Why Oil & Energy CIOs Must Rethink IT Architecture — 10 Missing Links in the Oil & Energy IT Operating Model 💲

CIO Diagnostic Series — Oil & Energy Edition

Why Oil & Energy IT Looks Structurally Sound — But Isn’t

From the outside, most oil & energy IT estates look mature.

ERP runs reliably. Production systems are digitized. SCADA and historians capture enormous data volumes. CMMS governs preventive maintenance. HSE platforms track incidents. OT networks are monitored. Cloud, AI, and analytics programs are underway.

On paper, here’s what typically exists:

• ERP for finance, procurement, projects, JV accounting

• SCADA, DCS, RTUs, historians for field operations

• LIMS & production accounting tools

• CMMS/asset integrity & reliability systems

• HSE, incident, permit-to-work, ESG systems

• Crude trading, pricing & market interfaces

• Pipeline & terminal management systems

• OT cybersecurity and SOC

• GIS, seismic interpretation & subsurface modeling

• Data lakes, digital twins & cloud modernization programs

• Vendor ecosystems for drilling, logging & EPC

Yet — operations still break unexpectedly.

Production numbers misalign across systems. Work orders close without completing underlying action. Energy efficiency dashboards contradict field readings. Maintenance timing and failure patterns drift.

Regulatory submissions require manual reconciliation. OT and IT incident narratives differ. System upgrades create unintended operational side effects. Digital initiatives succeed — but integration maturity doesn’t rise.

Billions invested — yet execution remains brittle.

Why?

Because oil & energy systems were digitized — not anatomically modeled.

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