Global independent SAP consultancy Absoft is adding value across the oil and gas sector, as its specialist team handling solutions to industry process issues expands its work across the UK, Europe and the Americas.
The Aberdeen-based company, which founded its oil and gas team in 2008, has added eight customers including offshore operators, drilling contractors, service and supply chain leaders, and manufacturing firms in the last year.
Since its inception the team has gone from strength to strength, increasing its customer base by 80%.
Don Valentine, operations director and head of the oil and gas team at Absoft, says developing solutions to common pain points which prevent organisations from achieving their goals has been a major area for growth.
“Having worked in the oil and gas sector in Europe’s oil capital Aberdeen since 1991, Absoft is uniquely placed to understand the issues facing the upstream sector,” says Mr Valentine.
“Maintaining a presence on-site with our clients in energy means the challenges associated with managing organisational growth, cost pressures, legislative requirements and acquisition and divestment activity are firmly at the front of our consultants’ minds.
“Ongoing issues are fed back to our solution development facility at Bridge of Don, which carries out near-continuous design and build of SAP-based solutions which are fit for purpose and add value to the sector.”
Absoft is has also founded open forums designed to give companies involved in the maintenance and operations, and supply chain streams of the energy industry the opportunity to meet, discuss issues facing their respective disciplines and consider potential solutions.
The events are facilitated by Absoft, with the agenda driven by those taking part allowing the industry the opportunity to look at best practice, operational challenges, as well as the intelligent use of SAP technology.
As energy companies bring an increasing focus on extracting maximum value from existing SAP assets, more and more are seeking strategic advice from Absoft.
Mr Valentine adds: “We speak upstream, and know well the vital need to understand the issues facing operators and service providers to contractors and subcontractors.
“That allows us to give our clients confidence that talking to Absoft – about how implementing SAP could add value across a business’ operations or improving how the organisation uses its existing SAP system – will bring real results.
“Our supply chain, and operations and maintenance forums were developed to give the industry the chance to debate real issues affecting the sector and investigate potential solutions, with the assistance of our experts.”
Customer relationship manager Catherine Reynolds explains how Absoft is helping drill bit manufacturer Varel International to get the most out of its investment in SAP: “At Varel, which includes the UK manufacturing specialist Downhole Products, we acted as the implementation partner for the roll-out of its new finance system across the UK, US, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Australia.
“We offered advice on local issues such as legislation, taxation and accounting, using our combination of industry knowledge and technical expertise to ensure the company was left with a fully integrated system and seamless processes”
Having successfully extended the system across the group, Absoft is providing ongoing SAP support and consultancy to ensure that the software continues to streamline costs and improve efficiency as the company evolves.
