A global energy shipping company: an AI North Star aligned to Oracle Fusion, and broader Copilot adoption
A publicly listed tanker operator had three AI pilots running at once and a new Oracle Fusion ERP on the way. With R Cubed, we ran our AI North Star Workshop to set one direction: governance and intake first, Oracle's AI tied to the ERP rollout, and Microsoft Copilot run as a governed program that business units own.
Fusion Cloud ERPUpdated October 2026
How did Clustr help a global energy shipping company set its AI strategy?
Clustr Innovations, a human-first AI enablement consultancy, ran its AI North Star Workshop with a publicly listed energy shipping company in June 2026, in partnership with R Cubed. The sessions mapped three parallel AI pilots, aligned AI to the company's Oracle Fusion ERP rollout, and set up governance and intake that helped Microsoft Copilot adoption spread across the business.
| Client | A global energy shipping company (anonymized) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Maritime energy transportation: crude oil and refined product tankers |
| Company | Publicly listed, with seagoing crews and shore offices across several countries |
| Program | AI North Star Workshop, followed by an AI Readiness Program proposal |
| Format | Facilitated 60-minute leadership sessions, June 2026 |
| Partner | R Cubed, an Oracle Cloud consulting firm |
| Platforms | Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Google AI |
What did the AI North Star Workshop cover?
Session 01 listened. Session 02 reflected it back, showed where the company stood against maritime peers, and agreed on the first moves before a September readout to the board.
AI North Star Workshop
Global energy shipping, publicly listed
The company had Microsoft Copilot rolling out globally, a Google AI proof of concept in production, and Oracle's AI features arriving with a new Fusion Cloud ERP. All three ran in parallel with no intake process and no ROI tracking. IT wanted to move deliberately, and it wanted the business, not IT, to own AI use cases. The constraint everyone agreed on: do not overengineer.
What We Did
What we heard
Five findings: three pilots with limited governance, Copilot moving ahead, foundations before expansion, the business owning AI, and a June to September window.
Where they stand
Scored on govern, grow, intake, build and measure, and benchmarked against tanker and container shipping peers. Running ungoverned pilots in parallel is the common enterprise position, not an outlier.
Where to start
Only two of five functions in the first 90 days: govern (see everything) and intake (decide what is worth doing). Build, measure and grow come later.
What before September
A six-month plan in which the three running pilots, Copilot, Google AI and Oracle AI, become the first cases through the new process.
The existing IT Governance Council became the AI Operating Council, with a named AI Steward in each business unit.
How does a new AI idea get approved?
The same gate for every idea, whether it comes from a use case workshop, from a team using Copilot, or from Oracle's roadmap. Drawn from the workshop; each step is owned by a person.
- TriggerIdea surfaces
A business unit's AI Steward brings a use case from a workshop or daily work.
- InputAI inventory check
Is a licensed tool already doing this? Copilot, Google AI and Oracle are logged with owner, data and risk tier.
- Human reviewScore it
Impact, implementation lift, risk and fit with the Oracle Fusion roadmap.
- Human reviewCouncil decision
The AI Operating Council picks adopt, activate or build, or says no.
- OutputGoverned backlog
A prioritized use case map with a named owner for each item.
- TriggerGlobal rollout
Copilot licenses already deployed company-wide, with board backing.
- Human reviewAI Stewards
One per business unit, so Copilot has an owner close to the work.
- InputUse case workshops
Each unit maps the quick wins it would actually use: report drafting, policy Q&A, meeting follow-up.
- AI stepCopilot in daily work
Teams use Copilot in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel on the quick wins they chose.
- OutputValue tracked
Usage and outcomes reported to the council, which funds the next round.
What changed after the workshop?
The workshop set direction rather than shipping software. These are the decisions it produced and what followed.
One governance home
Every AI effort, including Copilot, Google AI and Oracle AI, went into a single inventory with an owner, a purpose, its data and a risk tier, reviewed by the AI Operating Council.
AI aligned to the Oracle Fusion rollout
Rather than a separate AI project beside the new ERP, Oracle's AI went through the same intake gate. Finance use cases such as invoice coding, reconciliations and recurring reports are judged first on whether Fusion's built-in AI can do them (adopt or activate) before anything is custom built.
Copilot adoption broadened
Copilot moved from a global rollout with optional prompt-a-thons to a program business units own. AI Stewards and use case workshops gave each team a reason to use it on their own work, and Copilot use spread across the organization.
The business owns AI
IT keeps the guardrails. Business unit AI Stewards bring use cases forward, which is what the IT team asked for in the first session.
The A global energy shipping company engagement, answered directly
Updated October 2026
What is Clustr's AI North Star Workshop?
A short series of facilitated leadership sessions in which Clustr Innovations maps a company's current AI efforts, benchmarks its maturity against peers, and agrees on the first moves. The output is a direction and a sequenced plan, usually starting with governance and intake, sized to what the organization can actually absorb.
How do you align an AI strategy with an Oracle Fusion ERP rollout?
Treat Oracle's embedded AI as one more pilot that goes through the same intake gate as everything else. For each use case, ask first whether Fusion's built-in AI already does it, then whether it can be switched on, and only then whether to build. That keeps AI spend tied to the ERP the company is already adopting.
How did governance increase Microsoft Copilot adoption?
The licenses were already deployed; what was missing was ownership. Naming an AI Steward in each business unit and running use case workshops gave teams specific, approved ways to use Copilot on their own work, so adoption grew beyond the early enthusiasts.
Who was the client?
A publicly listed global energy shipping company that operates crude oil and refined product tankers, with seagoing crews and shore offices in several countries. We do not name the client publicly.
What role did R Cubed play?
R Cubed, an Oracle Cloud consulting firm and Clustr partner, co-led the engagement and brought Oracle Fusion expertise to the ERP alignment.
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