The top conversational AI applications in oil and gas businesses
More than 92% of oil and gas companies are currently investing in conversational AI or plan to, in the next two years. The adoption of conversation AI is vastly expanding in the oil and gas industry and will only continue to in upcoming years.
Conversational AI has the potential to completely revolutionize this industry and others. With the ability to automate and analyze human interactions, virtual assistants are the tools that many companies didn't know they needed–until now.
Conversational AI, or AI virtual assistants, isn't a new technology. This tool has been used in various industries over the past decade, but recent advancements have taken it to the next level. Modern conversational AI is powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Machine Learning (ML) to revolutionize how humans communicate and gather information.
The average person can think of numerous times when they've interacted with an AI virtual assistant, but it most often occurs in a retail or customer service environment. That being said, conversational AI is making moves into new industries - one of which is oil and gas. Now, let's dive into how this technology is being applied in such a lucrative industry.
Every oil and gas project involves a significant on-site workforce, all of whom must communicate efficiently to work effectively. As an individual operator, it can be challenging to maintain oversight of an entire project with so many moving parts. As such, it's easy for problems to arise.
Should this occur, it can take time for word to travel through the chain of command and begin resolution. Any lapse in communication could worsen the problem, causing significant disruptions and costing millions of dollars.
Clearly, this is a problem that must be avoided–which is where conversational AI comes in. Conversational AI agents can receive input from on-site operations teams in real-time. Each individual operator can report relevant information and updates to the bot, who will then convey the information to appropriate parties. This method of automated communication significantly expedites on-site interactions, closing any gaps in communication and reducing human error.
Conversational AI virtual assistants can analyze issues and offer real-time solutions and recommendations to on-site staff. These capabilities are possible through the NLP and AI aspects of conversational AI. As conversational AI technology can understand human language, it can seamlessly interpret input to apply to its knowledge base. This will then allow the assistant to make educated suggestions, resulting in fast and accurate actions.
Automating such processes with conversational AI will serve as a significant time-saver for companies, something crucial in oil gas where time is money. AI virtual assistants will also reduce the risk of human error, saving companies from costly and potentially catastrophic consequences.
While it may not seem that way from the surface, the oil and gas industry is all about data. Each procurement and extraction process relies on carefully collected and analyzed data–the accuracy of which is critical. But, as this data is so imperative, it is often time-consuming to gather, analyze, and apply to decision-making. Fortunately, conversational AI can accelerate these procedures while ensuring accurate results.
AI virtual assistants can enable the automatic classification and pattern recognition of data for oil and gas operators. This data can then be used to create prediction and estimation models for procurement and similar processes.
There's no question that the oil and gas industry is an expensive one to be in. Each seemingly minor error could have detrimental consequences, not only to the business in question but to the general public and the environment. Oil spills, pipeline bursts, and other safety hazards are of significant concern and must be avoided at all costs. As a result, oil and gas companies must be proactive against any problem–but that's easier said than done.
Fortunately, conversational AI can help oil and gas companies stay ahead of the game and prevent costly disruptions. Conversational AI assistants can send out alerts about events with the possibility of an error or even a catastrophe. The assistant can even suggest appropriate solutions for how a problem can be avoided or resolved quickly.
Proactive and intelligent notifications from the AI virtual assistant could, in turn, save companies their reputation and millions of dollars in legal action, damages, and restitution.
The oil and gas industry has been steadily growing for years, increasing by an average of 12.3% each year since 2017. As such, oil and gas companies are in a constant state of hiring in an attempt to build a robust enough workforce to support growing operations. Unfortunately, as stakes are so high in this industry, onboarding is a time-consuming process–that is, without conversational AI.
Just as virtual assistants can retain and comprehend niche industry and company information, they can do the same for onboarding practices. Conversational AI assistants will maintain an extensive archive of company processes, compliance regulations, and other information relevant to a new hire. The AI assistant can then work with new hires to get them up to speed faster without taking time away from additional human resources.
Conversational AI technology can also reduce the time spent collecting, interpreting, and analyzing company data. The same data introduced to new hires is relevant in all other aspects of the company and can be applied as such.
For example, virtual assistants can leverage company data to help workers find drilling locations, determine ideal well spacing, and more. Information that previously would have taken multiple days' worth of work can instead be performed by one AI assistant in no time. Conversational AI technology will help companies get their workforce up and running faster, as well as kick-start operations and planning.
As the oil and gas industry becomes more digitized, companies are looking to adopt new and developing AI technologies such as conversational AI. As more companies move towards a transition to sustainable energy, automation is needed to not only maintain current operations but help streamline and embrace new ones.
With conversational AI, oil and gas companies can significantly streamline and improve productions, accelerating operations while proactively avoiding disruptions. The vast intelligence of conversational AI assistants will help these companies optimize operations, stay compliant with government regulations, attract and retain employees, and ease the pathway to digitization.
With human-like, intelligent automated solutions such as conversational AI, oil and gas companies can embrace the future of the industry–before they fall behind. If you're interested in learning more about DRUID's conversational AI technologies, download our free resource today.
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