As supply chains become more digital, global, and complex, businesses are under growing pressure to modernize the way they connect, communicate, and operate.

Two of the most critical technologies enabling this transformation are Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). While both are used to exchange data between systems and partners, they work in fundamentally different ways—and understanding when and how to use each is key to building a future-ready supply chain. 

In this blog, we’ll break down EDI vs. API, explaining their differences, and why EDI remains vital despite the rise of modern APIs. And, explore how combining the two can give your business the flexibility, speed, and scalability needed to thrive in today’s dynamic environment. 

What is the difference between EDI and API? 

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are both methods of exchanging business data, but they serve different purposes and operate differently. 

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a standardized method for exchanging structured business documents like invoices or purchase orders in batches—ideal for high-volume, stable transactions. 

APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) enable real-time, flexible data sharing between systems, suited for dynamic tasks like live shipment tracking or inventory checks. 

Understanding EDI vs. API is essential because each serves a distinct role. EDI excels at handling high-volume, standardized transactions, while APIs enable real-time, flexible data exchange.  

By understanding their strengths, businesses can strategically use both to create a connected, agile supply chain that balances stability with speed and adaptability. This hybrid approach ensures seamless integration across partners, systems, and workflows. 

EDI simplifies key transactions 

EDI enables fast, structured, and automated data exchange between trading partners, which simplifies key transactions, such as sending orders, giving notice of deliveries, confirming receipt of deliveries, booking transport, sending invoices, among others.  

EDI is understood globally and follows recognized formats, such as EDIFACT, ANSI X12 for seamless data exchange. It’s secure and efficient at handling large volumes of data transactions, but it can be complex and costly to set up the initial configuration and trading partner mappings, especially for smaller companies.  

Despite being trusted and used for decades, for years now, many believed that EDI would be phased out and replaced by Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). However, given its value in delivering structured, error-free data exchange in an increasingly complex global marketplace, EDI usage continues.  

Companies around the world, from suppliers and logistics providers to retailers and manufacturers, rely on an EDI strategy to exchange critical business documents securely, quickly, and in a standardized format. 

APIs enable instant data exchange 

APIs allow instant data exchange without waiting for batch processing and offer integration flexibility with a wide range of systems, such as CRMs, ERPs, analytics tools, and other cloud-based applications within your digital ecosystem. However, where EDI is all about standardization, API formats vary, requiring custom integrations with each partner, which can be costly and time-consuming in multi-partner environments.  

Many businesses use APIs to communicate between disparate systems within their system chain. Since APIs provide real-time data exchange, this can improve supply chain transparency and visibility.  

And, APIs connect to e-commerce platforms and support the integration of analytics tools, allowing businesses to gain insights into performance metrics and adapt to changing conditions.  

The importance of a strategy that connects EDI and API   

The supply chain workforce is changing. Some professionals are retiring, others joining don’t know much about EDI and want to go forward with API-first strategies.  

There are also business challenges, like rising costs, but fewer resources, supply chain disruptions, and technology innovation initiatives, and more. Given these factors, it's less about EDI vs. API, and more about taking a “best of both worlds” approach, which sets you up for success.  

Rather than replace EDI, integrate it with APIs, other cloud platforms, and AI/ML, so you can enhance automation and flexibility within your digital ecosystem. This connected approach will reduce costs in the long term, improve operations despite possible disruptions and workforce changes, and ensure compliance with global standards.  

With a connected strategy, you can bridge the gap between bulk transaction support and real-time data exchange, making it easier to handle high-volume processes and dynamic, immediate updates needed to keep the flow of business going.  

You can more easily integrate with ERP systems, such as Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle NetSuite, Oracle Fusion, and SAP S/4HANA, that are already in place instead of ripping and replacing to make new technology fit with legacy technology. 

How to get started with EDI and API integration 

Every day you try to keep operations running smoothly, find ways to innovate and drive efficiencies, reduce costs, and simplify your supply chain. But you are asked to do this with limited resources and budget, making it hard to keep up with the speed of technology.  

When managing all these connections and the information attached to them, it's important to think long-term, not just one year at a time. You need solutions that evolve with you and continuously add new capabilities to assist you as your business grows. 

You don’t have to go it alone. There are several solutions out there, but what you need is a partner and a solution that will take the time to understand your digital ecosystem, so everything is done right from the start.  

Here are questions to ask when selecting an EDI and B2B integration solution and partner:  

• Knowledge and Know-How: Can they ensure a successful implementation—on time and on budget? 

• Automated Workflows: Can they help you find ways to reduce manual tasks and errors and increase productivity? 

• Enhanced Visibility: Does the solution – as built out of the box - enable access up-to-date information for better decision-making, gaining insights into your supply chain operations? 

