Most natural gas and oil industry employees see the value of using social media and collaboration tools at work, but corporatewide endorsement lags behind, according to a survey issued Thursday at Microsoft Inc.’s Global Energy Forum in Houston.

The survey by Microsoft and consultant Accenture compiled answers from 275 professionals who work in international, national and independent energy companies. Of those questioned, 75% said they found value in using the media and collaboration tools, which is up 83% from responses in a similar poll conducted in 2009.

“With fewer resources overall and colleagues scattered across continents, it is no surprise that oil and gas professionals are increasingly turning to technology to connect and share information,” said Microsoft’s Craig Hodges, general manager of U.S. manufacturing and resources. “We recognize that securing company data and intellectual property are obviously key company priorities,” but he said “there are many corporate collaboration technologies today that achieve both goals.”

Social media and collaboration technology adoption “is primarily a grassroots phenomenon within firms,” the Microsoft and Accenture Oil & Gas Collaboration Survey 2010 said. “At the same time, half of those surveyed said their companies prohibit or restrict the use of many of these publicly available tools, such as photo-sharing and social networking sites.”

Productivity gains (37%), work flexibility (95%), and the ability to complete projects on time (36%) and on budget (38%) were given as the primary reasons to use the social media and collaboration tools. However, companywide endorsement has not mirrored employee demand.

“Only 11% of social media adoption is driven by the executive suite, and higher-ups’ greatest concerns center around a ‘limited ability to control or provide a secure environment’ (39%),” the survey found.

Craig Heiser, a senior executive in Accenture’s energy industry group management practice, said the survey “shows that companies are not realizing the strategic benefits from their collaboration tools investments, such as increased workforce performance, improved sharing of knowledge or skills across the workforce.”

Johan Krebbers, an information technology architect at Royal Dutch Shell, confirmed the industry’s need for heightened workforce collaboration.

“The challenge we have with exploration is that we have people positioned globally to explore for oil and gas,” Krebbers said. “Eighty percent of our teams are global teams, with members in multiple locations around the world. We must offer world-class collaboration capabilities so that our people can work at a global level.”

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