How Information Technology Professionals In the Energy Industry Access News and Information Survey Findings from Houston, Texas April 2005 Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Spur Digital 2005. All rights reserved
Index of Charts Figure 1 How Often Do You Visit IT News Websites? 5 Figure 2 IT News Website Visitation by Role 5 Figure 3 IT News Website Visitation by Functional Area 6 Figure 4 IT News Website Visitation by Company/Division 6 Figure 5 Top IT News Websites Visited 7 Figure 6 How Often Do You Read IT Specific E-Newsletters? 7 Figure 7 IT E-Newsletter Readership by Role 8 Figure 8 IT E-Newsletter Readership by Functional Area 8 Figure 9 IT E-Newsletter Readership by Company 9 Figure 10 Top IT E-Newsletters Read 9 Figure 11 How Often Do You Read IT Specific PRINT Newsletters? 10 Figure 12 IT Specific PRINT Newsletter Readership by Role 10 Figure 13 IT Specific PRINT Newsletter Readership by Functional Area 11 Figure 14 IT Specific PRINT Newsletter Readership by Company 11 Figure 15 Top IT Association Memberships 12 Figure 16 Top IT Tradeshow Visitation 13 Page 2 of 13
Executive Summary In December 2004, Spur Digital, an online marketing services firm, and the Petrotechnical Open Standards Consortium (POSC), an energy technology standards body, conducted an online survey to assess how Information Technology ( IT) professionals in the energy industry stay aware of industry news, trends and events. The self-response web-based survey was distributed by POSC and Spur Digital to 2,000 individuals. Approximately 1 or 200 respondents participated in the survey. The survey participants represent a wide range of roles in the Energy industry, with varying levels of functional responsibility. Below is a summary of the survey respondents: Over 25% of respondents were on the business side (vs. IT), including 18 VP or C- Level executives. Over 25% of respondents were in IT organizations, including nine CIO/CTO s and 40 Manager / Directors. 25% of respondents were analysts. 15% were consultants to the industry. The remaining respondents represented a wide-range of energy industry experience, including engineers, geophysicists, and vendors. Over 3 of the respondents indicated a general management role. 17% of respondents work in ebusiness or Web functional areas. Survey respondents work for a broad range of companies within the energy and chemicals industries, including E&P, refining, manufacturing, trading and distribution. 4 work for oil & gas exploration companies. Nearly 25% work for companies that provide energy services or products. Approximately 15% of respondents work for companies that provide technology hardware, software and services. Summary of key findings IT News Web Sites IT news sites were viewed on a regular basis by 71% of respondents. When segmenting by role or position, the most frequent visitors to IT news sites were CIOs, CTOs VPs and SVPs of IT. Of these, 45% visit IT news sites on a daily basis. More than half of Consultants and IT Managers/Directors visited IT news sites at least once a week. With respect to functional area, ebusiness and Web professionals utilize IT news sites the most. Those in Audit and Business Continuity were least likely to visit IT news sites. Those working for Technology companies and in Government / Regulatory sectors were most likely to visit IT news sites on a regular basis. There is very little concentration among IT news sites visited by respondents. When asked which sites are visited the most frequently, more 200 sites were mentioned. Oil IT, ZDNet and CIO were the only sites that were visited by at least 6% of respondents. Page 3 of 13
IT E-Newsletters Overall, readership of electronic newsletters was just below that of IT news sites. Those that read electronic newsletters the most frequently are VPs and SVPs of IT, with most reading newsletters 2-3 times per week. Managers and Directors of IT and CIOs/CTOs were also frequent readers of IT e-newsletters. Based on functional area, those in Audit / Business Continuity were the most frequent readers of electronic newsletters. Based on type of company, those that worked for Technology companies and Government Regulatory bodies were the most frequent readers of e-newsletters. There was no clear favorite among newsletters. CIO was cited most frequently, with just under 1. ComputerWorld and Oil IT were both mentioned by 5% of respondents. Print Newsletters Readership of print newsletters was much lower than that