Bharat Petroleum selects Accenture to digitally transform its sales and distribution network

Accenture will use its capabilities in data, artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies to build, design and implement a digital platform, called IRIS.

IRIS will integrate real-time data from across BPCL’s countrywide network, including more than 18,000 fuel retail outlets, 25,000 tank trucks, 75 oil installations and depots, 52 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plants and 250 additional industrial and commercial locations, to provide a consolidated view of BPCL’s sales and distribution network.

Driven by analytics based on AI and machine learning (ML) technologies, digital nerve center, which is called IRIS, can subsequently trigger automated alerts and actions, including rapid response to equipment failures or hazardous situations.

It will also empower the BPCL workforce of more than 100,000 across the country to make faster and more accurate decisions, including preventative maintenance. This will increase sales at fuel retail outlets by minimizing infrastructure downtime, ensuring consistent fuel quality and quantity for retail customers.

By embedding intelligence in BPCL’s sales & distribution operations, Accenture is helping BPCL optimize its operational performance and efficiency, enhance security and safety and deliver a superior experience for more than 10 million retail and commercial customers.

Arun Kumar Singh, Director (Marketing) and Director (Refineries), BPCL, said, “Digital transformation opens up new opportunities for the oil and gas industry. As an organisation passionate about embracing change and leading the charge, we look forward to leveraging technology to unlock tremendous value, sustainable growth, and improved efficiency.”

“With the deployment of this highly automated command & control platform, we are not only bolstering our digital capabilities significantly, but also improving customer experience and transforming operations at scale. It further ensures consistent and uniform delivery of BPCL’s brand promises of innovation, care and reliability to our customers,” said Rahul Tandon, Head, Digital Transformation, BPCL.

“The future will belong to companies that purposefully combine advanced digital technologies with human skills and creativity,” said Piyush N. Singh, Senior Managing Director, India Market Unit Lead, Accenture. “We believe our industry expertise and extensive digital capabilities will help BPCL unlock the next wave of growth and gain a distinct advantage in the market. The powerful combination of human and applied intelligence will facilitate transformative change to ensure BPCL’s operations are safer, more secure and more efficient.”

The new platform is capable of accepting more than three million inputs per second from automated sensors, cameras and Internet of Things (IoT) devices deployed at all key locations, tracking performance based on key parameters such as fuel stock, safety, compliance, equipment health and boosting asset uptime. BPCL’s field workforce and partner network will have a seamless experience thanks to support from a portal, mobile app and call centers in Noida and Chennai. The digital sales and distribution platform will use BPCL’s cloud infrastructure, making it more agile and scalable.