One of the key themes of the City Region Deal is digital infrastructure and this week we hear from industry leader Jeanette Forbes, CEO of PCL Group on why digital innovation is vital to industry.

As a board member of the Scottish Government’s Technology Advisory Group (TAG) and as TAG’s representative on the Digital Scotland – Business Excellence Partnership board, Jeanette Forbes, CEO of the PCL Group, has been instrumental in promoting the need for greater digital connectivity and its resultant economic benefits to the Aberdeen City Region for several years.

The Scottish Government’s goal is for Scotland to become a world class digital nation by 2020, through collaboration between public sector agencies from national and local government with business and industry.

As a businesswoman who has run her own IT company in Aberdeen for almost 16 years Jeanette is acutely aware of how crucial it is that the Aberdeen City Region Deal has the ambition and resource to put in place a transformational digital programme of activity.

“Digital technology revolution is the next big thing in the oil and gas sector around the world with the potential to make a huge impact on how the industry operates and to change the current workforce,” she said. “Some estimates suggest up to 47% of all jobs will be automated within the next two decades and at a time when the industry is looking at costs, in particular the uplift costs of extraction from our mature field, this is going to be a major consideration.

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Jeanette Forbes, CEO of the PCL Group, has been named Inspirational Woman of the Year in the inaugural Business Women Scotland Awards. The awards, presented at a gala dinner in Glasgow, were supported by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of female-led companies from across Scotland.

The Inspirational Woman Award was a special honour presented by Business Woman Scotland magazine, organisers of the event, to someone they felt inspired other women in business.

“Jeanette started her own IT services company in a male-dominated energy world and has survived tough times to make her company a success,” said magazine editor Lynne Kennedy. “She is a lesson to us all to never give up on your dream. She is a big supporter of encouraging females into the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects and also likes to give back to the community as a business mentor. Any female who heard her story cannot fail to be inspired.”
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Aberdeen-based PCL Group has become the first IT company headquartered in the city to gain Investors in People (IIP).

Established by CEO Jeanette Forbes 15 years ago PCL Group, a total cabling and IT service provider to the offshore, marine, commercial, industrial and renewable sectors, now employs a team of engineers and support staff.

Scottish businesswoman Jeanette Forbes will be a featured speaker at the ‘Gulf Intelligence Women in Energy Summit’, which takes place in Doha this week.
Forbes, CEO of the PCL Group in Aberdeen, was invited to take part in the summit to address delegates on “Technology: Clearing the path for women to work in technical field?”
She will speak about how the application of new technologies has been a trigger for greater diversification in the energy industry and the new opportunities for women to enter the sector.
During the summit, which is being held in association with the Qatari Businesswomen Association, she will also take part in an International Leadership Panel which will discuss “Four decades of change – what are the key battles ahead?”

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Scottish businesswoman Jeanette Forbes is to be one of the featured speakers at the Gulf Intelligence Women in Energy Summit which takes place next week in Doha, Qatar.

Jeanette, CEO of the PCL Group in Aberdeen, was invited to take part in the summit to address delegates on “Technology: Clearing the path for women to work in technical field?” In her talk she will speak about how the application of new technologies has been a trigger for greater diversification in the energy industry and the new opportunities for women to enter the sector.

During the summit, which is being held in association with the Qatari Businesswomen Association, she will also take part in an International Leadership Panel which will discuss “Four decades of change – what are the key battles ahead?” Other panellists include Lady Barbara Judge, a member of the UAE Advisory Board for the Development of Peaceful Energy and the Chairs of both the World Energy Council and the World Petroleum Council Youth Committee.

Jeanette said it was “a huge privilege” to be invited to speak at the event.

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