of electronic versions. Almost half of those surveyed never read print newsletters. Of those that do read print newsletters, VPs and SVPs of IT were the only significant group, with half reading them 2-3 times a week and 10 reading them weekly. By functional area, readership of IT print newsletters is consistent. Associations and Trade Groups When asked which associations and trade shows were the most frequently attended, POSC was the most frequently cited, followed by the Public Petroleum Data Model Association (PPDM). The most popular trade shows were those hosted by Gartner Group, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). Only 18% of respondents did not belong to an association; the same percentage did not attended no trade shows. About Spur Digital Spur Digital is a leading provider of integrated online marketing solutions. Spur Digital helps clients leverage the Web to grow their business through Web marketing strategies and managed services, including search engine marketing, email marketing, online advertising and Web analytics. Through these services, Spur Digital helps clients drive sales, increase brand awareness and enhance customer loyalty. Additional information about Spur Digital can be found at www.spurdigital.com or by calling 713.586.6475. About POSC POSC is an international not-for-profit membership consortium through which the energy industry works collaboratively to develop, implement and deploy energy estandards information exchange and interoperability specifications that support ebusiness in the petrotechnical sector of the energy industry. Among the most widely used POSC standards is WITSML - a family of standards currently centered on drilling information and being extended to regulatory reporting and production operations through the POSC Special Interest Group (SIG) process. For more information, please visit www.posc.org or call 713.267.5123. Page 4 of 13
Summary of Findings IT News and Information Sites As shown in Figure 1, 71% of respondents visit IT news websites on a regular basis. Of these, 18% visit news sites daily and 47% visit at least once per week. 2-3 times a week 15% Weekly 14% Daily 18% Monthly 24% n=192 Never 29% Figure 1: How Often Do You Visit IT News Websites? Figure 2 shows how visits vary based on the respondent s role. Those most likely to visit news sites daily are IT executives (CIO/CTOs and Vice/Senior Vice Presidents of IT). 10 8 6 4 2 Consultant IT Analyst IT Mgr/Dir Bus Mgr/Dir Bus Exec VP/SVP of IT CIO/CTO n=189 Figure 2: IT News Site Visitations by Role Page 5 of 13
Visits to IT news sites vary by functional area, as illustrated in Figure 3. Findings are consistent across areas, with two exceptions. First, ebusiness and Web professionals visit these sites the most frequently, with half visiting IT news websites at least 2 to 3 times per week. People in Audit or Business Continuity use these sites least frequently, as two-thirds (67%) of them visit IT news websites less than once per month. 10 8 6 4 2 Gen. Mgt Database IT Support Audit/Bus. Cont Proj. Mgt Applications ebus/web Infr. n=192 Figure 3: IT News Website Visitation by Functional Area News site visitation by type of company is shown in Figure 4. Those in the Technology and Government / Regulatory sectors visit sites more often than those in energy-related fields. Nearly half of Technology and Government employees visit IT News sites 3 times per week. 10 8 6 4 2 Energy Svc E&P Gov / Reg. Technology n=190 Figure 4: IT News Website Visitation by Company/Division Page 6 of 13
Figure 5 shows the most popular IT news sites. The top three news websites include Oil IT (8%), ZD net (7%) and CIO (7%). News site visitation is highly fragmented. In addition to those listed in Figure 5, there were more than 200 other sites that were listed. Sites Visited by % of Respondents Oil IT ZDNet CIO Computer World CNET Microsoft eweek POSC Slashdot Gartner Google Rig Zone Upstream CIO Yahoo 0 2 4 6 8 Figure 5: Top IT News Websites Visited Readership: IT E-Newsletters Two-thirds of survey participants read IT-specific newsletters sent electronically. However, Figure 6 also shows more than half (56%) read e-newsletters once a month or less. 2-3 times a week 14% Weekly 15% Daily 15% Monthly 23% Never 33% n=189 Figure 6: How Often Do You Read IT Specific -Newsletters? Page 7 of 13
