Aker Solutions has appointed Are Føllesdal Tjønn to head the company’s newly formed Software House, which will develop software products to drive efficiencies through the lifecycle of an energy asset from concept to decommissioning.

Føllesdal Tjønn has experience in software development for the energy, maritime and finance industries, most recently as CEO of DNV GL’s software business.

The Software House will pull together software engineers across Aker Solutions to consolidate the company’s development in this area. They should combine efforts with the company’s oil and gas engineers to create value for customers, building on the company’s existing digital technologies.

“Everything we are now doing as an industry is being shaped by the tremendous power and potential of digitalization,” said Luis Araujo, chief executive officer of Aker Solutions. “With the creation of the Software House we can fully harness and deliver on this potential. We are delighted to welcome a person of Are’s caliber on board to lead this effort.”

The Software House will incorporate the company’s PUSH program, a digital innovation initiative to improve efficiency in field developments and maintenance projects. A key objective is to accelerate the development of field concepts, reduce costs and optimize solutions for the total life of field.

“We are creating digital solutions to integrate the different parts of a field – from subsea to surface and through the entire lifetime of a development,” said Araujo. “This will enable significantly more efficient operations and reduce costs of operating and developing fields.”