| | JUNE 201819CIOReviewNew technologies being born out of necessity, futuristic thinking or simply intelligent innovation are a constant in any line of business. As a CIO, my job is to shed a critical eye on the horizon ahead and envision what is possible with these new technologies and their applicability to our operations while living in the reality of a very margin-conscious operating model in the oil and gas industry. Every new deployment of any technology solution is scrutinized and assessed as to the economic impact or benefit that will be realized in the operations of our organizations. Effectively working with regulators, contractors, vendors and a multitude of other external parties beyond our own organizational borders has been, for some time, table stakes. How well we work with and how seamlessly we can integrate with these external entities to create efficiency in our business and value for our shareholders is a material way any IT group can make an impact on the bottom line of the organization.In a perpetual pursuit to improve our relationship with the ecosystem in the oil and gas industry, we are constantly looking to further streamline the process of data exchange and workflow tracking. Whether we are dealing with landowners, regulatory agencies, service providers, material providers or any one of a number of other external resources, being able to quickly and efficiently integrate these organizations into our workflow process is top of mind in any of our efforts. Over the past few years, blockchain has begun to mature to the point that components of our "Vision 2020" statement are built around the potential that a new business operating model is emerging based entirely on the capabilities of this technology. Blockchain, defined as a continuously growing list of records linked and secured using cryptography, is not expected to be a silver bullet.In fact, we are very aware that deployment of these solutions will require a concerted effort and coordination with a large number of individuals and organizations, both internally and externally. It is our expectation that we will truly disrupt business as we know it today in a variety of functions.BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS IN THE ENERGY INDUSTRYJames W. VickCX INSIGHTSBy James W. Vick, SVP Business Information Services, Southwestern Energy
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