• Cost Reduction: Will the solution reduce long-term costs, including total cost of ownership (TCO), and avoid hidden implementation fees? 

• Compliance: Can they ensure adherence to industry standards and regulations? 

• Ongoing Support: Will you receive regular customer support, including help with data validation and mappings from onboarding through implementation and after go-live? 

EDI and APIs: How OpenText can help 

OpenText Business Network supports both EDI and API-based integration—allowing businesses to connect with all partners, regardless of their technology maturity. This hybrid approach ensures end-to-end visibility, flexibility, and scalability across your digital supply chain. 

OpenText's B2B Integration solutions create a unified environment connecting your ERP system (Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle NetSuite, Oracle Fusion, SAP S/4HANA, etc.) with EDI and APIs in one digital ecosystem. 

OpenText offers pre-built ERP EDI-to-API adapters on a modern, scalable B2B platform and VAN—enabling faster deployment without requiring deep EDI expertise. 

Our trusted, flexible solutions let businesses connect once to everything. With our expertise, you'll streamline supply chain operations and build a foundation for innovations like AI/ML that maximizes your business data value. 

Ready to get started? Learn more about OpenText’s Easy EDI integration. 

The post EDI vs. API: Why both still matter in a modern supply chain appeared first on OpenText Blogs.

As someone who has spent over two decades in the energy sector before joining OpenText as an Industry Strategist, I've witnessed first hand the operational challenges faced by energy and resources corporations that have root causes stemming from inadequacies in information management.

Today, I'm excited to share how organizations across utilities, oil and gas, chemicals, metals and mining, and engineering and construction can leverage information management to achieve $1 billion in operational savings over the next decade, using the same strategies OpenText employs.

Our approach combines innovative technology solutions with operational excellence to transform IT cost structures while enhancing productivity and elevating human potential across the enterprise.

The Unique Challenges Facing Energy and Resources Organizations

Energy and resources companies operate in an environment of volatile commodity prices, stringent regulatory requirements, complex asset management needs, and increasing pressure to improve safety while maintaining profitability. Many organizations in this sector struggle with:

1. Aging infrastructure requiring significant maintenance resources
2. Siloed data systems
3. Complex document management requirements for regulatory compliance
4. Complex supply chains and B2B ecosystems that play a key role in keeping assets running for longer
5. High costs and safety risks associated with field and facility operations
6. Increasing cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure

These challenges create significant operational inefficiencies that directly impact the bottom line.

At OpenText, we've developed a blueprint for using our own portfolio of information management solutions to transform operations, optimize systems, and simplify complexity. 

This blueprint can be used by organizations across the energy and resources sector to unlock measurable value – like $1 billion in savings over the next 10 years and perhaps even more.

The Five Pillars of $1 Billion in Savings

OpenText recently announced an ambitious initiative to achieve $1 billion in operational savings over the next decade by leveraging our own software solutions. This strategy is built around five key areas that are particularly relevant to energy and resources corporations:

Data Center Consolidation and Cloud Optimization

For energy companies managing operations across multiple locations, consolidating data centers and optimizing cloud environments can yield approximately 15% of total savings. This represents about $160M in savings in our plan to reach $1B in savings. By migrating from fragmented, on-premises systems to unified cloud platforms, companies can reduce infrastructure costs while improving data accessibility and security for both office and field personnel.

Systems and Tools Rationalization

Many energy corporations operate with dozens of disconnected systems accumulated through years of operations and acquisitions. CIOs are prioritizing consolidation by rationalizing these systems – which represents the largest savings opportunity at 35% of potential cost reduction. This amounts to about $375 million in savings for OpenText and likely even more for many companies across the energy and resources sector.

Companies can eliminate redundancies and create a unified operational view that supports better decision-making across the entire asset lifecycle and supporting business functions.

Process Improvement, Automation and AI

Asset intensive operations involve thousands of repetitive processes that are ideal candidates for automation.  Our belief is that with cloud, security, and AI anything that moves, including information, can now be autonomous. By implementing intelligent process automation and AI-driven workflows, companies can achieve approximately 15% of their total savings. While freeing highly skilled workers to focus on safety and value-added activities instead of routine, and error prone tasks.

Employee Productivity and Efficiency Improvements

Facility operations across the energy and resources sector often suffer from information delays and communication challenges. Digital solutions that connect field and facility workers with real-time information and collaboration tools can drive approximately 25% of potential savings through improved workforce productivity and reduced downtime.

Cost Avoidance Through Proactive Management

Proactive management of assets and operations can help energy companies avoid approximately 10% of costs. By implementing predictive maintenance and other information management solutions, organizations can prevent costly equipment failures, operational disruptions, and safety incidents before they occur. Just as all safety accidents are preventable, so are other business challenges using information management best practices and technologies.

