RESEARCH AND REPORT
CTRM Vendor Perceptions June 2014
Platinum Research Sponsors
Gold Research Sponsor
Commodity Technology Advisory LLC
Sugar Land TX and Prague CZ ComTechAdvisory.com
2014 ETRM / CTRM Vendor Perception Study
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Contents Why do perceptions matter? ...............................................................................................................................................................4 CTRM Executives Respond to Report Findings................................................................................................................................... 5 Allegro ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 OpenLink .................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction & Demographics............................................................................................................................................................ 5 Research Demographics ................................................................................................................................................................6 Market Awareness .............................................................................................................................................................................9 Experience with Vendors ................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Market Leadership Perceptions ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 Overall CTRM/ETRM Market Leader ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Overall Energy Commodities................................................................................................................................................... 11 Electric Power Trading ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 Natural Gas Trading ................................................................................................................................................................ 12 Oil and Oil Products Trading ................................................................................................................................................... 12 Coal Trading............................................................................................................................................................................ 12 Ags and Softs Trading ............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Cotton, Coffee, Cocoa and Sugar Trading ............................................................................................................................... 13 Grains Trading ........................................................................................................................................................................ 13 Edible Oils ............................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Base Metals Trading................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Precious Metals Trading .......................................................................................................................................................... 14 Metals Recyclables Trading ..................................................................................................................................................... 14 Shipping and Freight Trading .................................................................................................................................................. 15 Cloud Delivery......................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Overall Technical Architecture ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Summary of Leadership Perception Results ............................................................................................................................ 16 Critical Attributes in ETRM / CTRM Software ................................................................................................................................... 17 Trends and Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Installed Base and Geographic Differences .................................................................................................................................. 18 Market Maturity .......................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Focus on Consultants and Integrators..........................................................................................................................................20 Trends ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 About Allegro .................................................................................................................................................................................. 25 About OpenLink .............................................................................................................................................................................. 27 About JustCommodity.....................................................................................................................................................................28 About Commodity Technology Advisory llc 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Why do perceptions matter? This 2014 CTRM Vendor Perception Study has been developed to provide insights into how the users, buying decision makers, and consultants that make-up the CTRM marketplace perceive the landscape of companies that produce and sell CTRM/ETRM products. But, why is this important? Vendors spend significant sums creating brands and trying to familiarize potential buyers with their products and capabilities; and via that process, work to establish a positive reputation in the market. Buyers will use their familiarity and perceptions of those vendors when making decisions as to which vendors and products to include in a purchasing process. Past research by the authors of this report indicate that buyers will initially use two sources of information when considering which system to purchase: 1) their personal knowledge and experiences of having previously worked with a vendor or software package, and 2) the knowledge, experiences and opinions of their peers in their industry. Potential buyers who limit their search to those companies that they or their peers know are seeing only a relatively small circle in the scheme of things. Depending on where a prospective buyer sits in the commodities market, there may be as many as 15 or 20 potential solutions that could meet their needs and many of those will be missed if one simply relies on friends or acquaintances to name them. Further, this method of identifying potential vendors simply reinforces the standing of the companies that have been the most successful over time. It doesn’t allow room for smaller companies or start-ups to have an equal footing in the purchase decision process, potentially never getting an “at bat” as the market just doesn’t have the same history and familiarity with them as they do with the market leaders. So, it’s important that buyers become familiar with all the potential vendors if they wish to find a solution that best fits their needs. It’s equally important that vendors help those market participants become familiar with them by investing in marketing and sales - establishing themselves in the market as a company that should be considered for every opportunity that falls within the functional and geographic scope of their products. With that being said, this research is intended to address a number of objectives. First, it does provide those that are contemplating purchasing a new system, the views of a wider peer group from which to get feedback. Second, it provides vendors a measure – a report card if you will - to determine their success in establishing and/or maintaining market awareness and perceptions of leadership; or for the smaller and start-up companies, a gauge of how well they’ve done in establishing themselves as players in the game. Beyond measuring familiarity and perceptions of leadership in specific categories of commodities, we have used this research opportunity to look at a number of other factors that influence perceptions of leadership and impact user experiences, including identifying what buyers look for when selecting a system, determining how happy users are with their installed systems and measuring how many systems those users have installed to manage their business. The answers to these questions give us a snapshot of the maturity of the software category, how active it is, how well the solutions meet the requirements and much more. By virtue of the fact that ComTech Advisory’s predecessor organization – CommodityPoint – had performed a vendor perception study more or less annually for almost a decade, we also have a historical perspective on how brands have evolved, risen and fallen in tune to the cycles of commodity markets and issues. It makes for fascinating reading and analysis. ComTech Advisory is pleased to present the results of its 2014 vendor perception study. This years’ study had the largest response rate of any survey we have done and we thank everyone who participated for their valuable feedback. Additionally, we want to thank our sponsors and advertisers whose support enables us to make this research available for free to the market. © 2014 Commodity Technology Advisory, llc
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CTRM Executives Respond to Report Findings Allegro
Introduction & Demographics
http://youtu.be/FYmGqoMJk7k
Mr. Ray Hood, President and CEO, Allegro Development
Mr. Hood discusses the results of the 2014 CTRM Vendor Perception Study. Additionally, he reviews his company’s market position and future plans as Allegro continues to grow and expand their reach global across commodities.
