What if the daily inefficiencies that you’ve grown accustomed to weren’t inevitable, but avoidable?
All businesses develop their own rhythms, otherwise called workflows, and as for field services, things like dispatch routines, inventory management, technician workflows, and invoicing procedures all come together for a finished product. But over time, small errors can work their way into habits, and habits become operations. Many companies choose to manage their fieldwork as a matter of tradition, rather than optimization.
So, the question now becomes: are your field operations designed for optimal performance, or simple persistence?
As many companies have now implemented
oilfield software services like RigER, this question is often answered in the ways in which these companies choose to digitize their rhythms. How does oilfield software help companies rethink their field operations?
Let’s think about it together.
Fieldwork Is Fast, You Should Be Faster.
Field operations happen in real-time with fluid schedules, emergency maintenance, and an ever-changing equipment availability. Despite this need for constant innovation, many businesses firmly believe in traditional solutions with paperwork, spreadsheets, and even constant phone calls being involved in daily jobs.
An operations manager at a mid-sized oilfield services company once told us that their own dispatchers used to coordinate jobs via printed job sheets, and even text messages.
“It worked until it didn’t. One single delayed text could set back entire crew schedules.”
It’s as simple as that. Slept past an alarm? Phone battery died? That’s still downtime, accompanying that same revenue flowing from your pockets back into a completely avoidable cause.
After implementing and oilfield software solution, their dispatch team gained quick access to a centralized calendar, along with real-time equipment tracking and automatic job notifications to make sure field techs are as productive as they can be. With these upgrades, missed jobs can become rare occurrences as opposed to staying a part of your routine.
Consistency In Chaos: Job Standardization
All managers know how inconsistent job execution can be a major pain point in your operations. Even though two techs may do the same job, they may do it in separate ways, leading to completely unpredictable outcomes for clients. This is why a standardized workflow is crucial to outperform your productivity levels.
With the right oilfield services software, businesses can pick out job templates that link to each service type. All the way from required equipment, safety protocols, digital forms, and even client-specific notes, all of your technicians can receive these documents automatically once assigned to a certain job.
The impact of these automations isn’t solely procedural, it’s reputational for your brand. When clients notice this shift to consistency in your craft, trust can begin to build, and confidence in providers grows.
Turning Equipment from a Liability into an Asset
Many times, human error like misplaced equipment, underutilized tools, or completely idle rental units are more than just small inconveniences, they can be considered as cost leaks.
With modern oilfield companies operating over vast amounts of inventory, yards, and diverse sites, a simple tool or rental unit left behind can snowball into loads of logistical disputes and billing issues. Manually tracking all of this requires immense effort, all which comes with an abnormally large margin of error.
Most oilfield software has completely shifted how companies now deal with these logistical roadblocks with integrated equipment tracking and digital asset management made for those who like to monitor their asset through every step of its journey. With barcode scanning and RFID recognition accompanied by telemetry upgrades, field managers can easily find out what equipment is in use, and what is available to assign to a new task.
On average, some clients can reduce almost 17% of their rental overages just by digitizing tool checkouts and automated return reminders. People tend to forget!
Real-Time Communication Between Field and Office
One of the most important things that a field operation can have, is a great channel of communication. Ironically, one of the biggest and most consistent challenges in the oilfield operations industry is this same communication gap between the field and the office. Paper tickets that get filled out onsite sometimes never make it back to the office for days on end, delaying many processes lined up behind.
This can go hand in hand with safety protocols as well. If communication channels are not transparent enough in the field, your workers become legal and financial liabilities to your business. Oilfield work is imperatively risky, and many companies struggle to ensure that field technicians receive and submit obligatory safety documentation before beginning work. Under time pressures, it is always easy for team leads to skip steps, grazing over crucial workplace information.
With an oilfield software solution, teams can require digital forms like pre-job safety assessments, or hazard checklists to make sure that your employees are qualified to complete their job. These processes aren’t just about compliance with your rules, they build a healthy company culture, ensuring your team expects accountability and transparency from each other in their daily routines.
Field-Tested Benefits: A Real-World Snapshot
It is worth noting that many companies that have been using oilfield software services in their field operations have articulated some large improvements in their performance and optimization. An oilfield services firm in Alberta implemented RigER’s
fully integrated software solutions to coordinate hundreds of field workers across their work in drilling, maintenance, and inspection. Around six months post implementation this is what they said.
“We used to lose almost two hours a day figuring out who was responsible for doing what. I cannot believe how much harder that was compared to today’s automatic system, implemented by RigER. Our field managers never have to choose between getting updates or focusing on their work, as they now have both within arms reach at once.”
With that, came reports of fewer double bookings, much faster invoicing times with their consistent performance, and above all, field technicians were satisfied with the outcome! Each of these stemming from streamlined communication and data flow.
The Invisible Work of Optimization
What is the biggest compliment to any operational tool?
How powerful it is? How capable?
It’s how invisible it can become. The
best oilfield software isn’t made to just add features to your arsenal, they oil the gears in your already-made system, removing any friction and helping teams work faster, safer, and smarter without thinking about the technology that allows them to do so.
Still relying on your traditional methods? It may be that time to ask yourself: What are these routines really costing me?
The companies we’ve worked with didn’t just improve their field operations – they redefined what “normal” looks like.