The Path Forward

By following OpenText's blueprint for saving $1 billion in cost savings, companies across the entire energy and resources sector can achieve similar transformative savings while positioning themselves for sustainable growth into the future.

To learn more about how your organization can leverage OpenText solutions to achieve substantial operational savings, visit How to save $1 billion the OpenText Way and sign up for a Professional Services Workshop.

How can OpenText work with you?

Learn more about OpenText solutions for Utilities, Chemicals, Oil and Gas, Metals and Mining and Engineering, Procurement and Construction that can help you work smarter in 2025 and beyond.

The post How to Save $1B for Energy and Resources Corporations the OpenText Way appeared first on OpenText Blogs.

In the energy, manufacturing, and construction industries, managing vast amounts of technical documentation, ensuring compliance, and optimizing workflows are critical to maintaining operational efficiency and safety. OpenText™ Documentum™ Content Management (CM) and OpenText™ Documentum™ Content Management (CM) for Engineering have long been a trusted enterprise content management (ECM) platform for these sectors, offering robust document management, security, and scalability. Now, OpenText Documentum CM for Engineering is revolutionizing how these industries handle complex processes with the integration of generative AI capabilities through OpenText™ Content Aviator and the new AI-driven workflow insights. Let’s explore how these AI features can supercharge your operations, with specific use cases tailored to energy, manufacturing, and asset operations.

OpenText Documentum CM for Engineering: A foundation for energy, manufacturing, and construction

OpenText Documentum CM for Engineering provides a cloud-native content management platform that excels in managing technical documentation, such as engineering drawings, condition reports (CRs), and technical evaluations (TEs), while ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Its granular security, encryption, and audit trails safeguard sensitive data and manages massive data volumes securely. Its scalability—handling billions of documents— and cloud flexibility (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, hybrid), make it ideal for global operations.

OpenText Content Aviator: AI-powered insights for faster decision-making

OpenText Content Aviator brings generative AI to OpenText Documentum CM and OpenText Documentum CM for Engineering, enabling conversational search, summarization, content generation, and multilingual translation. The seamless integration ensures all interactions adhere to strict security and privacy controls—data is encrypted, and responses are generated only from content users are authorized to access. This is particularly valuable in regulated industries like energy and manufacturing, where compliance is non-negotiable.

AI-driven workflow insights: Smarter processes at every step

The new AI-driven workflow insights powered by OpenText Content Aviator embeds AI into OpenText Documentum CM’s workflow engine, analyzing content at each step and presenting key data points to reviewers. This streamlines decision-making by reducing manual analysis, ensuring faster and more informed actions. OpenText Documentum CM’s workflow capabilities already offer a no-code/low-code environment with pre-built templates and features like task escalation and real-time monitoring which increased document processing by 3.5x. Now, AI enhances these workflows, making them even more efficient.

Specific use cases for energy, manufacturing, and construction

Impact review: Pinpointing affected documentation and equipment

OpenText Content Aviator can analyze updates or changes (e.g., new safety regulations or equipment upgrades) and pinpoint documentation and equipment that may be impacted. For example, in a manufacturing plant, if a new regulation affects a specific machine component, OpenText Content Aviator can identify all related drawings, procedures, and maintenance records in OpenText Documentum CM, presenting a summary to the reviewer. In an AI-driven workflow, this analysis happens at each step, ensuring that maintenance teams are immediately aware of impacted assets, reducing downtime and ensuring compliance.

Visualization and reporting: Streamlined data in table formats

OpenText Content Aviator’s visualization and reporting capabilities allow users to generate results in table formats, which can be copied or downloaded into Excel for quick list generation. At operational facilities, a maintenance manager can query OpenText Documentum CM for a list of all equipment due for inspection, and OpenText Content Aviator will present the results in a table, including asset IDs, locations, and last inspection dates. This table can be exported to Excel, enabling rapid report generation for audits or team briefings, saving hours of manual compilation.

AI agents: Multisystem task automation with Maximo integration

Energy and manufacturing industries are extremely interested in having OpenText Content Aviator talk with other agents to complete complex, multisystem tasks, such as opening Work Orders in Maximo. For instance, during a maintenance workflow in OpenText Documentum CM for Engineering, Content Aviator can identify a need for a Work Order based on a condition report, communicate with Maximo to open the order, and update the workflow with the Work Order ID—all without manual intervention. This seamless integration reduces delays, ensuring that maintenance tasks are initiated promptly and tracked efficiently.

Condition Reports (CR): Trending and summarization

OpenText Content Aviator can evaluate Condition Reports (CRs) by trending data, pointing out references, summarizing actions taken, and highlighting other key items. In an energy plant, a safety officer can ask, “What trends are emerging from recent CRs?” OpenText Content Aviator will analyze CRs stored in OpenText Documentum CM, identify patterns (e.g., recurring equipment failures), and summarize actions taken, such as repairs or procedural updates. In an AI-driven workflow, these insights are presented at each review step, helping safety teams make data-driven decisions to mitigate risks.