OpenLink
http://youtu.be/oFtUaY2yd_4
Mr. Doug Wendler, MD of Americas Energy, OpenLink Mr. Wendler discusses the results of the 2014 CTRM Vendor Perception Study. He also reviews his company’s market position and future plans to continue to grow their market reach and maintain their leadership position across multiple categories of CTRM.
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Commodity Technology Advisory’s (ComTech) vendor perception study was conducted to establish end-user perceptions of the E/CTRM vendors and products and to determine market leadership perceptions as well as buying criteria, demand levels, and brand awareness of the different vendors. The research comprised of a comprehensive set of questions that end users and others were invited to answer as an internet survey using the Survey MonkeyTM online survey tool. The survey was open for responses between January 24th and March 20th, 2014 and collected some 234 responses. The survey was promoted in numerous ways in order to attract bone fide respondents. ComTech used email notification, blog articles, banner advertising and verbal requests to encourage responses. ComTech used a number of email lists and personal contacts to promote the survey. E/CTRM vendors and service providers promoted the survey of their own accord. ComTech also used an incentive to gain responses with every fifth valid respondent being provided with a small Amazon.com gift certificate as well as the promise of a copy of the final report. The number of responses gained represents a strong response but ComTech were rigorous in validating these responses and in the end, utilized 146 (62%) of them in the results presented below. Reasons for rejecting responses included: 1. The respondent worked for a vendor. Despite instructions to discourage vendor employee responses, ComTech eliminated 12 such responses. These included responses that were obviously by vendor staff using a vendor email address and also those that we discerned to be vendor responses using a private email address, 5
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2. Incomplete responses were also eliminated where the respondent had answered less than 50% of the questions. There were 64 incomplete responses eliminated, 3. Duplicate responses were also eliminated. There were two duplicate responses, 4. Finally, suspicious responses were eliminated. These included those with fictitious email addresses, names or company names or those lacking such data. Some 9 suspicious responses were eliminated. The results presented and discussed in this report were obtained only using the 146 responses that we deemed to be valid and usable. Vendor perceptions are interesting both in terms of how well a vendor is known in the market and as to how it is viewed by those that are aware of it and its products. However, vendor perceptions invariably lag current reality basically representing what a vendor did or was to the end user in the past. This means that it is equally important to look at trends in vendor perception through time. ComTech has done this by utilizing similar historical data collected and discussed by CommodityPoint over the last decade or so and this trend data is also discussed below. As perceptions lag, this report should be viewed as representing vendor perceptions prior to 2014 and anyone looking for an ETRM or CTRM software solution is strongly advised to research the market effectively as things can and do change very rapidly in this software category.
