Humorous maybe, but it illustrates the real differences in mind-sets around the globe.

When positioning a product or service in a foreign market, it really pays out to understand the culture.

But how can you reduce the risk of attacking a new market, and how can you avoid the expense and red-tape in setting up a branch office before knowing your product will be a hit?

Taking Germany as an example, ‘The Powerhouse of Europe’, has rebounded quickly from the 2008 crash to re-assert its dominance in both European and Global markets.

Germany’s SME Sector Is Technology Driven

Its population of over 80 million is highly skilled and educated, and benefits from a culture of hands-on apprenticeships. Thriving export markets are driven by world-leading brands in auto-manufacturing, chemicals, engineering, utilities, pharma and high-tech. But there are thousands of ‘secret stars’ in the SME sector too.

So how best to get your message across to those German businesses and consumers who need your offering?

Target customers will most quickly feel rapport for your product or service if your opening approach is in German. Further down the ‘sales funnel’, your sales pitch will be to management, who likely may have English skills, but….  Your supporting sales collateral must be in German.

Germany has a strong SME market, the “Mittelstand” which makes up more than 99% of companies. This represents a figure of 3.6 million enterprises, providing more than 60% of all jobs in Germany¹. “Mittelstand” companies are often technology-driven, open to value-adding products, solutions and services.

To lower your risks and expenses we’re launching the ‘Feet On the Street – Germany’ service, to establish your beach-head in Europe’s power-house economy. Without having to hire local staff, you have a presence on the ground in Germany. Business development is systematically supported through a two-phase approach.

Contact us to discuss how we can be part of your extended team. I’m sure we can deliver a better definition of TEAM, even in German: “Tut Etwas Außergewöhnliches Miteinander” or “Do Something Extraordinary Together”.

“Bis bald” as they say round here,

Timothy

References:

¹: ‘Introducing the German Mittelstand’ – www.make-it-in-germany.com

Photo courtesy of www.make-it-in-germany.com

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So what to do to escape the January blues?

In the UK many folks take comfort in turning their thoughts to warmer days and launch their search for the best summer holiday deals. Research shows that this frantic scramble reaches fever pitch on the second weekend in January.

Take a new look at your career

The travel companies have dubbed the day ‘Sunshine Saturday’.

As they say in Germany „Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude!“, or “The greatest pleasure lies in the anticipation!” The early bookers will certainly have a lot of pleasure contemplating their two-week summer escape to a far-flung sunny beach.

But what if that ‘sunshine feeling’ was something that was a daily experience? What if we could escape the winter blues for good?

In the energy sector, and especially in the oil business, we have been experiencing a cold wind indeed. Driven by unprecedented low crude oil prices, the threat of redundancy is a real concern for many in the operating and service companies.

One leading oil and gas region is bucking the trend however, and standing in the sun. With it’s focus on a growing LNG export market, Australia is set to outpace Qatar as the largest global exporter of LNG¹. Long-term contracts agreed with Japan, China and other Asian growth markets mean that Australian gas prices are largely protected from the vagaries of the global hydrocarbon markets.

The Australian energy sector is hungry for experienced personnel to power its growth, and pays its oil&gas workers well. Australia leads the global industry with an average annual salary of almost US$170k ². Maybe it’s time to turn our focus south and tap into the wealth of career opportunities ‘down-under’. With over 80% of its population living within 50km of the beach, Australia boasts an envied work/life balance and outdoor lifestyle, every day could be a ‘Sunshine Saturday’³.

Warm regards

Timothy Crossett – Executive Energy

References:

¹: ‘The Future of Australian LNG Exports’ – The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

²: ‘Canada: Great Salaries in Oil and Gas’ – Gas Global

³: ‘An outdoor lifestyle: beach and barbeques’ – www.australia.com

Photo courtesy of www.australia.com

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In these times of ever sharper focus on constrained budgets, department heads are driven to find areas where costs can be saved. In capital-intensive projects it is often tempting to identify training as a ‘soft-target’ to trim spending.