Engineering: Finding untagged drawings with CAD tools

OpenText Content Aviator assists engineering teams by finding drawings that have certain parts or references not tagged in modern CAD tools. For example, in a manufacturing facility, an engineer can query OpenText Documentum CM for drawings containing a specific pump model that lacks proper tagging. OpenText Content Aviator will search the repository, identify relevant drawings, and summarize their content, highlighting untagged references. In an AI-driven workflow, this analysis can trigger a review step, ensuring that engineering teams update drawings to meet current standards, improving asset traceability.

Procedures: Summarizing and guiding tasks

OpenText Content Aviator excels at getting procedure summaries and answering how-to questions based on procedures, such as dispositioning a CR or performing maintenance tasks. In an energy plant, a technician can ask, “How do I disposition a CR for a turbine failure?” OpenText Content Aviator will summarize the relevant procedure in OpenText Documentum CM, providing step-by-step guidance. In an AI-driven workflow, this summary is presented at the disposition step, ensuring the technician follows the correct process, reducing errors and ensuring compliance with safety protocols.

Technical Evaluations (TE): Querying status and results

OpenText Content Aviator can answer general queries around Technical Evaluations (TEs), such as “Is a TE closed?” or “What were the results of the TE?” In asset operations, a reliability engineer can ask, “What was the outcome of the TE on our compressor system?” OpenText Content Aviator will search OpenText Documentum CM, confirm the TE’s status (e.g., closed), and summarize its findings, such as recommended maintenance actions. In an AI-driven workflow, this information is provided at the review step, enabling engineers to make informed decisions about asset maintenance without manual searching.

Fault tree analysis: Explaining and discussing fault trees

OpenText Content Aviator can assist with Fault Tree Analysis by analyzing, explaining, and discussing fault trees stored in OpenText Documentum CM. For example, in an energy plant, a risk analyst can ask, “Explain the fault tree for our power grid failure.” OpenText Content Aviator will break down the fault tree, highlighting key failure points and their probabilities, and provide a conversational explanation. In an AI-driven workflow, this analysis can be presented during a risk assessment step, helping teams understand potential failure modes and prioritize mitigation strategies.

Conclusion: Empowering energy, manufacturing, and construction with AI

OpenText Documentum Content Management for Engineering, enhanced with OpenText Content Aviator and the new AI-driven workflow, offers transformative generative AI capabilities for the energy, manufacturing, and asset operations industries. From pinpointing impacted documentation during an impact review to automating Work Orders in Maximo, summarizing CRs, and explaining fault trees, these AI features streamline processes, enhance decision-making, and ensure compliance. OpenText Documentum Content Management’s robust security, scalability, and integrations—combined with AI-driven workflow insights—make it an ideal solution for managing complex technical content.

Ready to see AI content management in action? Take OpenText Content Aviator for a test drive today and see firsthand how AI-driven workflow insights can unlock your organization's potential.

The post Transform energy, manufacturing, and asset operations with AI content management appeared first on OpenText Blogs.

As global leaders converge at Davos for the World Economic Forum 2025, safeguarding our planet is one of five key themes in this year’s forum. The theme explores, “how can we catalyze energy, climate and nature action through innovative partnerships, increased financing and the deployment of frontier technologies.”  I see this theme very much encompassing the information management software technology domain as one of those frontier technology areas.  Here's how information management solutions can become the backbone of growing energy safely, reliably, sustainably, and cost effectively across utilities such as oil and gas, chemicals, and metals and mining industries which play key roles in the energy transition. Each of these industries will need to reimagine what information can do to elevate human potential across their organizations and business ecosystems.

Knowledge reimagined

To grow energy reliably, safely, and sustainably, knowledge will have to be reimagined.  By creating a single source of truth for content, companies across the energy and resources sector can streamline the entire asset lifecycle from capital project execution to asset operations. This ensures that the information contained in engineering documents, safety protocols, maintenance records, and other critical documentation is instantly accessible to the right personnel at the right time.  Time spent searching, accessing, and retrieving documentation can be replaced with asking a GenAI powered intelligent assistant the question at hand.  The intelligent assistant provides a trusted response and the source of the relevant documentation. By tapping knowledge quickly, personnel can execute their jobs more safely avoiding harm to themselves and the environment in which they operate.

Connections reimagined

Companies across this sector must exchange information more seamlessly across the B2B ecosystem with scalable B2B integration.  Procuring equipment and services for new energy infrastructure and extending the life of existing assets is dependent on strategic vendors and more specifically the seamless exchange of information between them.  Moreover, companies across the energy and resource sector can build that seamless information exchange on a solid digital foundation that supports an ethical supply chain.

