“Top 7 Challenges Faced by Application Support Engineers in the Oil & Gas Industry—and How to Solve Them” …Continued
5. Communication Gaps in Distributed Teams: Enhancing Collaboration in Nigeria’s Oil & Gas Sector
Good communication is a key factor in the oil and gas industry, especially when teams are situated across different regions.
Miscommunications and delays are common among ASEs, particularly where they struggle to communicate with various departments.
Miscommunication and costly errors go wild in the conventional mode of communication.
Research has highlighted the economic implications of ineffective communication approaches for businesses, particularly in sectors such as oil and gas, demonstrating that communication breakdown costs a company an average of $62,400 per employee annually.
Solution: Riding on the latest Communication Technologies.
To address these communication lapses, there is a need to ride on cooperative platforms and live communication tools.
ASEs can remotely assist farm field workers through AR-fueled smart glasses that enhance effectiveness and safety.
Smart glasses deliver live video assistance and direct digital workflow access in real-time, which is critically essential in risky environments.
The convergence of these technologies has the potential to substantially enhance technical support for the oil and gas component of Indigenous Oil Companies (IOCs) and oil service companies in Nigeria.
6. Cybersecurity Threats: Safeguarding Nigeria’s Oil & Gas Infrastructure
As Nigeria’s oil and gas industry becomes increasingly digital, cybersecurity assumes an ever-more important role.
The main job of ASE is safeguarding complex systems from cyber attacks that may impact business and expose confidential information.
That is essentially their core mandate.
Strong cybersecurity is required because the higher deployments of digital technologies in oil and gas technical support increase the attack surface.
The sector is hit by increasingly rigid cyber attacks, as was the case in the recent past.
Oil, gas, energy, and utility players were part of the 67% targeted by ransomware attacks, with 80% resulting in data encryption.
The average recovery cost per incident was about $3.12 million.
Solution: Adopting Integrated Cybersecurity Strategies.
Oil and gas operators have to adopt end-to-end cybersecurity practices to combat these events.
It entails ongoing scanning of systems, staff training, and utilization of cutting-edge security technologies.
The plan relies significantly on ASEs to secure IT and operational technology (OT) systems against probable vulnerabilities.
IOCs and Nigerian oil servicing companies can both actively confront cybersecurity issues, as well as safeguard strategic infrastructure.
7. Talent Shortages and Skill Gaps: Bridging the Expertise Divide in Nigeria’s Oil & Gas Sector
There is a dismal shortage of experienced professionals with limited technological experience in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
Application Support Engineers are needed, and a shortage of experienced individuals can slow down business operations.
The shortage is exacerbated by factors such as an aging workforce and the brain drain of experienced engineers to the developed world in search of better opportunities.
The industry will be short of more than 40,000 skilled workers by the year 2025, the majority of which will be technical.
Solution: Strategic Talent Development and Partnerships.
Organizations should reskill their current workforce through training and staff development programs as a way to attract new talent.
A bridge between skills gaps can be established by working with training institutions to develop targeted curricula.
We can launch industry-specific courses in association with universities, including oil and gas company-owned universities.
We can also include mentorship and internships to provide future ASEs with practical on-the-job exposure and establish a consistent talent pool of seasoned professionals.
Empowering Application Support Engineers for a Resilient Future
ASEs will provide support to major operations in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry for effective exploration, drilling, and production.
Addressing the key challenges is important for building a robust and future-oriented industry.
Indigenous Oil Companies (IOCs) and International Oil Companies (IOCs) and service companies must benefit from investing in the appropriate technologies, skills development, and team cooperation tools to empower ASEs to perform.
Invest in your technical support ability today.
Contact us to deploy Application Support Engineers to enhance your operations and build long-term growth.
