The oil and gas sector is no stranger to complexity.
Capital-intensive operations, long project lifecycles, joint ventures, volatile pricing, regulatory scrutiny and geographically dispersed assets all place exceptional demands on how organisations operate. Yet while operational technology often dominates investment discussions, business systems quietly shape day-to-day performance just as much.
Across upstream, midstream and downstream organisations, business systems are frequently expected to support growth, compliance, efficiency and decision-making simultaneously. When they fall short, the impact is felt far beyond IT. Finance teams struggle with visibility, operations lack insight into true performance, commercial teams work with incomplete customer data, and leadership makes decisions based on delayed or fragmented information.
Below are five core business systems challenges that continue to hold back oil and gas organisations, regardless of size or position in the value chain.
Fragmented ERP Landscapes Across Business Units And Regions
One of the most persistent challenges in erp in oil and gas is fragmentation. Many organisations operate multiple ERP platforms across regions, assets or subsidiaries, often driven by acquisitions, joint ventures or historic operating autonomy. Over time, this creates an environment where finance, procurement, projects and asset data sit in disconnected systems.
The impact is significant. Consolidating financial results becomes time-consuming and error-prone. Comparing performance between assets or regions requires manual intervention. Reporting cycles lengthen, and leadership lacks a single version of the truth when assessing profitability, cash flow or capital allocation.
Fragmentation also drives inefficiency at an operational level. Teams re-enter data, maintain local workarounds, and rely on spreadsheets to bridge gaps between systems. This increases operational risk and makes it difficult to enforce consistent controls or processes across the organisation.
While modern ERP platforms such as Micrsoft Dynamics 365 can reduce this complexity by bringing finance, operations and projects into a unified environment, the deeper challenge lies in governance. Standardising processes, data definitions and reporting structures is essential if ERP consolidation is to deliver meaningful business value.
Limited Insight Into Project-Driven Financial Performance
Projects are fundamental to oil and gas operations, from exploration programmes and field development to pipeline construction and refinery upgrades. Yet many organisations struggle to maintain accurate, real-time visibility of project financial performance.
This challenge often arises because project management, procurement, finance and asset systems operate in silos. Costs are captured, but not always aligned with budgets, schedules or commercial agreements. Variations and change orders are logged inconsistently. Contractor costs may lag behind actual activity. By the time overruns are identified, corrective action is limited.
The problem is not just cost control. Without integrated systems, organisations struggle to assess project profitability, compare forecast versus actual performance, or feed lessons learned into future investment decisions. Over time, this erodes margins and undermines confidence in capital planning.
Using ERP in oil and gas must therefore support more than accounting. It needs to connect project governance, procurement, resource management and financial controls into a single operational picture. Platforms like Dynamics 365 can support this integration, but success depends on disciplined project data management and cross-functional ownership.
Supply Chain Opacity And Procurement Inefficiencies
Oil and gas supply chains are among the most complex in any industry. They involve specialised equipment, long lead times, global suppliers, regulatory requirements and fluctuating demand. When business systems fail to provide clear visibility across procurement, inventory and supplier performance, inefficiencies multiply quickly.
Many organisations lack accurate, real-time insight into stock levels, supplier commitments or material availability across sites. This leads to overstocking of non-critical items, shortages of critical components, and reactive purchasing at premium cost. In remote or offshore environments, these inefficiencies can cause operational delays with significant financial consequences.
Disconnected procurement systems also make it difficult to assess supplier performance, enforce contract terms, or align purchasing decisions with broader commercial strategy. Procurement teams become transactional rather than strategic, focused on firefighting rather than optimisation.
A well-integrated ERP platform can help unify procurement, inventory and finance data, improving planning and control. However, the broader challenge is cultural as well as technical. Supply chain resilience depends on shared data, standardised processes and closer alignment between procurement, operations and finance.
Underutilised CRM Capabilities In Complex Customer Relationships
While much attention is paid to ERP, CRM in oil and gas is often overlooked or underutilised. Many organisations still manage customer, partner and stakeholder relationships through a combination of spreadsheets, email and disconnected systems.
This is increasingly problematic. Oil and gas relationships are rarely simple transactions. They involve long-term contracts, joint ventures, regulatory stakeholders, service agreements and complex billing arrangements. Without a centralised CRM system, visibility into customer interactions, contract history and commercial commitments is limited.
The result is missed opportunities and increased risk. Commercial teams lack insight into customer needs or contract performance. Account handovers lead to lost knowledge. Disputes take longer to resolve due to fragmented information. Cross-selling or service expansion becomes difficult without a clear view of the customer relationship.
CRM in oil and gas should support more than sales. It should provide a structured view of customer contracts, communications, service history and commercial performance. Platforms such as Dynamics 365 can support this broader CRM role, but only when organisations move beyond viewing CRM as a standalone sales tool and instead treat it as a core commercial system.
Reporting Delays And Decision-Making Based On Historic Data
In an industry where margins are sensitive to price fluctuations, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance, timely decision-making is critical. Yet many oil and gas organisations rely on historic, manually compiled reports to guide strategic and operational decisions.
This challenge stems from fragmented data sources, inconsistent reporting structures and heavy reliance on spreadsheets. Data must be extracted, reconciled and validated before it can be used, introducing delays and increasing the risk of error. By the time reports reach leadership teams, the underlying conditions may already have changed.
The consequences are far-reaching. Investment decisions are based on incomplete insight. Operational issues escalate before they are visible. Compliance reporting consumes disproportionate effort. Confidence in management information declines, leading to cautious or reactive decision-making.
Modern ERP and CRM platforms can provide near real-time data and integrate with analytics tools to improve visibility. Microsoft Dynamics 365, for example, can support more timely reporting across finance, operations and commercial teams. However, technology alone is not enough. Organisations must define clear KPIs, align reporting ownership, and ensure data quality is treated as a business priority rather than an IT concern.
Why Business Systems Strategy Now Matters More Than Ever
The oil and gas sector is under pressure to do more with less, operate more transparently, and adapt to a rapidly changing energy landscape. Business systems play a critical role in enabling this transition, yet many organisations are constrained by legacy platforms, fragmented architectures and underused capabilities.
Addressing these challenges requires a shift in mindset. The use of ERP in oil and gas must be viewed as an integrated operational platform rather than a finance system. Equally, CRM technology in oil and gas must support long-term relationships, not just sales pipelines. Most importantly, business systems strategy must be driven by operational and commercial outcomes, not technology refresh cycles.
Organisations that take a holistic approach to business systems are better positioned to improve efficiency, manage risk and make confident, data-driven decisions in an increasingly complex environment.