Conversations reimagined

A sustainable future will depend on transforming conversations with customers.  Utilities are at the ‘tip of the spear’ of the energy transition.  As such, utilities will need to elevate and drive exceptional omnichannel customer experiences by personalizing content to educate and influence energy consumption patterns. 

Decisions reimagined

Companies across the energy and resources sector must overcome data chaos and reimagine how decisions are made to ensure a sustainable future.  From time of use pricing to align consumer demand with supply, to predictive maintenance, to daily reporting for operations and compliance, and many other use cases, energy and resource companies will need to analyze data at scale with AI.

CloudOps reimagined

All jobs across the energy and resources sector depend on information and therefore directly and indirectly depend on IT Operations in some shape or form.  For information to be reimagined, CloudOps must be reimagined. IT Operations teams must use AI, automation, and cloud flexibility to speed issue resolutions, improve visibility, boost IT reliability, and reduce IT’s carbon footprint.

 Software engineering reimagined

By 2035 cloud, security, and AI technologies will converge where every utility, oil and gas, chemical, and metals and mining company is, in a sense, a software company. They must innovate and simplify a secure digital fabric across the enterprise to support the execution their unique strategies and initiatives.  Software engineering departments will need to power their DevOps with AI to build better software faster to tailor their digital fabric so that it supports meeting energy production targets safely and sustainably. 

Security reimagined

Nothing can derail safe and sustainable energy production more than a security breach.  According to the World Economic Forum, the number of weekly cyberattacks on energy companies has doubled since 2020.  Companies across this sector will need to reimagine security to minimize disruptions and stay ahead of threats with comprehensive, proactive security

We look forward to learning more from the sessions presented at Davos 2025 this week.  If you would like to know more on how OpenText can help your business catalyze energy production safely, reliably, sustainably, and cost effectively through information management technologies and best practices contact us now!

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The “great white whale.” That’s how McKinsey & Company refers to the quest by energy companies to get value from digital technologies.

Like Captain Ahab’s nemesis in Moby-Dick, value from digital technologies is “anxiously hunted, dimly perceived, enormous and elusive,” McKinsey writes. It’s an apt description. Many organizations within the oil and gas, utility and chemical industries want to move toward more data-driven and digital operations, but progress is slow.

The reality is that information within these organizations remains trapped in functional silos across the enterprise and incredibly hard to access. The very data that operations, maintenance and engineers rely on to operate and maintain physical assets—across pipelines, electricity grids, refineries and other energy facilities—is hidden away, nearly as unseen as the elusive white whale.

Just how hidden? 28 systems deep

It’s easy to see how we got here. Most operating assets in the energy industry are more than 30 years old, with related information in old-school paper or 2D formats and stored within ungoverned content repositories. Added to that base is the multitude of solutions deployed over the years—from process and safety and ERP, to workforce management and health, safety and environment (HSE) systems. These systems all play vital roles but typically operate independently, with little automation or interoperability.

What’s more, while engineers and plant support staff are used to searching for documentation based on unique tag identifiers, content is not always indexed accordingly. This forces operational support employees to track down information on their own, piecing together content from various places to gain what they hope is a complete view of the asset.

Consider a maintenance engineer who receives a work order that is linked to a management-of-change request for a not-in-kind change for a specific piece of equipment. This requires generating up-to-date technical drawings (such as piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs)), equipment data sheets and standard operating procedures, and validating accuracy. So the engineer has to start an information search, which is often cumbersome and time consuming.

There must be a better way.

Creating a connected asset foundation

To move toward digital transformation and more easily access content within their systems, organizations must first be connected. This is referred to as managed integration. With an enterprise content management system such as OpenText™ Content Management (Extended ECM) as the backbone, organizations can bridge existing silos and organize and present operational data based around an asset—allowing users to view data in one place based on a universal ID. This allows various operational and support staff such as process safety, maintenance and engineering to intelligently create and manage documentation that is required to operate safely.

Make asset information findable

By connecting data within systems around a universal ID and creating a comprehensive tag database with information extracted from native CAD drawings and documents, all asset information becomes universally available. Engineers can graphically navigate from a central point—such as within a P&ID or within the tag itself—to other related data from a tag or ID, all within a single search and retrieval access point. A layer of intelligence can be created by surfacing data within documents such as a tag-to-document reference library. This enables a layer of data insight and intelligence that drives efficiency in the way work gets done.

The result? Employees can harvest complete asset information, activating asset tag links within technical drawings (P&IDs) and PDFs.

