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I was able to spend two days at the recent customer conference of IHS, a sustainability and environmental, health and safety (EHS) software provider for very large companies -- typically utilities, oil & gas firms and heavy manufacturers.
The conference offered a great way to get a sense of how these large emitters are investing in sustainability. Large emitters continue to build sustainability into their everyday operations, slowly moving from facility/local solutions to enterprise-wide processes and beginning to think about corporate energy management.
Attendees included such large companies as Chevron, Cummings, Duke Energy, and Kuwait National Petroleum, which are also large greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters.
IHS, with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, has the most extensive customer base of heavy emitters, with all having complex regulatory, compliance, GHG and energy needs. IHS revenue growth over the last four years includes seven acquisitions, while its offerings include software for EHS, GHG/energy management and product stewardship, among other areas.
My primary observations from the conference:
1. Having a License to Operate Remains Very Important
Representatives from Chevron and other large companies discussed the importance of continuing to have a "license to operate" in different locations throughout the world -- one that expands beyond simple regulatory compliance. This is especially true considering the recent oil, mining and nuclear disasters. Regulatory compliance, safety, social concerns and other sustainability areas are critical for these large oil and gas and utility companies as they work to ensure a financial return on long-lived (e.g., 40 years) investments, such as utility plants and oil refineries.
2. Spreadsheets Still Common
Despite complex company needs and sophisticated capabilities of available IHS products, spreadsheets continue to be a very common tool of choice for process automation. Companies use IHS products for some processes (incident reporting, GHG reporting, compliance reporting, energy management, project tracking, etc.) in some locations but not everywhere. Defining a global IT architecture for all these processes remains complex.
Although spreadsheets are
Although spreadsheets are still common companies need to move on with the times and technology available with real time data and dashboards.
Defining a global IT architecture is complex but Invensys are getting there with InFusion. InFusion ECS applications focus on the safe and effective operation of production and industrial infrastructure assets across heavy process, hybrid and discrete environments. The application set includes the engineering tools and supporting functions that allow you to build and operate your production facility as part of an Enterprise Control System.