As shown in Figure 7, frequency of e-newsletter readership varies across roles in the organization. 10 or VPs and SVPs in IT read e-newsletters at least 2 to 3 times per week. CIOs, CTOs, IT Directors and Managers also read e-newsletters frequently (43% read at least 2-3 times per week). Those in other roles read e-newsletters less frequently. 10 8 6 4 2 Consultant IT Analyst IT Mgr / Dir Bus Mgr / Dir Bus Exec IT VP / SVP CIO / CTO n=186 Figure 7: IT Specific EMAIL Newsletter Readership by Role E-newsletter readership varies by functional area. Figure 8 shows that the most frequent readers work in Audit or Business Continuity, with 67% reading them more than once a week. Note: as shown in Figure 3, this group was least likely to visit News sites. 10 8 6 4 2 n=188 Gen. Mgt ebus/web Audit/Bus Cont Database Proj. Mgt IT Support App.s Infr. Figure 8: IT Specific EMAIL Newsletter Readership by Functional Area Page 8 of 13
As with site visitation, those most often relying on email for IT news were in Technology or Government companies. Figure 9 shows that nearly half of those from Technology (44%) or Government (42%) entities read e-newsletters more than once a week. 10 8 6 4 2 Energy Serv/Equip Energy Expl/Prod Govt / Regulatory Tech - H/S/S n=188 Figure 9: IT Specific E-Newsletter Readership by Company/Division Figure 10 lists the top e-newsletters read by all respondents. E-newsletter readership is highly fragmented, and Figure 10 shows only those newsletters listed by at least 3 respondents. The top three IT e-newsletters read include CIO (9%), Computer World (5%), and Oil IT (5%). More than 56% of respondents listed newsletters as well. Only 5% could not list at least one e-newsletter. CIO ComputerWorld O il IT ew eek SLB Inform ation W eek Oracle TechRepublic Cutter's Consurtium Gartner Intelligent E nterprise META Group None % 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Figure 10: Top IT E-Newsletters Read Page 9 of 13
Readership: IT Print Newsletters As indicated in Figure 11, only a handful (21%) of respondents regularly read print IT newsletters more than once a month. Moreover, nearly half (47%) never read print IT newsletters. 2-3 times a week 5% Daily 3% Weekly 13% Monthly 32% Never 47% n=188 Figure 11: How Often Do You Read IT Specific PRINT Newsletters? Frequency with which respondents read IT news via paper newsletters varies substantially with job position. Figure12 shows that half (5) of IT Vice or Senior Vice Presidents refer to printed newsletters more than once a week. Those in all other roles read IT-specific print newsletters significantly less often. 10 8 6 4 2 Consultant IT Analyst IT Mgr / Dir Bus Mgr / Dir Bus Exec VP / SVP IT CIO / CTO n=186 Figure 12: IT Specific PRINT Newsletter Readership by Role Page 10 of 13
Readership of printed IT newsletters is consistent across areas in which participants work. Figure 13 shows that overall readership is light across business lines. 10 8 6 4 2 Gen. Mgt Database IT Support Audit/Bus Cont Proj. Mgt Apps ebus/web Infra. n=188 Figure 13: IT Specific PRINT Newsletter Readership by Functional Area Figure 14 shows that those in Government or Regulatory agencies utilize printed IT newsletters more often than those working in other industries. While only 17% of Government respondents read these newsletters at least 3 times per week, participants in other sectors use paper newsletters far less often. 10 8 6 4 2 Energy Svc / Equip Energy / E&P Govt / Regulatory Technology n=187 Figure 14: PRINT Newsletter Readership by Type of Company Page 11 of 13
As shown in Figure 15, POSC was the most common association membership among respondents with almost 4. Approximately 15% of all respondents are members of PPDM (Public Petroleum Data Model Association). About 6 listed other associations. Nearly one in five (18%) did not belong to an association. POSC PPDM WITSML PIDX SPE Gartner SEG AAPG ACM IEEE UNSPSC WITI None % 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Figure 15: Top IT Association Memberships Page 12 of 13
IT-related trade show attendance varies significantly. Figure 16 shows the trade shows visited by at least two respondents. In addition, 60 other tradeshows were mentioned. Gartner (4%), SEG/Society of Exploration Geophysicists (4%), and SPE/Society of Petroleum Engineers (4%) are the most commonly visited IT tradeshows. More than 3 listed other trade shows. As with association membership, almost one-fifth (18%) do not attend tradeshows. Gartner SEG SPE OTC POSC SIGGRAPH PNEC AAPG AIIM Momentum GITA KM World Offshore Comm PIDX % 0 2 4 6 Figure 16: Top IT Tradeshows Page 13 of 13