Accelerate digital engineering

Learn more about how AI Operational Excellence for Energy or Asset Navigation for Energy from OpenText™ helps energy companies create a foundation for operational effectiveness—turning the elusive digital transformation strategy into an attainable quest. If only Ahab had had such resources. With an easy, integrated way to see all required asset information, regardless of where it resides, organizations can unlock buried data that is critical to promoting safe and productive engineering, operations, process safety, and reliability.

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It’s been 25 years since Bill Gates declared, “Content is king.” And how right he was. Today, content truly reigns supreme, with on-demand access at every turn. From streaming services to social media, content practically lands in our laps, personalized to our interests and always within reach.

But in the Energy sector, we seem to go back in time. Information is spread across siloed systems, such as company shared drives, enterprise content management (ECM) systems or enterprise asset management (EAM) systems, with little integration or automation across applications and databases. This creates high levels of inefficiency, with employees sent off to hunt and gather content. That’s about as far from agile and transformative as an organization can be.

Across Oil and Gas, Utilities and Chemical companies, poor access to content in the Energy sector does more than hurt productivity. It also opens the door to operational and safety risks, impeding critical activities such as maintenance effectiveness, asset integrity and supply chain optimization.

Just how accessible is your organization’s content? Here’s a quick test: Can you find needed information in three minutes or less? And, when you find it, is it correct?

Sure, this might be simplifying it a bit. But that’s the point: getting access to timely and trusted content to support business and process decisions should be seamless.

Digital or not digital? That is the question

Yes, many energy companies are on the path to digital transformation. But exactly how far into the journey they are depends on who you ask. In a survey of US Oil & Gas companies, 33 percent acknowledge they have digitized only a few of their processes and documents. And 15 percent had yet to start any implementation of a digital strategy. This survey will be released in the coming weeks.

Regarding operations and workforce management, we dug deeper, asking which processes are digitally available. While standard operating procedures (69 percent) and work orders (68 percent) were broadly digitized, other key processes lagged. These included inspection reports (51 percent), piping and instrument diagrams and training documents (51 percent), operator logs (47 percent), regulatory reports (44 percent), worker assignments (38 percent), and shift management (29 percent).

Here’s the reality: If organizations don’t have in place a solid information management foundation—as well as a plan to create and embed digital competency to effectively manage the content that underpins the business—it doesn’t really matter what is digitized.

Enter the cloud.

The cloud: Simplifying the democratization of asset content

The cloud can help Energy companies reinvent business processes, acting as an enabler to connect content with the people and systems that need it. With content in the cloud, organizations get people out of silos by providing fast, reliable access to information within an authoritative repository—a single source of truth.

By integrating content into critical business applications, such as project or maintenance management, you connect content with the process. This gives employees relevant information and helps you realize even more value from content and data.

Access is also immediate and available from anywhere. This is critical for dispersed teams, whether they’re working remotely or spread across plants or field locations.

By getting the right information to the right people at the right time, you create informed and connected workers. That’s when the magic happens—enabling intelligent operations.

A foundation for intelligent operations

OpenText’s Asset Information Management for Energy solutions lays the groundwork to fundamentally change how people work, for the better. This goes well beyond digitizing content. It layers in integrated solutions to connect information with business processes, providing a complete view into content that is tied to work orders, engineering documents, process safety information and more. And this allows you to pass the three-minute test with ease.

Intelligent operations powered by the cloud help personnel make better and faster decisions, accelerating information exchange and collaboration. And it all starts with one thing: quick access to timely and trustworthy content.

The post The 3-minute test for energy companies appeared first on OpenText Blogs.

Are we working toward an energy transition or are we in an energy race? It’s a race. The Energy industry needs to safely and sustainably deliver energy to 9.7 billion people worldwide by 2050, and the companies that get there first will gain real advantage. In this race, information is every bit as important as energy and the cloud will be a key enabler for the Energy sector.

Improving information management

To win any race you have to be fast and agile. In the Energy sector, this means being able to make informed decisions quickly and act on them effectively. The foundational element in all of this is information. The better you can manage information and the more insights you can draw from your data, the more potential you have to succeed.

Energy companies need to dramatically improve the way they capture, organize, integrate, protect, govern and exchange information. And they need to do it at scale. The current on-premise IT infrastructure of many firms is not capable of the task. If information management is the foundation of future business, the cloud is its key pillar.

Accelerating the energy race

There are many benefits to moving information and content to the cloud. Chief among them is the ability to drive transformation and innovation while significantly reducing costs associated with traditional, legacy infrastructure. In fact, some have demonstrated savings of up to 30% in managing and maintaining information management solutions.

However, I don’t believe cost is the only factor driving the nine-fold increase in cloud spending within oil and gas this decade. Companies need the compute power, scalability, performance and security that only the cloud can deliver. They need to shorten the development and deployment times of new digital functionality. And organizations are well aware that continuing with on-premise infrastructure is costly and ineffective.

