With the discovery of oil, and the increased use of fracking in North Dakota, the oil and gas industry in the United States has drastically changed in recent years, and that’s an understatement. Whereas the U.S. used to rely on foreign oil imports for nearly two thirds of its oil consumption, some estimates place current imports around 35 percent, with the remaining 65 percent being produced domestically. Working in such a rapidly growing industry, managing that growth can be a hefty challenge. Many companies are finding that Microsoft Dynamics is a valuable asset in such a quickly-evolving industry. But just how is it affecting change?
“The industry is beginning to wake up to see the cloud as a vehicle to drive their business and increase collaboration,” said Craig Hodges, Microsoft’s general manager of U.S. Manufacturing and Resources in 2011. “Cloud computing holds enormous promise not only in accelerating the implementation and adoption of technology, but also in creating the ability for oil and gas professionals to collaborate around the world.” Microsoft Dynamics is one of the major tools that is helping to usher in this new age of collaboration between the hi-tech and petroleum industries. Here’s exactly how it’s reshaping the face of oil and gas.
What Dynamics Brings to the Table
Dynamics has established itself as the premier tool for the oil and gas industry. But how exactly is it doing this? The crux of this establishment is due to the wide range of features Microsoft supports that are crucial to the industry. Below are just a couple of the options that many companies have come to rely on:
1. Customization – Dynamics offers an unrivaled degree of customization upon implementation, making it ideal to the unique challenges of the oil and gas industry.
2. Single Solution – Because of its comprehensive nature, Dynamics can often make other software packages, such as warehouse management software, completely unnecessary.
3. Improved Insight and Reporting – Because Dynamics is a comprehensive solution, companies are able to pull data from a single information source, making it easier to see the “big picture” as it relates to their operations.
4. Reduced Cost – Having a homogeneous system helps companies streamline IT costs, as there is a common set of skills needed to support the IT needs of the entire company.
Case Study: Amalie Oil
Amalie Oil Company, founded in 1903, is a manufacturer of high-quality petroleum products such as motor oil and lubricants. The company blends and packages nearly 2,000 different products, including private-label products for major retailers and automotive-parts stores. While their main production facility is in Tampa, Florida, Amalie serves customers throughout the United States and 100 other countries. So just how has Microsoft Dynamics helped Amalie’s operations?
“Amalie Oil is doubling in size every six years and we have only had to increase our workforce by 25 percent. We would have been unable to effectively scale to that level of growth without Microsoft Dynamics AX,” said Gianni Barkett, Amalie’s Chief Technology Officer.
Having initially used JD Edwards for financial management since 1999, Amalie had planned to roll out the software’s sales order entry, manufacturing, and distribution capabilities, but ultimately “struggled in making JD Edwards support both our discrete and process manufacturing needs and in supporting batch formulations in our blending operation,” said Barkett.
“We considered implementing Oracle E-Business Suite or upgrading our existing JD Edwards solution to NetSuite OneWorld. But with Microsoft Dynamics AX, we found that it supported the broad range of functions that our business needed and we could customize it to work the way we do, which we couldn’t do with the other solutions.”
Amalie now uses Dynamics across its entire operation, including discrete and process manufacturing. The result? The case study showed that Amalie “has improved business insight, helping to streamline reporting and manufacturing operations and ultimately increase the quality of services it provides. Amalie Oil has also been able to reduce IT costs, speed development, and lay a foundation for future growth.”
The Key Takeaways
Few industries are so volatile as oil and gas. Fierce competition, a rapidly-changing market, workforce issues and reliance on a wide array of suppliers, vendors and contractors are just a few of the challenges faced on a daily basis.
Throughout it all, Microsoft Dynamics has proven to be the most effective tool at helping companies manage their growth, streamline their operations and maintain profitability.
About the Author: Curt Finch is the CEO of Journyx, a Certified Microsoft Partner. Journyx maximizes the value of Microsoft Dynamics by adding enterprise time tracking. Journyx Accountlink for Microsoft Dynamics allows companies to quickly implement a complete time tracking solution using existing business data in Dynamics. Connect with Curt on Google+.
About Journyx
A Certified Microsoft Partner, Journyx enterprise time and expense tracking software is an add-on that integrates with Microsoft Dynamics GP as well as Project Accounting. Learn more at http://journyx.com/dynamics.
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