Wealth Warning! Any short-term training savings could lead to longer-term pain.

Analyst research into the effectiveness of training spend, shows that a relatively small investment can reap large rewards. For example:
– Project success can be boosted by up to 30% if at least 1.5% of the project cost is ear-marked for training. (1)
– Productivity gains of about 15% are derived from every euro or dollar invested in training. (2)
– Over 40% of employers agree that an IT skills gap has a negative impact on productivity (3)

It’s not just project and productivity gains that make targeted training a sound investment. Providing opportunities for your staff to train and develop vastly increases their likelihood of staying for the long haul. Just pointing your staff to a list of available workshops and webinars won’t cut the mustard though.

Managers who invest time and effort in identifying development opportunities focussed on the needs of each individual team member, will reap the benefits in reduced staff turnover. This is most effective when the training programme has the aim of developing a “culture of identification” between the organization and the employee. When the employee feels more connected with the company, the intention to search for another job decreases substantially.

Differences are noted between on-the-job training and off-site schooling. Studies suggest that outside training may in fact, reduce commitment(4). An oft-cited example is of the young high potential colleague who benefits from executive MBA training at great expense to the company, only to jump ship at the first opportunity. Some organisations have introduced bonds or repayment schemes to counter the threat of ‘MBA brain drain’. On the other hand, internal training programmes such as those favoured in Japan have been demonstrated to boost attachment and increase the employee’s commitment to the organisation (5).

Some organisations take their commitment to staff learning opportunities to a whole new dimension. At Merkle Direct Marketing Inc. employees can take classes on a variety of topics, and many of the courses are not directly job related. The company argues that even seemingly irrelevant classes like pumpkin carving are valuable to the organisation, as employees become better overall learners. This in turn, boosts the company’s total intellectual capital(6).

All told, your company will benefit from a well-developed training offering for your employees. The strategies you deploy to develop your colleagues will not only improve employee retention and boost morale, but will also benefit project delivery.

I’m off to get my pumpkin and carving knife!

Warm Regards
Timothy Crossett, Executive Energy

(1). IDC MarketScape: Worldwide IT Education & Training, 2013 Vendor Analysis
(2). & (3). IDC: HP Education Services: The Value of Training the IT Organization
(4). Green, F., Felsted, A., Mayhew, K., & Pack, A. 2000. The impact of training on labour mobility: Individual and firm-level evidence from Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38(2): 261-275
(5). Lincoln, J. R., & Kalleberg, A. L. 1996. Commitment, quits, and work organization in Japanese and U.S. plants. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 50(1): 39-59.
(6). Charest, A., Training Ideas, Inc.com

The post Train To Retain – Carve Out A Brighter Future For Your Staff appeared first on Executive Energy.

Hart’s E&P Magazine – 9th Jan 2012:

All operators want to save time and money when drilling. Drilling with casing, managed pressure drilling, logging while drilling, and multistage completions are typical approaches taken to reduce operational time and get the well online as fast as possible.

Increased brownfield operations and cost-intensive deep and ultra-deep exploration mean spiralling upstream capex. With deepwater day rates reaching US $1million, every minute of rig time has to be justified.

Offshore deck space and accommodation are limited, so effective communication of logistics plans is essential. Late mobilization can result in costly suspended wellsite operations, while mobilizing too early increases well costs through extra rental charges and day rates.

The challenge

Well operations consist of two main components, wellsite planning and logistics scheduling. Operations dictate equipment and personnel requirements with project progress. Typically the wellsite company representative deals with operational matters, supported by the materials coordinator, who manages logistics. Offshore costs often are an order of magnitude higher than land-based operations, requiring more detailed planning with additional considerations such as sea conditions, deck space availability, and well complexity.