Introducing a better way to manage information 

Soon cloud computing will transition from strategic differentiator to table stakes within the Energy sector. However, there are still massive opportunities for Energy companies that move to cloud now. Asset Information Management for Energy from OpenText™  helps companies deliver visibility, insight, and control over enterprise information to facilitate successful digital transformation and put themselves in pole position for the energy race.

The post How cloud accelerates the energy race appeared first on OpenText Blogs.

Capital project management is a complex and challenging process that requires seamless collaboration between multiple parties to achieve a successful outcome. The goal of every engineering project is the handover of the finalized as-built information to operations so the resulting asset can generate revenue for the owner-operator. However, the handover process can be challenging due to vast amounts of documents that need to be managed and checked when assigning the right documents to the right operations and maintenance records in the owner-operator's asset information management systems. In recent years, most companies have adopted a progressive handover approach to help reduce long delays during the handover process. In this blog, we will discuss the perils of progressive handover and how a coordinated asset information management strategy can mitigate them.

What are the benefits of progressive handover?

Progressive handover is a phased approach that involves transferring information to operations as it becomes available, rather than waiting until the end of the project process. This approach offers many benefits, such as:

• Improved project continuity
• Better knowledge transfer
• More flexibility in dealing with change
• Improved performance by involving the maintenance team earlier in the process

What are the challenges of data handover processes?

Despite its advantages, several project and operations stakeholders have found out the hard way that it can be challenging to put into practice.

Any handover process is underpinned by the management and transfer of the built asset information, which can encompass multiple information data types, both structured and unstructured. Some of the areas that can trip up the data handover process include data ownership, data location, communication, and timing.

• Data ownership: It can be challenging to transfer ownership if data is still potentially being updated by the authors. If data is linked across multiple systems, how can the transfer of ownership be coordinated?
• Data location: It can be challenging to physically transfer data between projects and the operations data stores. If the data is in multiple systems and applications, it becomes more complex and often leads to incomplete or inadequate documentation.
• Communication: It can be difficult to ensure that all communication between the different project parties is coordinated effectively. From an AIM point of view, there must be a planned approach with a system of actions, notification of changes, and a full audit trail to clarify any disputes or contractual breaches.
• Timing: Issues such as an overlap between the exiting and incoming engineering teams can cause delays in the project and operational readiness. If handover is progressive and starts early, there may not be a team ready to receive and validate the data, and the operations systems may not be fully implemented and running.

How can a coordinated asset information management strategy help?

A coordinated asset information management strategy is key to mitigating the perils of progressive handover. Doing everything digitally is essential, but just converting all information to bits and bytes isn't the panacea for better efficiency on its own. The transformational changes that create real value come when digital technologies are used to change a business model and provide new, faster, more reliable, and higher-value solutions to the challenges faced.

Taking a holistic view means coordinating data across applications and controlling it to manage compliance and risk. Engineers should be able to find the data they need, whatever application they are using, and that data needs to be centrally coordinated to ensure a single source of truth, controlling approvals and access for multiple different use cases.

Management and control in the cloud also provide the opportunity to coordinate the transfer and ownership of project data to operations without the data having to be physically moved at all. Access can be revoked by role as required, and new roles can be assigned with access to the data from different application interfaces targeting operations and maintenance processes and the teams carrying out those processes.

The post The key to successful progressive handover in capital project management appeared first on OpenText Blogs.

Happy New Year from Alaska! 2025 couldn’t have started in a more beautiful fashion as I gazed upon the northern lights in the early morning hours on January 1st and inspired this blog. This display of red lights is very uncommon in the northern hemisphere and made this light show more spectacular than the typical ‘dance’ of green lights across the sky.

Just as the northern lights paint the sky with their exquisite dance, information, when managed effectively, can light up human potential and lead us to new horizons of achievement and innovation.

Nature’s blueprint:  Ingenious inventions that represent the wild

There are countless examples of how human innovation represent nature. The airplane’s design represents the flight of birds, harnessing the principles of lift, thrust, and aerodynamics. The concept of the umbrella finds its roots in the shape of trees, translating this natural canopy into a portable form for human use. Artificial intelligence simulates the human mind by simulating cognitive abilities like learning, reasoning, problems-solving, and decision-making. Information management is no different and as is analogous to the northern lights, or aurora borealis.

An analogy between the Northern Lights and information management

The northern lights (and southern lights in the Southern Hemisphere) occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere, creating a breathtaking display of light. Here’s how this natural phenomenon mirrors information management software technology.

Sun burst = Corporate strategy & initiatives: The sun’s burst of energy represents a company’s annual release of corporate strategies and initiatives. This release of energy is focused in a specific direction that acts as a guide for employees and other stakeholders. 

