboration this year than last. Sixty-two percent of
them, however, said that collaboration was often hindered by the inability to
find exact resources, including people and information. Three out of four
EMEA professionals said social media was valuable for business, and over half
reported using social media primarily as a search tool, with many more in EMEA
choosing to use wikis for business purposes than any other region.

 

Americas
adjust to changing workforce

 

When asked
where they see the most value in social media for collaboration, the top answer
of workers in the Americas was “documenting and transferring
knowledge.” This response tracks with the 61 percent of all respondents
who said that “scarcity of skills/talent due to shrinking or aging workforce”
is the global industry trend most often driving their need to
collaborate. However, 40 percent of respondents from the Americas said
they are not currently using any public or company social media tools in the
workplace. While half of respondents from all regions said their companies
were on board but not widely implementing social media at this time, one in
four from the Americas said their companies were not open to the adoption and
implementation of these tools, a higher response than from Asia-Pacific (14
percent) and EMEA (17 percent).

 

James
Arnott, Accenture senior executive in Energy industry group’s consulting
practice, said, “Companies slow to embrace collaboration technologies are
missing strategic opportunities to leverage tools to drive workforce
utilization and improved business and operational performance. The high rate of
usage in emerging markets reflects those companies’ rapid adoption of new
technologies to provide differentiated levels of workforce, operations and
business performance – this is creating new levels of competitiveness. The key
finding that individuals, work groups and teams around the world are driving
the use of collaboration tools within their company is indicative of the
widespread need for knowledge-sharing and improved productivity through
collaboration. It also highlights the increasing use of technology to support a
critical shortage of skills and experience within the oil and gas industry.”

 

Three out of
four professionals in all regions cited complex projects as the largest
workplace factor driving collaboration, with 21 percent from the Americas
saying they use social media to manage capital projects. Beyond that,
geographic responses varied: Americas felt strong pressure to push for
innovation to stay competitive (35 percent), while Asia-Pacific (43 percent)
and EMEA (34 percent) said the new tools help them meet the demand for frequent
or detailed reporting to management.

 

Overall
survey results reveal that nearly 75 percent of oil and gas professionals
worldwide see value in using social media and collaboration tools at work – an
83 percent jump from responses one year ago.

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