Maersk Oil (now a part of TotalEnergies)

Highlights:

• Global energy company needed to reduce costs of high-end software applications. 
• Open iT was selected for its ability to analyze usage data on a global scale. 
• Dashboards and detailed reports helped management negotiate vendor agreements and significantly reduce Exploration & Production (E&P) software costs. For their most expensive application, the costs were reduced by 39% within one year.
• Open iT’s automated harvesting of inactive licenses enabled the success of the company’s software license optimization and entitlement (SLOE) initiative and helped them stop paying for software that was not actively used.

Company and Business Overview

TotalEnergies is a global leader in the production and marketing of multi-energies. In 2017, TotalEnergies acquired Maersk Oil, an international energy company with a 2016 entitlement production of 313,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with production from Denmark, the UK, Norway, Kazakhstan, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Algeria. Open iT witnessed this development as a key partner of Maersk Oil in its software optimization project, and later on has partnered with TotalEnergies to continue the successful management of its IT assets.

Business challenges

The rapid decline of oil and gas prices prompted Maersk Oil (now a part of TotalEnergies) to manage and control costs in a more efficient manner. Like many technologically advanced companies, they rely on high-value software applications to gain a competitive advantage. These applications are often underutilized due to lack of detailed information about how, when and by whom they are used. Several years prior, Maersk Oil implemented a software license management tool, but it focused on license administration with limited capabilities for analyzing licensing optimization and usage.  

Maersk Oil established an internal initiative, Software License Optimization and Entitlement (SLOE), to increase visibility levels for the management and administration of software licenses across the company. The SLOE’s mission would extend far beyond the current downturn in oil prices to help the company achieve higher levels of operational productivity.  

Simplification Specialist Claus Moller was assigned to lead the initiative by looking at business processes in detail to identify tasks, workflow and other areas where applications could be used more efficiently. Moller’s background as a Global Subsurface Portfolio Manager and E&P Simulation Specialist provided core knowledge about the applications in use and experience working with vendors. E&P application vendors were also making changes to their licensing models. It was an optimum time to analyze and review usage patterns for negotiation purposes.