Wisdom in the Digital Age 

In the 1934 poem ‘Choruses’ T.S. Eliot wrote “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

Almost 90 years’ later most organisations face the same challenges described by the poet to some extent.

Energy operators and contractors in the North Sea have spent the last 40 years collecting mountains of data. This data might take a variety of different forms and be used by different parts of the business. Such examples include data on asset locations, equipment installations, inspection data or condition reports, data on repairs or replacements, work scheduling data, or personnel onboard data, to name but a few. The list of data types held by every organisation is endless and in the digital age it is growing rapidly with every passing day.

The conundrum is what do we do with it? How do we leverage all of the independent data collection activities that are happening in multiple places and for varied reasons or departments? What do we do to ensure that we can all gain valuable information from this data and can successfully turn that information into organisational knowledge and ultimately ensure we retain that wisdom for future successes?

Historically, whilst we all find ourselves with a lot of information the value gained from transforming the information into knowledge is difficult. Often lots of disparate information from multiple data sources creates a very difficult environment for successful knowledge transformation. Organisations may have lots of ‘noisy’ or meaningless data alongside the useful data captured, which can make it increasingly difficult to gain value as often the meaningful information is lost in a sea of noise.
Its important for organisations to ensure that they are gaining proper value from the collection of data and completing this full transformation into knowledge and wisdom.

Whilst we are all very good at collecting data, there is little point in collecting Petabytes of data and storing it for all eternity, if it cannot ultimately be easily presented in a way that is valuable to decision makers and stakeholders.

At CAN Group, we are passionate about ensuring efficiency, and overall value earned from the transformation of data. Over the last few years, CAN Group has invested over £1million in its data intelligence platform ENGAGE, the premise of which is simple - we want to ensure our customers can utilise their data, whether that be historical/as built specifications and drawings, current photographs, or even last week’s Ultrasonic test data. ENGAGE’s user dashboards allow this information to be presented in an easy to digest format, facilitating real-time critical decision making based on knowledge gained.

In recent times CAN Group has taken this premise a step further with integration between ENGAGE and a leading provider of digital twin technology.

The advantages of this are clear, by combining the data visualisation afforded by such technology alongside the data intelligence capabilities of ENGAGE we can ensure that true value can be achieved from the data gathered. For example, using data captured from an on-site team, ENGAGE may determine that an anomaly or defect is present on the site, this will often merit a repair or replacement of the equipment in question. We can leverage value by visualising this on a 3D walkthrough of the asset where these repairs or replacements are going to take place. This can ensure that any additional risks in terms of location can be accounted for as well as enabling better planning. The digital twin could show that there are several anomalies in close proximity to each other or forming part of the same module, this can better aid the planning process and ensure that as many tasks as possible can be completed at the same time. For an offshore platform or FPSO this ultimately ensures that work can be completed in the fewest possible trips which vastly reduces risk to personnel from any threats posed by the defects, as well as realising value to the operator in terms of reduced labour cost; win-win all round.

It is a clear fact that the future of the North Sea lies in the data. As T.S Eliot wrote all those years ago, ensuring that we do not lose knowledge trapped in our information is pivotal to gain the wisdom to remain successful for years to come.

CAN GROUP is a market leader in life of asset integrity services with our business streams CAN, ENGTEQ and VENTEQ providing a comprehensive and integrated asset integrity service to deliver innovative solutions to the energy industry worldwide.
For more information visit www.cangroup.net

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