Multinational oil and gas company

Business need: Fuel remote, skilled workforce with the information they need

If there’s one common feature across all industries these days, it’s highly competitive markets and rapidly changing needs. That’s true of this client, one of the world’s largest energy companies. Established in oil and gas, the company has moved into renewables and other energy sources due to market demand for alternatives and environmental concerns. As such, the company needed to monitor game-changing technologies, competitors, start-ups and deal flows to identify opportunities and stay abreast of disruptive trends.

While the company operated a number of libraries, access was limited to just those locations. A better way was sought to facilitate current awareness and knowledge management across the globe.

Business solution: Hand-held “library” for distributing relevant information and current awareness

Under the guidance of the company’s technology intelligence leader, the decision was made to modernize its library function to transform it into a high-value intelligence service by knocking down the walls and geography that limited access. By tapping into the potential of mobile devices, digitization and the internet, the goal was to create a mobile library, bringing it directly into the hands of employees, no matter where they were.

The technology intelligence leader pitched the idea of a library app to company executives, drawing inspiration from Apple founder Steve Jobs’ announcement of the original iPod: “This amazing little device holds 1,000 songs, and it goes right in my pocket.”

Her version was to “enable employees to carry around 1,000 articles in their pockets” along with other current industry and market information. The executive team gave her a stamp of approval and the library app was developed and launched in January 2016. Although the initiative was met with some resistance, it was as revolutionary to the company as the iPod was to the consumer market.

Technology was only part of the app equation. The mobile library also needed research, curation and reference resources. For that, the company turned to LAC Group to create a team of “just in time” technology intelligence providers working virtually and located around the world. LAC Group’s information professionals offered research and curation expertise and reference support. The team was flexible, adapting to the needs and expectations of the company’s scientists and engineers working across many time zones.

Business outcome: Enhanced collaboration and innovation with the right information in the right hands at the right time

The company’s library function has been completely transformed from what had been viewed as a dying resource into a meaningful and useful intelligence service. The app attracted about 1,000 active users in 12 months, then doubled, and the user base continues to grow. In addition to mobile employees, thousands of office-bound employees visit the digital library on their desktop PCs each day.

Supported and empowered by this information resource, this global enterprise and distributed workforce now works more effectively and creatively, keeping the company in a position of market leadership and growth.