Information management in the oil and gas sector-the new credibility of outsourcing

Abstract

Describes, as a case study, the efforts of a major oil and gas exploration company to outsource its library, information and records management functions, dispensing with the provision of services inhouse by handing over responsibility to an external body. The aims of the outsourcing were: reducing costs; placing non core business in an environment where it is core, thus providing the staff involved with greater career opportunities; and allowing the company to achieve greater organizational agility in times of continuous change and an unstable market. In a comparative second case study (Hamilton Oil UK), the company which finally took on the job as Hamilton's outsourcer turned out not to be an organization whose business was solely information management but an engineering contractor with greater specialized knowledge of the needs of oil and gas companies.