Electrons = Employees setting out to execute the strategy: Sun bursts release an abundance of electrons that carry this energy toward earth. Just like the sun emits electrons into space, companies send their team members out into the business world to execute their roles and contribute toward the progress of its strategic initiatives.

Oxygen molecules = Structured information: Just as earth’s atmosphere is made up of about 20% oxygen, only about 20% of the information team members use is neatly organized in rows, columns, and tabs. By definition, structured data is organized. It’s also easily accessible and manageable forming the backbone of many business operations.

Nitrogen molecules = Unstructured information: Earth’s atmosphere is made up of about 80% nitrogen, and best represents the vast amount of information we use on a daily basis that doesn’t easily fit into a box and conventional databases. Examples include but not limited to documents, conversations, videos, and the hidden insights in any dataset. Just as nitrogen is often overshadowed by oxygen and the critical role it plays in earth’s ecosystem, unstructured information plays a critical role in any business process and business ecosystem.

Excited electrons = Employees + Information: When electrons reach earth’s atmosphere and collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules the electrons reach an ‘excited state’ with a higher energy level. Likewise, as employees are equipped with trusted, autonomous, and secure information that they need to successfully execute their roles, their productive potential rises. Few things are more motivating than having the right information at the right time to successfully execute your role.

Northern lights = Progress toward strategic goals and initiatives: The excited electrons release the absorbed energy in the form of light.  It’s one of the most spectacular sights and is celebrated by viewers. Likewise, making progress toward strategic goals is also a remarkable sight and celebrated by organizations.

As we navigate through this information-rich era, the challenge and opportunity lie in harnessing this wealth of data. By utilizing information management technologies and best practices, we can ensure that every individual and organization is elevated to be their best. In essence, we’re all just a bunch of electrons. Provide your organization  with the right information at the right time and we all have a lot of light to give.

How can OpenText work with you?

Learn more about OpenText solutions for Utilities, Chemicals, Oil and Gas, Metals and Mining and Engineering, Procurement and Construction that can help you work smarter in 2025 and beyond.

The post Elevating human potential in 2025 and beyond appeared first on OpenText Blogs.

The world is in a race for energy and resources, and that race is just as much about information management as it is about energy and essential commodities themselves. Trillions of dollars are being invested each year across the energy and resources sector on brownfield and greenfield projects and the ratio of gross plant, property, and equipment per employee continues to rise rapidly. To avoid project delays as well as ensure operations, maintenance, and engineering teams have the information they need to keep critical energy equipment running, asset documentation needs to be easily accessible and useable, so people spend less time searching for information and more time executing value-added tasks that their roles require.  

Stop wasting time searching for asset documentation  

Visibility and access to vital engineering content and asset documentation is an ongoing challenge for most organizations in the Energy sector. Up to 80% of the working day can be spent looking through unstructured content, with time wasted searching through multiple, siloed systems. But finding the documentation you’re looking for isn’t the only challenge—often, operators also encounter inaccurate or out-of-date information and documentation. 

Whether you are in capital project management, operations and maintenance, or safety, you need to transfer information via business workflows as effectively as possible. Do these workflows run smoothly for your organization, or have you experienced first-hand the impact and fallout when there are significant delays caused by the need to find relevant asset documentation? 

Remove barriers to asset documentation with smarter information  

Imagine an environment where all this asset documentation is not only dependable but simple to find using an easy-to-use, intuitive interface. Where finding data becomes as simple as the click of a mouse or touch of the screen. How much time and money could be saved by having everything you need within easy reach? What difference would this make to your organization’s ability to perform and execute effectively? 

Smarter information management can help reduce and sometimes remove barriers preventing your staff from executing effective search and retrieval of asset documentation, especially during critical events. 

With Cad-Capture Asset Navigation, you get reliable access to up-to-date engineering content and asset documentation. The solution also allows you to automatically relate the content to, and validate it against, structured asset data in your lead asset management application (e.g., SAP Plant Maintenance and Maximo EAM). You can capture, correct, validate, and activate all asset data in both native CAD and PDF engineering drawings and documents, vastly improving master data governance while delivering reliable search and retrieval of engineering content. 

Together with market-leading content management platforms like OpenText™ Content Management (Extended ECM) and OpentText™ Documentum™ Content Management, the Asset Navigation solution ensures that critical information is available in the right place, at the right time, for the right person, to safely, cost-effectively build, operate, maintain, and repair plants and facilities across the industry. 

By processing your entire range of engineering drawings and related asset documentation, automatically extracting the relevant asset tags and title block data, and then continuing to manage and update this information moving forward, staff can work more efficiently knowing they can access information when and where they need it.  

Ready for faster, more reliable access to asset documentation?

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