The Digital Ecosystem Leadership Summit is an invitation-only summit hosted at a venue graciously provided by ExxonMobil.  This event is exclusively for Executives who are striving to realize business value from their digital ecosystem they have invested in heavily over the years. The event is hosted by ARC and the following executives from ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP:

• Robert Johnston, VP of Operations, Product Solutions, ExxonMobil
• Chris Howell, SVP of Project and Engineering Capability, Shell
• Rob Kelly, VP Digital Production, Projects and Manufacturing, BP 

This Leadership Summit brought together senior industry leaders to share best practices and lessons learned on their digital journeys. The format showcased each company’s digital journeys and invited other industry executives and subject matter experts to discuss how to adopt an informed digital strategy toward open enterprise software and digital twins. Open and interoperability was a crucial step in helping companies to remaining competitive, taking advantage of the complex technological web that keeps businesses, people and systems connected. 

Andy Chatha, President and CEO, ARC Advisory Group Kicked Off the Summit

Andy presented the goals for the Digital Ecosystem Summit and how ARC can help deliver the Open Digital Ecosystem globally.

• Consider rethinking legacy and current digital systems
• What is Open Digital Ecosystem (ODE)?
• Why Open Digital Ecosystem is critical for the future
• Scaling value with Open Digital Ecosystem
• How industry collaboration can accelerate a move to Open Digital Ecosystem
• How can we take the ODE message to our community

Peter Reynolds, Industry Analyst, ARC Advisory Group

Peter presented the future of a digital ecosystems, particularly focusing on the role of the Open Asset Digital Twin Working Group (WG). In September 2020, ARC hosted a Digital Twin virtual workshop with over 80 participants from 25 energy and chemical companies to develop the vision and requirements for sustainable digital twins for brownfield operations and maintenance applications. The WG, formed in late 2023, includes six leading global integrated energy and chemical companies and expanded in 2024 to include Saudi Aramco, Petrobras, and collaborations with IOGP and the Digital Twin Consortium. The goals of the WG are to provide a framework for asset owners to achieve sustainability goals by removing inefficiencies from manufacturing operations. They aim to define guiding opportunities, align on key industry challenges, and establish unified standards-based data interoperability. The WG also intends to share consistent messaging with vendors, solution providers, and standards organizations to support the industry effectively.

Robert Johnston, VP of Operations, Product Solutions, ExxonMobil

Rob presented the importance of technology in enhancing collaboration and innovation in the industry, emphasizing interoperability and the separation of data from software.

• The Importance of Interoperability: Interoperability is highlighted as a crucial factor for cross-organization collaboration and value creation, enabling enterprises to drive multiple value cases at scale.
• Separation of Data and Software emphasizes the need to separate hardware from software and data from software, ensuring that data remains a valuable company asset.
• More innovation and value opportunity for business and suppliers when interoperability is plug and play

Michael Hotaling, Global Operations Excellence Digital Manager, ExxonMobil

Michael shared the ExxonMobil level of commitment, emphasizing that Open Asset Digital Twin is not about a single company but about how we collectively influence the entire industry. The defense paper outlines 255 definitions of a digital twin, and it is important to note that a 1:1 ratio of use cases and data sources does not constitute a digital ecosystem. The use of a digital twin should provide dynamic information.

Executive Panel, Facilitated by Andy Chatha, President and CEO, ARC Advisory Group

Panelists:

• Robert Johnston, VP of Operations, Product Solutions, ExxonMobil
• Chris Howell, SVP of Project and Engineering Capability, Shell
• Rob Kelly, VP Digital Production, Projects and Manufacturing, BP

The panel highlighted the progress made in opening minds during COVID-19, emphasizing the importance of remote support and virtual work. It discusses the challenges of extracting full value from investments, such as laser scanning, and the need to translate data into multiple use cases for long-term benefits. The discussion also covers the importance of common platforms and leveraging scale, noting that many assets have legacy infrastructure and first creating an open digital mindset as a foundational requirement for AI.  Rob Kelly brought a critical point into the discussion “We need 'Open minds'" as a mindset and start with the "intelligence" before introducing AI into work processes. One approach to achieving this is by educating the community, especially in upstream and downstream sectors with legacy assets. It highlights the need for internal marketing and the integration of IT digital into business.

Summit Themes and Discussions

ARC Advisory Group has an agnostic role during the summit to facilitate interactive thought leadership, presentations, and to capture and document common goals and elements to help drive a next level of industrial innovation and to promote and inspire thought leadership with the industrial supplier community. The industry leaders attending shape the conversations that take place. ExxonMobil’s showcase and journey through a digital ecosystem triggered discussion on the following:

Current State of the Digital Ecosystem in Industrial Sectors

• Discover the role of a digital ecosystem in revolutionizing industrial operations with real-world examples from Energy, Chemical, Aerospace & Defense and others.

Scaling Value with a Digital Ecosystem 

• Examine traditional notions of ROI and how to invest in digital technologies effectively.
• Understand the relationship between data in capital projects and operations.
• Discover methodologies that enable rapid scaling without excessive costs, separating data from software, and managing uncertainty in projects.

Organizing Expertise for Maximum Impact

• Learn strategies for organizing expertise to amplify impact and extend the reach of differentiating knowledge.
• Discuss approaches for connecting workers and enhancing productivity through digital ecosystem solutions. 

Explore the Benefits of a Digital Ecosystem

• Explore governance structures that ensure re-use of components across the full asset lifecycle.
• Reduce technical debt in sustaining software.
• Avoiding vendor lock-in or reliance on monolithic programs.

Rethinking Legacy and Digital Systems

• Rethink the role of legacy systems and partnerships in evolving Industrial AI ecosystems

Agenda and Interactive Sessions

The following was the schedule for the Summit.

About ARC Industry Leadership Summits

ARC's Industry Leadership Summits bring together senior managers and executives to network with each other, showcase solutions, and share best practices and lessons learned on their digital transformation journeys. These summits each focus on a topic relevant to the industrial sector and attract participants from multiple industries.