At 2017’s Best Practices for Oil and Gas, attendees walked away with an abundance of in-depth knowledge from the subject-matter experts presenting at each session. In the Accounting and Finance track at this year’s conference, Noorddin Taj—the Lead Architect of Strategy at BP—gave a first-hand account of what defines a successful divestment, which in his words includes:
“Sale of Assets plus providing operational capabilities as a part of transition service agreement that allows buyer to continue to operate acquired business without disruption and gain instant value from new acquisition.”
Leading the insightful presentation off with a foundation of understanding successful divestment, Noorddin went on the explain the key steps comprising the process:
- Capability Scoping
- Baseline Analysis
- Option Analysis
- Transition Planning
However, Taj clarified that even the most streamlined operations, such as BP’s process, will still face inevitable challenges. Late engagement with buyer, overextended cost of building, and longer than projected timelines are just a few of these setbacks one might find. Historically, his organization adopted traditional architecture and delivery approach to support system cloning/data carving for these projects, but it resulted in higher costs and longer delivery times.
This is where agile architecture comes in play. With this innovative design and delivery, you can create systems that actually meet the operational needs of today while possessing the ability to adapt and evolve to meet the needs of tomorrow. The end results? Lower cost, fit for purpose solutions, and faster delivery times. Successfully executed, IT would take an iterative approach towards agility for early buyer engagement. So what does an agile delivery iteration look like? Take a peak at the graphic below for a visual illustration of collaborative capability amongst a distributed team:
Keep in mind, an earlier engagement with M&A and legal is imperative. Taj also notes that agility is needed in the architecture framework to support buyers with ingrained operational capabilities as well as venture capitalists. Taking on this new approach for delivery is best fit for initiatives that require high flexibility to change and architecture in order to suit prospective buyers.
For more educational sessions focused on the oil and gas industry, plan to attend next year’s conference in San Antonio, Texas! For more information on this presentation or to connect with Noorddin Taj, please see below.
Session Presenter: Noorddin Taj, Program Lead Architect, BP
Email: Noortaj1@gmail.com
Mobile: +1 630 479 5626
Phone: +1 281 892 3680
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/Noorddin-Taj
Twitter: @Noorddin_Taj
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