Collabro – making two and two total eight!

Sometimes a new business name seems like a randomly-generated set of characters designed primarily to achieve unique internet recognition, but not so in the case of Aberdeen-based Collabro. This is a young company which was spun out of the successful oil and gas industry/central government initiative, LOGIC, Leading Oil and Gas Industry Competitiveness. (LOGIC is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil & Gas UK, formerly UKOOA).

In the past eighteen months, Collabro has won contracts to deliver its unique services in the UK from clients including both LOGIC and BERR (formerly DTI). Now, on the strength of the experience gained in delivering these contracts, Collabro is looking to offer its capabilities worldwide.

“We are specialists in managing pan-industry collaboration, mainly in the oil and gas industry, and carefully chose a name which would reflect the individuality of what we do,” explains Alistair Punt.

“Technically, we facilitate multiple participant non-competitive managed services, but that’s a bit of a mouthful and a good bit less memorable! It’s an intriguing area in which to operate, and calls for very distinctive skills and expertise.”

Tracking personnel

The concept is probably best explained by reference to a hugely successful product (Vantage POB) the development of which was managed by the Collabro team in the LOGIC days. This product (the IP rights of which reside with Logica CMG UK Ltd) is now delivered to the UK upstream industry and marketed globally by Collabro.

POB (Personnel on Board) systems are a vital element in safety management in the oil and gas industry – tracking exactly who is on which installation at any one time. Before Vantage POB, each duty-holder (operating company) had its own POB solution, isolated systems which were often expensive to operate as offshore personnel, like many others, change or modify their names, addresses, marital status and other details, and move from one employer to another.

Making sure that personnel data is correct and that the passengers at the heliport are who you think they are is not quite as simple as it might sound! And ensuring that people being sent offshore are fully qualified, rested and fit for work is even more difficult where duty-holders each have their own solutions.

“All oil companies and many contractors used to maintain their own POB systems, a system which generally it worked fine, but there were undoubtedly many inefficiencies and inaccuracies,” says Alistair.

“Vantage POB realises best practice processes and allows sharing of data. The service makes the information available via the internet and, as a system, it is now used by virtually 100% of the operating companies and almost all service companies in the UK offshore industry.

“To give an idea of the scale of the service, it tracks upwards of 30,000 personnel movements per month and contains the personal details of over 300,000 people who are currently or have in the past worked offshore. It is a fantastic example of an internet-delivered shared service that is of real benefit to an industry sector.

“Vantage POB was conceived, developed and delivered here in Aberdeen - it is a perfect example of how visionary companies, collaborating in non competitive areas, can deliver truly innovative multiple participant solutions.”

Export support

Vantage is now being actively marketed by Collabro in a number of overseas territories, including Trinidad, West and North Africa, Australia and New Zealand, the Middle and the Far East. Implementations have already been made in Angola, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Trinidad, Indonesia, Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland.

“Our vision for Vantage is to provide global coverage by having three interlinked hubs,” says Alistair. “One in the UK, one in the Americas, and one in the Far East”

“As a young SME with a massive international target market, we have benefited hugely from Scottish Enterprise export support, enabling us to work closely with potential overseas clients demonstrating the possibilities of collaborative services.”

“Although the benefits of this managed collaborative approach can be clearly demonstrated – it’s usually a case of two and two equalling eight – our particular forte is in understanding the collaborative environment, and the detailed management of delivering a standard service to multiple clients.

“It might sound easy but it isn’t! We are not, nor do we wish to be, experts in software development, instead we work closely with other partner companies who have this expertise. We practice what we preach - collaboration pays dividends for us as well!”

“Achieving pan-industry collaboration isn’t easy – it’s an interesting space to occupy and calls for specialist know-how in being able to get people round a table to thrash out a common commitment, and then achieve agreement to move forwards. This often requires compromise from people not used to giving it!

“So in the first instance we are facilitators, looking after the process and allowing the experts to input the detailed content. Thereafter we are the deliverers, working with software developers to create and maintain the solution and with multiple users to ensure they get the required service.”

There are, notes Alistair, many benefits to companies adopting a non-competitive, collaborative approach to industry issues.

“For a start, it generally reduces the development and training burdens of running in-house systems. It also ensures that all users have access to what is, by definition, best-practice solutions delivering up-to-the-minute legislative requirements.

“When appropriate, it also means that the users can present as an efficient, united industry in their dealings with regulatory bodies and crucially in an ever more cost-conscious industry, it is cost-effective.”

A collaborative future

Collabro’s is already a fascinating story, and yet another prime example of the international marketability of North East oil and gas expertise. The company has already diversified to bring its collaborative know-how to several new business areas:

facilitating operating company environmental returns on behalf of BERR (formerly DTI) via the EEMS service (Environmental Emissions Monitoring System)
developing a new managed service ‘Tracker’ to assist operating companies streamline their creation, storage, use and reporting of environmental data
running a group to explore a standard approach to equipment tracking using enabling technologies such as RFID (radio frequency identification).

For more details, visit the Collabro website at http://www.collabro.co.uk