Digital transformation has driven big headlines and lofty claims for years. Across sectors, we’ve seen numerous examples of digitalization saving time, money and complexity - and the tools and platforms at our disposal are multiplying by the day.

BIM implementation and digital twins have transformed construction. Robotics have transformed the automotive assembly line. But oil and gas is a necessarily cautious sector. With projects measured in billions of dollars, shaving even five percent off CAPEX investment or reducing project cycle time by a few months can mean hundreds of millions of dollars in value.

There’s a lot at stake in each and every project; commercially, environmentally and reputationally. Pushing into new, digital ways of working demands an equally cautious approach; one that respects the legacy tools and processes that have served us so well to date.

At the same time, investments in digital are not inconsequential - and they need to prove their worth. Both the risks and rewards of digital transformation are compounded as we move further upstream.

Striking the right balance between cost, speed and quality is absolutely key. Here, we outline the key considerations for speeding demonstrable ROI on digital transformation, while keeping close control over quality - ultimately, driving the most sustainable commercial success. 

Determining metrics

An intentional approach to digitalization is critical. Clarity over the business case for each initiative across an organization's entire portfolio of projects. This starts with a comprehensive, business-wide review of the tools that are currently in use, the role they play, the departments they move through and the data they generate.

Looking for the most inefficient or resource-heavy processes could be a good place to start in selecting projects to prioritize. And to prove the success of those projects, baseline metrics are key.

Knowing how you will measure success and the units it will be measured in means understanding the status quo pre-project. Starting with small, measurable metrics but tying them to big outcomes can have an outsized effect. Time spent to complete a protocol, number of touchpoints per workflow, manual interventions per workflow, data entry error rate, frequency of version conflicts. These all seem like very granular measures of success - but digital success is in the detail, and the detail should never be overlooked. For instance, cutting workflow touchpoints by 30% can save weeks during concept design reviews, resulting in accelerating project sanctioning by months and unlocking earlier production revenue. 

Prioritizing data

Often, the sheer volume of data oil and gas majors have to contend with can feel completely overwhelming at the start of a project. The key is to start small and succeed, before even thinking about scale.

We find, more often than not, that although there’s vast amounts of data around, it’s not clean, it’s not standardized - and it’s often stuck in disparate spreadsheets, random desktops and even peoples’ heads.

How you’ll want to start depends on the specific challenges your organization faces. For example, if you’re anticipating a number of long-serving engineers retiring over the next twelve months, priority number one should be to capture and formalize the institutional knowledge they’ve spent years acquiring. This will prevent loss which can save millions in rework and safeguard project continuity.

Or perhaps you’ve built a well-adopted internal system, but the data architecture behind it isn't scalable or standardized. In that case, your focus should shift toward consolidating your data environment and assessing storage capabilities to ensure it is future-proof.

Or maybe your workflows are too reliant on manual processes with multiple handoffs, in which case reducing manual handoffs can save hours, directly lowering project engineering costs and accelerating approvals.

The right starting point depends on where friction is most costly, but wherever you begin, the goal is the same; start somewhere, prove value and scale gradually.

Roadmapping use cases

The most successful digital transformation initiatives we’ve seen always come back to that idea of intentionality. As with data, use cases need to be prioritized and sequenced logically.

Get a clear plan in place about what you intend to achieve over the first and subsequent years. Start ‘small’, and keep tight control over data and process until you can be confident the framework is in place for the next roll out.

Generally speaking, a fantastic first use case and a good place to start is in making better use of what you’ve got. Consolidating and rationalizing existing information; but making it easier to share and surface.

Combining project files into searchable databases can provide great efficiencies across the business, help employees surface relevant information and best practices quickly and quickly prove value to people - a commonly overlooked facet of digital adoption and, in turn, ROI. We have seen that by consolidating design files into a central, searchable visual database, this reduced the time spent searching for information by 40% - freeing up engineers to focus on higher value engineering work. 

Understanding people

As my colleague Ricky Govia likes to say, “The biggest hurdle isn't the software itself, but the organizational change required to adopt it”.

Data is nothing without the people to take insight from it. And automation is nothing without the people to action escalations. Similarly, keeping people at the heart of the digital transformation initiative itself is fundamental.

At FutureOn, we focus a lot on the role of the internal champion. A superuser with the outlook and impetus to stay excited about the project, maintain momentum and work business-wide to bridge departmental and project divides.

Their less talked about but equally important counterpart is the necessary skeptic. While the internal champion forges ahead, the skeptic provides the balance that keeps the project healthy. I started this blog discussing the historic caution of the oil and gas industry, and this person’s role is to maintain that perspective; maintaining integrity while excitement builds for digitalization and its ROI.

Without buy-in, even the most powerful tools fail to deliver ROI. A well-supported champion can cut adoption timelines in half, while a thoughtful skeptic ensures the program remains realistic and sustainable.

Digital transformation in oil and gas doesn’t drive ROI by chasing hype. It succeeds when value is proven quickly, scaled deliberately and adopted widely. With the right balance of metrics, data, use cases and people, operators can turn digital investments into real measurable returns.