Table Of Contents
STATOIL FIRES UP CONNECTION ON THE MOVE WITH WIRELESS HOTSPOTS
Customer Success Story
STATOIL FIRES UP CONNECTION ON THE MOVE WITH WIRELESS HOTSPOTS
STATOIL SNAPSHOT•
Based in Stavanger, Norway
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STATOIL DETALJHANDEL OF NORWAY HAS INTRODUCED PUBLIC WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY AT ITS SERVICE STATIONS TO BOOST ITS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
BACKGROUND
Oil is a hazardous business. Whether you are extracting it in hostile conditions, or attempting to retail it in a highly competitive roadside marketplace, you need sound strategic thinking and continuous vigilance to ensure that you do not run into trouble. When you doboth, the battle for competitive advantage on all fronts is fierce and continuous.
Statoil is Scandinavia's leading upstream and downstream oil company (that is, it is bothanextractor and a distributor/retailer of oil). This case study is concerned with the downstream end of things, in that it looks at the way the company has used technology tocreate a competitive edge for its 300 retail sites in Norway.
The retail operation, Statoil Detaljhandel, is a company owned jointly with the Swedish supermarket chain ICA. Like service station operators around the world, Statoil Detaljhandel has had to introduce a much wider retail portfolio in order to remain competitive, including groceries, fast food and soft drinks. But real competitiveness requiresstrong differentiation, and Statoil Detaljhandel has achieved this through Norway'smost ambitious Wireless Local Area Network deployment (WLAN) to date.
CHALLENGE
The idea for the WLAN deployment was initially driven by internal requirements. Statoil operated a Frame Relay-based Wide Area Network and switched to an infrastructure based on Internet Protocol (IP) in a bid to reduce operational costs and enhance performance.
Part of this process of change involved the use of Virtual Private Networking (VPN) to linkthe retail sites operated by Statoil Detaljhandel. This highly secure technology allows theuse of the public networks for the exchange of private and confidential data, by creating strongly encrypted tunnels across the network. The use of VPN provides faster and safer communication for the increasingly mobile workforce. Whichever site they may arrive at, they can work with full access to the corporate computing resources and information theyneed.
IP also provides a higher degree of flexibility in the expansion of the infrastructure, as well as lower cost. As Statoil's interests follow the oil trail across the world, the new infrastructure takes the full power of its network with it, enabling maximum productivity and rapid communication wherever and whenever its teams may be working.
At the same time, changes in European legislation on data protection have imposed much tougher regulations on the use andstorage of data. The new Statoil IP infrastructure allows the deployment of the most advanced security solutions, while still enabling the flexibility and mobility required by the business.
SOLUTION
With a sophisticated and proven network infrastructure in place, itthen became apparent that Statoil Detaljhandel had a compelling competitive asset at its disposal. The company is engaged in a continuing battle to find competitive advantage in a market which, by definition, is largely concerned with a commodity. It takes a very compelling proposition to persuade people on the move to choose aparticular service station brand over another. However, the StatoilDetaljhandel team recognised that what was good for its ownhighly mobile workforce would be of equal value to its highly mobile customers.
The decision was taken to deploy Cisco® Aironet® 1200 Series Wireless Access Points at 300 retail sites in Norway. Through its service provider, Telenor, Statoil Detaljhandel used the Cisco technology to turn its service stations into wireless access hotspots.
A wireless hotspot is a place where people on the move can use computers, Personal Data Assistants or other wireless-enabled technologies to connect to the Internet. This allows them to send and receive e-mails, browse the World Wide Web, or gain secure access to their own corporate networks. With more and more organisations adopting strategies based on mobile workforces, theavailability of hotspots is becoming a key economic issue. Thebusinesses that make them available first are gaining a significant lead as the world's wireless workers seek out the placeswhere they can connect in comfort.
RESULTS
Statoil Detaljhandel now has a powerful and, for a while, unique message for Norway's travelling population. While customers looking for petrol or diesel may not be inclined to differentiate between brands, if a service station offers free and easy Internet access they may well make a point of stopping there rather than anywhere else.
Jon Erik Bjore, head of IT at Statoil Detaljhandel in Norway, comments: "Cisco has worked successfully both with us and with Telenor and provided state-of-the-art technology that can have an important impact on our profitability. These are proven solutions that were easy to deploy, at a price which each service station could easily afford without putting pressure on capital expenditure."
A key factor in the choice of the Cisco Aironet solution was the power and flexibility of the technology. "All we needed was an in-line power Ethernet connection from the access point to the broadband infrastructure at each site," explains Jon Erik Bjore. "This meant that there was no need to run an additional power cable to the access point, so that it could be located wherever it would be most effective. As a result, we only needed one access pointon each site."
It is too early yet to determine precisely how the new the service isaffecting customer loyalty and business profitability. However, since the deployment is effectively an extension of the existing infrastructure, the risks involved are slight compared with the potential rewards.
NEXT STEP
While the WLAN program is still in its early stages, Statoil Detaljhandel is now exploring the potential for delivery of services such as e-learning to the sites, so that employees can gain skills and knowledge without having to leave the workplace for their training.
The use of plasma screens to display advertising messages on forecourts is also being considered, opening up another potential revenue stream for the business.
"Here is a clear example of WLAN technology being seen as a low-cost solution for achieving maximum differentiation in a highly competitive market," says Massimo Migliuolo, vice president, Worldwide Mobile Operations for Cisco Systems. "In terms of scale it is a first for the service station industry but it certainly will not be the last. Many other industries, too, are waking up to the potential benefits of providing hotspot services to their customers."
WHAT CISCO OFFERS
Cisco has set the standard for using Internet technology to transform business processes. Its Internet Business Solutions Grouphas vast experience helping companies make the transition from old-world business to e-business. From helping companies determine their Net readiness to installing networks for the integration of voice, video, and data, the experience and expertise ofCisco can help a business interested in any level of e-business implementation. Cisco offers:
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