OpenSpirit Connection, Fall 2004
End User Corner
Hampson-Russell has OpenSpirit-enabled six of its key applications, and has
a growing customer base using the integration framework. We recently had
a conversation with Steve Bircher, General Manager of the company's
U.S. and Latin America region, about what led them to link up with us
and how the partnership has worked from their standpoint.
What prompted Hampson-Russell to OpenSpirit-enable their applications?
Gosh, it's been years since the first discussions, when we were told about the mission of OpenSpirit. Frankly, we were skeptical. No disrespect meant, but it seemed like such a monumental undertaking, and we had seen similar kinds of efforts before that hadn't really gone anywhere. So in the meetings we said, "Yeah, that's fine," and then we all raised our eyebrows afterwards and said, "That'll die."
About a year passed after those talks, and more of the companies that were getting OpenSpirit started were pushing it pretty hard. More important than that, though, our clients began showing interest. We were still pretty skeptical, but at the same time, whenever our clients are interested, we're interested. So we decided to revisit OpenSpirit.
Finally, there was a point where we needed seismic links into Schlumberger products, and creating the links through OpenSpirit was the obvious way to go. With more and more impetus toward OpenSpirit, John Coffin [H-R's then-manager of their Europe/Middle East region] and I began campaigning internally to go that route. Most of the requests were coming from the European market at that time, so John was the real force behind getting us involved. And the rest, as they say, is history.
How were you able to sell it internally? Was it a "slam dunk" to get buy in?
Not precisely a "slam dunk." We sold it a couple of ways. The most compelling reason was client-based. As I said before, in our company, if the clients are interested, we're interested-that's what drives us. So the ability to respond to our customers' requests was a big reason to put resources toward working with OpenSpirit.
The other reason we offered was one of competitive advantage. Another thing about us as a company is that we like to get into things early so that we have a market advantage. Even in the earlier releases of OpenSpirit, it was obvious that there was something worthwhile there. We said, the way this is working, everybody will eventually switch to this. That was a good argument.
Has OpenSpirit met your expectations?
[Laughs] Truthfully, our expectations of OpenSpirit were pretty low to start with, but only because of our experience with other attempts in the same area. And we didn't know you from anybody else. But two things have really impressed me. First, it really has come to fruition, and the clients like it and are using it. Second, our relationship with OpenSpirit is outstanding. We work really closely with you, and we've never had the quality of alliance that we have with you with any other non-client companies.
Actually, I don't think OpenSpirit has reached its potential yet. We believe that as it gets used more and more, it will capture big market share. In fact, I think it will become the defacto standard. Those were our thoughts when we decided to do this, and we still believe it. We don't know exactly how long it will take, but we think that within the next five years the vast majority of companies will
be using OpenSpirit.
