John Pollock is product director of Quorum MOSAIC.
John Pollock
What’s the history of Quorum? Why was it created and what does it do?
Pollock: Quorum started back in 1998 after the founders saw an ongoing need in oil and gas for operational and accounting software. Since then, we’ve added more capabilities that help us address more and more of our customers’ business needs.
In the last several years, we’ve invested heavily in software for drilling and completion as well as production to provide our upstream customers with a more holistic offering.
Similarly, we hit all the major needs for midstream operators looking to transport, store, or market oil and gas or even process gas.
For the downstream market, we’ve helped utilities (and local distribution companies in the United States) acquire and transport gas to their commercial, industrial and power generation customers.
So since we got started, we have really grown our software footprint to encompass the entirety of the oil and gas value chain and branched into additional areas within the broader energy sector.
What is MOSAIC and who is it helpful for?
Pollock: We characterize MOSAIC as the industry’s only all-in-one system for reserves management, petroleum economics, budgeting, capital planning and decline analysis. We’ve got over 100 customers using MOSAIC – from startups, to enterprise companies that are producing 1M+ BOE/D, to petroleum reserves evaluation firms and banks/brokers.
When I chat with our customers, the biggest value that I hear is that MOSAIC can support various interdependent processes by using one source of economic data. Many people say it’s their “one source of truth” that their users can work with and believe in.
I spoke to a few companies at the recent NAPE show in Houston who said that they’re tired of working with systems that either aren’t investing in technological advancement, or systems that claim to seamlessly integrate processes when they don’t.
Our system comes off-the-shelf ready for reserves management, economics and budgeting.
What are the future plans for the company?
Pollock: To put it simply, we want to keep making our customers happy. To do this, we need to continue advancing what our software does and look to the market to drive the entire industry forward into what we call the modern energy workplace.
Given all the internal and external market dynamics, we really want to focus on helping our customers be as efficient as possible, adapt to those changing forces, and balance the needs of their incoming and outgoing employees.
That last one is a big one. You have two very different generations on opposite ends of their careers with very different expectations about what role technology plays in their work life. So for Quorum, being successful is measured by helping our customers and the industry tackle all those business challenges and keeping our employees engaged by building a great place to work.
How has the recent economic downturn impacted Quorum?
Pollock: We strive to support our customers with software that helps them operate as efficiently as possible. It’s a main driver behind our push to lead the market’s digital transformation. From real-time data to cloud computing, digital transformation is driving down the cost of operations in oil and gas, which makes it possible for companies to be profitable at lower commodity prices.
Why is technology becoming a growing industry in Calgary?
Pollock: In general, I think you’re seeing more cities trying to attract technology-centric companies. Everyone hopes they can entice the next big tech company to put a big presence or a headquarter in their area to get a little bit of what has brought such fortune to Silicon Valley down in California, like Calgary’s Amazon pitch.
Here in Calgary, we’re seeing interest in the area as a direct result of some of the major energy companies that are still thriving. There’s a saying that every company is in some way a tech company. And that mixed with the growing importance of software in the space is really helping Calgary grow and prosper. Quorum is investing here, as the acquisition of Entero Corp. last year illustrates.
As a Calgarian, I look forward to seeing what the future of tech means for our city and Alberta in general. As a technologist, I look forward to better jobs and a growing talent pool to help make this a good destination for business investment.
Mario Toneguzzi is a Troy Media business reporter based in Calgary. He writes for Calgary’s Business.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
