Case study

Seadrill secures global IT support for offshore drilling fleet HP delivers global solution to transform support expectations and improve service uptime

IndustryOil & Gas

ObjectiveCreate a single, global maintenance contract to replace ad hoc, local warranties and deliver consistent service and long-term planning

ApproachDiscussed with HP, supplier of the majority of its hardware, to create bespoke solution

IT matters• Delivers a global contract with one point of

contact, replacing multiple warranties in different territories

• Improves response times on issues, with single line of responsibility

Business matters• Allows for the long-term planning of a rolling IT

refresh, optimising future configuration and support functions

• Creates standard support expectations throughout the world, improving ability to deliver consistent customer service

“Everything is now handled under one maintenance agreement, rather than different warranties in different territories. It means we’re getting faster, clearer responses.” – David Ray, head of IS operations, Seadrill

Global contract allows for offshore support Seadrill is the world’s leading offshore, deepwater drilling contractor. Its rigs can be found in some of the world’s harshest, most remote locations. To service its complex IT estate it needs a flexible, global and consistent support partner. HP has created the bespoke solution to meet Seadrill’s exacting requirements.

Case study | Seadrill

Challenge

Global, remote and hard to supportSeadrill is the world’s leading offshore deepwater drilling company. It operates a fleet of 69 drilling rigs which is the most modern fleet in the world.

Seadrill operates in a range of environments across the world. Each rig is supported by a local onshore office, supporting the rig with everything it needs. The company is headquartered in London.

There are a number of elements to the Seadrill growth strategy. It provides safe and efficient operations while also being agile enough to absorb mergers and acquisitions, and develop its strong position in deepwater and harsh environments.

To achieve this, Seadrill needs a consistent, modern IT infrastructure in every location in which it operates. It uses a HP-hosted data centre in the UK for the majority of its corporate data, but it requires local IT services for its rigs and onshore offices. Many local onshore offices have been in operation for years, but Seadrill requires the flexibility to relocate these or open new offices. Each rig has four servers on board, with one operating as a spare.

“We need some IT Services to be kept at a local level,” says David Ray, head of IS operations, Seadrill “ERP or health & safety systems for instance. As rig availability is our revenue stream, we cannot afford rig downtime.

“The problem we had was that our kit was bought in a single location, with onshore warranty. Technically, it wasn’t supported offshore. We worked around this when we had a failure but it wasn’t ideal. While it was workable in the short term, it became very complicated when looking at renewals.

“We built our rig IT systems for resiliency and parts - if a system breaks we’ll either bring the replacement up, or butcher it for parts,” says David Ray. “Our guys on board are resourceful, but they’re oil workers, not IT experts. We want them spending their time drilling and running the rig, not repairing IT systems.

“The situation arose as a consequence of our rapid growth and mergers & acquisitions. We’re now at a stage where we need a single, global maintenance agreement in place.”

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Case study | Seadrill

Solution

Single point of contact, flexible SLAsSeadrill is a largely HP house. David Ray says it was natural – though not inevitable, that it turned to HP to create a global support solution. “There are plenty of people who can support HP hardware, but not many who can operate globally and figure out a support solution for offshore. Plus, we’d always prefer to deal directly with the supplier than a third party.”

The HP solution is to create a single support contact covering onshore offices, 69 rigs and five regional offices. There is a single, UK-based point of contact and a single pane of visibility over the entire IT estate. The deal provides global support entitlement, though allows for some local flexibility. “We recognise some of our onshore offices are harder to service than others,” says David Ray.

If there is an issue with HP equipment on board a rig, HP either:

• Ships out replacement kit to the rig via the supporting onshore office and talks through a swap-out with an on board engineer via telephone. HP is creating special photo manuals to improve this process, making it easier for on board crew to follow instructions.

• Sends an engineer to an offshore office to repair faulty kit sent from a nearby rig ship. The equipment is then tested before being shipped back to the rig.

Benefits

Faster response times, longer term planning The three-year deal was signed in February 2014; David Ray says Seadrill is already seeing the benefits: “Everything is now handled under one maintenance agreement, rather than different warranties in different territories. It means we’re getting faster, clearer responses.

“We have one point of contact with which to log calls. All issues, all processes found in one place. It’s the One HP model: they’re responsible from end-to-end, from hardware failure to applications. HP is the one provider for day-to-day support.”

David Ray says the global service provides assurance, but recognises local flexibility is important to keep the relationship in step: “When we first approached HP, their reaction was excellent. They didn’t sit there and say ‘we can’t support offshore’, they listened and offered solutions. That was encouraging. If they can be that flexible when framing the initial solution, I’m sure we’ll be able to have conversations when new issues crop up.”

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Case study | Seadrill

© Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA5-4738EEW, September 2014

He says, with the audit of hardware complete, HP is helping plan a phased refresh. “A lot of the equipment has been on the rigs for 6-7 years with no IT refresh, partly because we’ve grown so quickly and that it’s never been part of the routine.

“ We have one point of contact with which to log calls. All issues, all processes found in one place. It’s the One HP model: they’re responsible from end-to-end.”

– David Ray, head of IS operations, Seadril

“We’re now engaging early with HP to look at better ways of configuring and supporting hardware. We want to reduce the possibility of an outage and improve the speed in which we can be back up and running. Part of that is putting in more effective hardware in the first place, and part of that is better management of the support function, says David Ray.”

Learn more at hp.com/uk/tssupport

Customer solution at a glance

HP services• HP Technology Services