ENOC Group's accelerator programme is helping the Dubai-headquartered oil and gas company unlock growth opportunities in the digital economy, a top company official said.

Hesham Mustafa, Executive Director, Shared Services Centre, Group HR, and NBD, ENOC Group, said the state-owned company plans to stay ahead of a changing industry landscape with its NEXT programme.

"Digitisation has become a game-changer, disrupting traditional ways of doing business in an industry that, even today, remains conservative in many respects," he said in an email interview.

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Hesham Mustafa, Executive Director, Shared Services Centre, Group HR, and NBD, ENOC Group.

While the energy industry has embraced new smart technologies like 4D seismic technology and predictive analytics to improve operational efficiency and productivity, the ENOC executive pointed out that digital disruption is a more significant challenge lower down the value chain at the consumer level.

He elaborated: "Whereas traditional oil companies have historically looked at how much fuel they can sell, there is a shift towards understanding the demographics and motivations of each customer - where that person lives, their background, car ownership, age, income. You can build a much broader picture of the type of services you can offer customers outside of the traditional confines of the industry."

"Non-traditional players are entering the market - something that was not previously on the radar. These new competitors are not run by traditional engineers, but by technologists."

ENOC is taking on these non-traditional competitors through new digital business ventures expedited by its NEXT accelerator programme.

Mustafa continued: "NEXT has three pillars. First, to develop disruptive new models that could develop into future core businesses for the Group. Second, enhance operational efficiencies and third, use digital technology as a vehicle to build deeper associations with internal and external customers."

Beema, the region's first online-based car insurance offering with a unique premium calculator, is a NEXT business.

Mustafa explained: "It goes back to this idea of collecting customer information and big data analytics - knowing what type of car they drive and how many litres of fuel they use can give a good understanding of kilometre coverage. We can then give them the best price proposition."

Another NEXT business is ENOC Link, which uses "Internet of Things (IoT) technology to deliver fuel to customer vehicles or mechanical equipment assets."

"Customers order through an app for delivery to their door or business premises. Each customer asset has an RFID tag corresponding with a specific ENOC fuel nozzle. The fuel can only be dispensed if the nozzle matches the vehicle," explained Mustafa.

"Data analytics track the fuel consumed for each asset, at what price, and how frequently. This is invaluable to a construction company, for example, which may have several assets spread across 20 different work sites. Payments are also all-digital, preventing any chance of cash fraud."

According to Mustafa, strong support by the ENOC leadership and the strategy of keeping the new ventures separate from the core business to give them space to grow have been crucial to the success of Beema and Enoc Link.

"NEXT is two-pronged. It supports the UAE government's wider aims to be a knowledge economy, and at the same time, we understand, as an organisation, that developing new business models is crucial to sustaining our business and the wider energy value chain moving forward."

The ENOC executive also acknowledged that digitisation also requires organisations to invest in a different set of capabilities.

"Talent requirements to drive an organisation in the oil and gas sector in its traditional sense may not be what you need to drive the company into the next 15 or 20 years."

He said the company is working strategically with recruiting firms to attract international talent.

"Many of these people have not lived in the UAE before, but they have worked extensively within disruptive digital environments in digital start-ups around the world," he noted.

Mustafa pointed out that as the digital transformation takes hold, the differentiators will be in business reinvention and the people factor.

"Defining elements would be developing a profound understanding of who your customers are and the internal capabilities you need to engage them," he concluded.

(Writing by Syed Ameen Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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