Cloud Computing Implementation at Tullow Oil
This paper examines cloud computing adoption strategies for Tullow Oil, a multinational oil and gas exploration company. Rather than advocating a complete shift to cloud-based solutions, the analysis evaluates hybrid delivery models that balance cost efficiency with infrastructure control. The study explores critical technical and operational variables—including data portability, application portability, platform portability, and application interoperability—to determine which cloud service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) best suit the company's data management and operational needs. The paper concludes that Tullow Oil should establish structured change management protocols to ensure effective interoperability across cloud and on-premise systems.
- Company Profile and Business Context: Tullow Oil's global operations and production capacity
- Cloud Computing Strategy and Alternatives: Hybrid models over all-cloud solutions for cost and flexibility
- Data Portability and Management: Data reuse and vendor lock-in across SaaS platforms
- Application Portability and Interoperability: Moving applications between cloud and on-premise environments
- Platform Portability and Machine Image Management: Operating system and machine image porting across infrastructure
- Service Discovery and Management Interoperability: Platform interoperability, service discovery protocols, and management
- Change Management and Implementation Framework: Governance structures for cloud marketplace and app store integration
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounded in a real-world case—Tullow Oil—rather than abstract theory, making technical concepts concrete and business-relevant.
- Systematically breaks down portability and interoperability into distinct variables (data, application, platform) rather than treating them as monolithic problems.
- Distinguishes between on-premise, hosted, and cloud solutions by examining concrete trade-offs in control, cost, and vendor lock-in.
- Uses multiple authoritative sources (Barry, Bahga & Madisetti, Erl et al.) to support nuanced technical arguments about cloud architecture.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper exemplifies applied systems analysis. Rather than recommending a single solution, it identifies key technical and operational variables that determine fit between business needs and cloud models. The author isolates each variable (portability, interoperability, service discovery) and examines how different deployment models (on-premise vs. SaaS vs. PaaS vs. IaaS) perform against it, then synthesizes these findings into a recommendation for hybrid governance. This comparative framework is more rigorous than binary advocate/critique positioning.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with company context, then pivots to cloud strategy and the case against "all-Cloud" thinking. The middle sections isolate five technical variables in sequence: data portability, application portability (including development/operations separation), platform portability (covering source and machine image approaches), application interoperability, and service discovery. Each section explores how on-premise and cloud implementations differ on that dimension. The conclusion calls for change management infrastructure rather than prescribing a specific technology choice, reflecting the paper's argument that no single model fits all needs.
Company Profile and Business Context
Tullow Oil is a multinational company specializing in oil and gas exploration, headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The company maintains investment interests across 150 licenses in 25 countries and operates 67 producing fields. In 2012, Tullow Oil produced an average of 79,200 barrels per day. The company's primary activities are concentrated in the Atlantic Margins and Africa, particularly in Uganda, Kenya, French Guiana, and Ghana. Major production operations span six African countries and the Southern North Sea. The Jubilee oil field, discovered offshore in Ghana in 2007 with production beginning in 2010, represents the company's largest discovery to date.
Cloud Computing Strategy and Alternatives
As storage and bandwidth costs continue to decline, cloud-based service solutions have become increasingly attractive to small and medium-sized businesses seeking reduced licensing expenses and operational overhead. This case analysis examines how Tullow Oil can satisfy its data management needs through strategic cloud adoption while evaluating platform-as-a-service (PaaS) cloud computing alternatives (Marinescu, 2013).
Cloud solutions offer Tullow Oil significant advantages, including the ability to avoid recruiting additional IT staff and the opportunity to focus organizational resources on core business functions and growth initiatives. However, adopting a comprehensive "all-Cloud" approach presents risks that warrant careful consideration. No single cloud model can satisfy all organizational needs. A hasty transition to PaaS solutions without thorough evaluation may prevent Tullow Oil from maximizing benefits from existing infrastructure and complicate vendor negotiations for cloud-based services (Furht & Escalante, 2010).
Hybrid delivery models represent a more balanced strategy. They allow Tullow Oil to combine the most appropriate long-term commitments with cost reductions and enable leadership to identify and address inefficiencies in both on-premise and hosted environments. The company currently faces a critical decision: whether to migrate to online hosting solutions or maintain on-premise infrastructure for certain operations (Marinescu, 2013).
Each alternative presents distinct positive and negative impacts. Companies must thoroughly assess their business needs and infrastructure foundation before making such decisions. While most solutions function effectively within either cloud or on-premise environments, the platform selection requires careful trade-off analysis between costs and security to optimize organizational returns. Tullow Oil must identify numerous advantages and disadvantages associated with PaaS deployment, paying particular attention to the classification of software and service types (Bahga & Madisetti, 2013).
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