Repsol Takes Digital Transformation Toward Net Zero Emissions with the Help of HPE Professional Services

There's nothing like a challenge to push people to innovate. That's why we were the first company in the industry to commit to net zero emissions by 2050, with ambitious interim targets. To do that, we had to change the way we worked.

We are Repsol, a Spanish multi-energy company that employs more than 25,000 people in more than 20 countries and serves 24 million customers. Our job is to transform energy and make it more accessible to people, firmly committed to technological innovation as a key tool for facing the challenges of the present and the future.

In 2017 we started the digital transformation process and launched our Digital Programme in 2018. As part of this initiative, we have rethought, retooled, and redeployed our IT infrastructure. IT plays a strong role in meeting our emissions goals, so we wanted to futureproof it and better align it with our business goals.

A proposal with a large scope

As an 18-year veteran of Repsol, I’ve seen my share of infrastructure changes, but nothing comes close to the ambition around our digital transformation. Digitalization and technology are fundamental to our net zero emissions goal. We also rely on technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation, cloud solutions, and advanced analytics to become a greener company and be more competitive in the energy sector.

We’ve used many vendors throughout my time here, but they generally felt like product suppliers instead of partners. This project required a vendor who was more closely aligned with our goals and could help us adapt our infrastructure and the delivery of our IT services to meet our sustainability targets.

We launched an RFP to select a technology partner to provide services to support our Technical Group (TG) and Platform Group (PG), which comprises our Information Services Department. This partner would help us meet our very aggressive SLAs right away, and move us closer to our long-term digital transformation goals through additional engineering and operating resources and the optimization of our existing procedures and services.

The scope of the proposal included:

• Engineering, evolution, and construction services related to Collaboration PG, Workplace PG, Connectivity PG, Petrol Stations Communications PG, and SecOps PG.
• L3 support service for Network TG
• L3 support service for Workplace PG
• L2 and L3 support service for SOC Network Security group

After carefully considering our options, we chose Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) because their approach fits well with our mission and our commitment to agility. They understood that Repsol’s IT department had to make significant changes and developed a disruptive delivery model unlike anything we had experienced with other service providers.

New services for a more agile business

One of the key components of our partnership with HPE has been their services division. HPE Services offers a broad portfolio, including automation and security services. These offerings have been particularly valuable to us, especially as we needed support for our Extreme Automation Strategy—an initiative aimed at embedding agility and efficiency into every possible IT process, from the deployment of new services to incident response.

As part of this collaboration, HPE Services engages in Infrastructure as Code (IaaC) initiatives and provides support for this capability to our existing technology groups (TGs). They also deliver N3 operational services and assist Repsol in transitioning to a new organizational structure based on Product Groups and Platform Groups. For instance, HPE Services played a key role in transitioning the Office365 STS to the new MS365 Product Group, which now oversees both operations and development.

This new proposal includes new services under the payment-for-consumption model.

Demonstrating adaptability during a trying time

Our IT infrastructure barely resembles what it looked like five years ago. Part of our network transformation was due to technological progress, including faster network protocols and hardware, new cybersecurity tools to counter emerging threats, and the shift to composable infrastructure and cloud-based services. However, the biggest changes were due to the global pandemic.

The pandemic fundamentally altered how we work, how our customers consume our services, and how customers, suppliers, and partners interact with our company. For example, more employees can work from home, and our network features secure endpoints that let users safely connect to our systems and platforms while preventing anyone else from accessing our data.

It was an incredible challenge to rethink, retool, and reboot a network that connects nearly 25,000 employees in 27 countries and 4,500 gas stations in Mexico, Peru, Portugal, and Spain during the pandemic. HPE understood the complexity of our network, the intricacies of our operations, and the need to prioritize cybersecurity and remote connectivity while moving 80% of our infrastructure to the cloud as part of our digital transformation strategy.

Throughout this project, we’ve seen that HPE is more than a vendor. HPE faced the challenge of transforming with and at the same pace as Repsol, redefining new SLAs and KPIs throughout the life of the previous contract. They were always willing to work collaboratively and reach consensus on the best way to move forward. They are flexible, listen to our concerns, and adapt their strategies to our needs. Because of this, we will continue to rely on HPE as we refresh and update our infrastructure and move through the ever-changing energy services industry.

The HPE Services team has an extensive understanding of technologies, and we leverage that knowledge as well as their experience with other customers to further our initiatives and transformation efforts. They are a trusted advisor for our team, and have been instrumental in rethinking and rebuilding our network from the ground up. 

A far-off dream drives decisions today

It may seem like a far-off dream, but our pledge to become carbon neutral by 2050 informs our decisions today. It drives our innovations in solar and hydroelectric power, our investments in biofuels, and our digital transformation that is reducing energy usage and e-waste while helping us serve our customers more efficiently.

Using HPE, Repsol has reduced complexity and lowered costs. HPE also understands and respects our complicated responsibility of being an energy company committed to a more sustainable world. As Repsol strives to become more sustainable, HPE is one of the companies helping us achieve our goal.