Big Oil general examples

Examples of Some Company Social Networking Programs

http://www.spe.org/twa/print/archives/2010/2010v6n3/08_Forum.pdf

Social Networking and Online Collaboration in oil and gas industry

Schlumberger
The Schlumberger Knowledge system called InTouch (a knowledge hub) is entirely online and can be used in an offline mode by engineers based in remote field sites. InTouch is used by an average of 14,000 engineers every day, and at least 40,000 transactions per day occur where knowledge is shared among different parts of the organization.

A technical communities program called Eureka is another online tool that enables the entire technical community to communicate,collaborate, and find each other as needed. It is driven by a series of underlying technologies (e.g., the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, Active Directory, bulletin boards, blogs, networking profile, and competency-management tools). Shell Shell Wiki, the global encyclopedia of Shell based on the design and technology of the Wikipedia, plays a central role in the knowledge sharing and informal learning approach of Shell. In April 2010, the Shell Wiki had around 70,000 users, with more than 37,000 articles online. Shell Wiki is mainly used for encyclopedic business and learning content, but also to outline good practices that need to be highly accessible and easy to find. Content is organized by subject matter, and can be collaboratively written by teams and global communities. All edits and changes, as well as the names of the authors, are recorded. The online discussion forums are called SIGN (Shell International Global Networks). They are global Web-based communities of practice with more than 38,000 members, connecting technical and nontechnical groups across the company. Purpose and areas of usage include asking advice, getting second opinions, learning from peers, tracking down expert and community support for urgent problems, collaboration, peer reviews, innovation, and the creation of new knowledge.

Where would social technologies be of use in the E&P industry? It is now becoming even more obvious that leading E&P organizations can survive only if they retain the relevant knowledge their employees have obtained and use it efficiently to improve corporate performance for the future. In the past 10–15 years, knowledge management has played a role in making oil and gas operations more efficient, reliable, and cost effective in a challenging environment. The result of ineffective knowledge retention is something that is often called “corporate amnesia.” The cardinal symptoms of this are reinventing the wheel, unnecessary repeats of mistakes, losing the ability to carry out operations reliably that were previously considered routine, as well as overreliance on former employees to provide expertise that is needed, but no longer present in the company.

Common arguments against using social media for internal knowledge sharing is that social media, where the content is generated by the users, is built by the most enthusiastic members, not necessarily by the most experienced and knowledgeable.

Skills gap
http://www.ngoilgasmena.com/article/Sharing-the-wealth/ Shell also implements knowledge transfer sessions to capture critical knowledge that is not already documented in procedures, policies or other ways. The company is focusing on an information strategy that ensures people store working documents and other information in a way that can be easily accessible to other users in the future. "You can imagine how many key documents a person could generate over a 15-year period and how they might organise this information in a way that only makes sense to them," says O'Neal. "Overcoming that and instilling a change in working practices is challenging, but essential." Finally, the last aspect Shell is working on to ensure the successful transfer of information is by connecting people through its system of technical or functional networks, such as Shell Wiki.

The issue of experienced, knowledgeable employees retiring and talking a wealth of knowledge with them is one facing a number of industries, but is particularly relevant in a highly technical industry such as the oil and gas sector. Companies such as Shell and ConocoPhillips, for example, have three generations of employees working together side-by-side or dispersed around the world, with a significant number planning to retire soon. This, plus regular attrition, creates the needs for effective knowledge sharing - but its an area the industry is starting to address. Shell has its Wiki, while ConocoPhillips has regular intranet-based discussion forums, online search tools and content management processes to ensure the smooth transfer of skills and information between different generations.

Appealing to such a demographic - the so-called digital natives, for whom using technology comes as second-nature - will be key for the industry, and as the Oil and Gas Collaboration Survey has shown, the integration of information portals and social networks would be both an innovative step towards higher levels of knowledge transfer in the oil and gas industry, and a good selling point for attracting new, IT-savvy recruits. Shell, with its use of Shell Wiki and other interactive technology approaches, is successfully capitalising on this trend - enabling employees to interact and share knowledge that is now vital to the future prosperity of the industry.