Buy vs. Build – The Software Development Dilemma

Buy vs. Build – The Software Development Dilemma

The relationship between energy operators and software service providers is evolving – because it has to. If you’re not already looking to increase efficiencies through the digitalization of data to better manage costs and activities, you should be.

For oil and gas explorers and producers, having access to real-time data, costs, and activities associated with everything from construction, drilling, and completions, to pipeline and facilities, abandonment and reclamation is no longer a “nice to have”. Operators recognize the value of a tool that can provide better access to and integration of data. Some operators have even tried – and failed – to develop their own in-house software solutions.

Software development is expensive and labor-intensive, requiring large teams with diverse sets of skills, technologies, and expertise. In order to build something that people need, and want to use, developers must first understand the user. Large companies with many different departments and specific, often independent needs, tend to work in silos. Unfortunately, many internal IT development projects, which began with good intentions, end up overly customized or over budget, and suit only a small portion of the total user base. The result is the layering on of many individual software products which simply can’t integrate, or “talk to each other”. At that point, many companies scrap their large, long-term investments in these development projects and seek help from external, specialized software development firms.

If software development was easy, everyone would be doing it. The fact is, good software developers have honed their skills with both schooling and experience over the years. Users often don’t know what they actually need and, more importantly, what they don’t need. An experienced developer understands that, in order to create a great user experience, one must first understand the need, not just the want. The ability to make an objective assessment of an organization’s needs, without the influence of interdepartmental prejudices is invaluable. Involving users at the appropriate point in the analysis and development phases will allow the partners (company and software service provider) to get to the root of their needs so a solution can be developed to address them.

Information is power and companies who recognize the value that good data, and better data structure and integration, can provide have a competitive edge. In the ever-shifting global economy, that edge means survival as we begin to reconsider how we do business in a post-pandemic world.

Solving some of the most difficult problems facing the energy sector with the best architecture, people, and innovative technologies is what we do. You drill the wells; leave the software to us.

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About Resource Energy Solutions

RES provides full well life-cycle project, cost and data management solutions for the energy sector. RES software enables users to increase profits and efficiency by monitoring costs and activities in real-time. The suite offers an enterprise risk management platform that provides the highest level of well integrity by proactively managing all well operations and well related regulatory compliance, environmental management, and risk assessment and mitigation activities in real-time.

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