Wellsite planning must be streamlined to keep pace, ensuring equipment and personnel are constantly updated on operations and mobilizing equipment and engineers.

Wellsite planning

Wellsite plans outline step by step how the well will be drilled, completed, or worked over. Most operators use a rudimentary Excel spreadsheet look-ahead/forward plan for work scheduling. An activity list is created from the well-ops program, and time estimates are added. A simple formula shows the estimated start date and time for each activity. Upon completion, the actuals for that activity are input, which updates the forward plan. Alternatively, project management software is used with the same simple method.

The updated look-ahead is laboriously distributed daily as a read-only pdf. Service companies, partners, operator colleagues, and regulatory bodies can be copied.

This straightforward system has been in place for decades, but using an Excel-Project-Outlook approach poses disadvantages:

• Historical data is available to all parties;
• Only one person can update the plan at a time;
• No multisite operations overview is possible;
• Formula errors occur when inserting or deleting activities;
• Reorganizing activities is cumbersome;
• It is time consuming to create and distribute daily updates; and
• Confusion ensues when the plan is revised.

Unanticipated conditions cause deviations from the well program, with issues such as lost circulation or excessive torque impacting drilling operations and causing unbudgeted delays.

Conversely, the well plan can be sped up if, for example, rate of penetration (ROP) is higher than expected or a cement bond log is canceled.

Constantly changing look-aheads are poorly reflected by daily or bi-weekly updates. A web-based application, on the other hand, allows personnel to access the latest plan at any time. Online look-ahead updates mean no clumsy Excel formulas and no risk of using and distributing the wrong look-ahead.

An online application allows operators to list all lookaheads and to view current activities at each location. Secondly, permitted users can collaborate online and agree on the plan ahead of time with rights to rearrange, add, or remove activities. Thirdly, plan modifications are instantly accessible to permitted users.

Time-consuming telephone/email updates are avoided with a web-based look-ahead application. Well-ops personnel can discuss the plan in a secure online forum, identifying unnecessary activities. For example, removing an unnecessary 24-hr wiper-trip brings all subsequent activities forward.

Logistics scheduling

As deck space and accommodation on rigs is limited, accurate logistics planning is essential. Often equipment and engineers are mobilized too soon. Additional rental costs and fees are absorbed in well costs and are rarely highlighted in the post-well review. But mobilizing too early or not backloading promptly can grow into a six-figure overspend. The costs from waiting on equipment or personnel are even more significant.

Service company equipment and personnel are in short supply, especially when oil prices and rig activity are highest. It is a challenge supplying multiple operators against constantly changing plans. Suboptimal logistics scheduling can necessitate extra boat or helicopter journeys, incurring extra expenditure and risk.

Online updates by each operator facilitate timely preparation. With online transportation schedules, everyone works from the same timetable, reducing equipment or personnel delays.

Online vs. Excel

Excel files, with their formula errors, macros, and inconsistencies, become massive on long projects. Tailor-made applications are more powerful, with activities easily reordered by drag-and-drop.

Built-in algorithms automatically recalculate error-free activity timings.

Interactive calendars display multiple weeks in one uncomplicated activity overview. Permissions-based recaps summarize recent operations.

Because web-based applications require Internet availability, it might appear that an Excel-based system is more reliable. But an Excel-based method also suffers from communications loss. In fact, a web-based application allows office-based personnel to keep the look-ahead updated and keep everyone in the loop.

Welcoming the web

The oil industry often is reluctant to adopt new technologies, particularly those requiring new working practices. A new approach represents a challenge. Learning a new system and its perceived risk of failure are arguments against innovation.

E&P software often has too many features and too much flexibility. This can result in solutions that are difficult to use, and the “solution” becomes the problem.

The new web-based look-ahead application focuses on the well-ops end user. It requires no off-site training. The application is simple enough to use that it becomes quickly familiar after first log-in.

Timothy Crossett and Matt Longthorpe, Wellsite Data Solutions

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