Research Demographics We received a total of 234 responses to our survey; however, we eliminated 87 of those responses that were provided by vendor personnel, were incomplete, or were otherwise suspicious. After this reduction, we were left with 146 valid responses (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Respondent Locations 1%
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The respondent’s locations reflected a very fair distribution of experienced CTRM software users, with the majority of the responses coming from North America (53%), followed by Europe (39%), and Asia-Pacific (7%). We also received one response each from South America and the Middle East. The largest industry group represented in our research was the Utility/Generator group (39%), followed by consultants/System Integrators (20%) and Merchants/Traders/Brokers (18%). The
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remaining company segments comprised less than 10% each. (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Respondent Company Types Oil&Gas Exploration Mining/Metal Producer Hedge Fund/Investment… Industrial Commodity… Agricultural… Chemical/Petrochemical/R… Merchant/Trader/Broker Consultant/Systems… Utility/Generator 0%
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Figure 3: Types of Commodities Traded
Emission Credits Freight Rates Base Metals Precious Metals Ags/Softs Energy
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Figure 4: Primary Commodities Traded All Commodities Emission Credits Freight Rates Base Metals Precious Metals Ags/Softs Energy 0% Asia-Pacific
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Figure 5: 2013 Estimated CTRM Market by Commodity Class Other (Freight, Emissions,… Ags/Softs Other Metals and Ores Precious Metals Energy 0%
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Source: 2013 CTRM Market Size Report, Commodity Technology Advisory
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It should be noted, however, that many of the respondents did indicate that their company spanned multiple industry classes and that many of the companies identified as traders and refiners could also be representative of the oil and gas exploration/production markets. That being said, based upon ComTech research, it does appear that the oil and gas companies are under-represented in our data. Note: Responses from Consultants/Systems Integrators were not solicited nor considered for inclusion in questions relating to software systems in current use, commodities traded, or satisfaction with current software solution in use.
All Commodities
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When looking at the commodities traded by our respondents (Figure 3), it is somewhat surprising at first glance to see the most cited traded commodity is emission credits; however, considering the single largest respondent group to our survey is the Utility/Generator segment, it should not be all that surprising, particularly given that more than 90% of those are located in Europe and North America, region with established emissions programs. In addition to emissions, we do see a good distribution of commodity types traded by our respondent group, with all commodities represented in almost all geographic regions. When asked to identify the primary commodities traded, we do see what would be a more normal distribution - one that is more reflective of the current markets and installed base for CTRM solutions. Energy was clearly the most commonly traded single commodity class. A number of North American respondents indicated they traded all the commodity classes in question, with none being referred to as a primary commodity (Figure 4). Interestingly, when comparing the primary commodities traded by our respondent group, the results do correlate very well with estimated market share of the commodity classes noted in Commodity Technology Advisory’s 2013 CTRM Market Sizing Report (Figure 5). The respondents were asked to identify which system they were currently using (Figure 6). Allegro was most commonly cited system currently in use with our respondent group, with 19% reporting its use. SunGard users accounted for about 8%, OpenLink about 6%, and Triple Point accounted for 7
2014 ETRM / CTRM Vendor Perception Study
about 5% of the respondents. The responses associated with the various vendors are not necessarily reflective of the installed base of those vendors. In these results, Allegro would appear to be over-represented in terms of response rates within their client base, with others, such as OpenLink and Triple Point, being under-represented.
Figure 6: Current System(s) in Use Allegro Excel In House SunGard None OpenLink Triple Point Generation 10 Brady DBC Smartsoft OATI Zainet SolArc Abacus Ventyx IRM Trayport Contigo ComFin Amphora PCI Calvus Solutions Ascend Analytics Lacima Siemens eOpt Vedaris Pricehub Navita VuePoint Utilisoft SAP
16% of the respondents indicated they were using Excel spreadsheets for some or all of their ETRM / CTRM requirements. A further 11% indicate that they are using some form of in-house developed system. 8% of the respondents, companies who may trade commodities as a non-core part of their wider businesses are not utilizing any type of dedicated ETRM/CTRM solution.
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When asked how satisfied they were with their current solution(s), Figure 7, almost 90% of the respondents indicated some level of Figure 7: How satisfied are you with your satisfaction, with current solution? 19% saying they 1% 2% 9% were very satisfied, 50% satisfied and 19% 50% 19% somewhat satisfied. Only 9% 19% indicated they were dissatisfied with Satisfied Somewhat Satisfied Very Satisfied Dissatisfied their current No response Don't Know product(s).
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Market Awareness
Figure 8: Known Vendors - Total
We asked our respondents to identify all the vendors of CTRM software of which they were aware (Figure 8). Both Allegro and OpenLink were identified most often, with about 63% of the respondents naming the two companies. SunGard and Triple Point were also commonly cited, each being named by more than 50% of the respondents. Below those four, the recognition of CTRM vendors drops off dramatically, with no other vendors being named by more than 20% of the group, and only Brady (19%), Murex (16%) and EKA (13%) were cited by more than 10% of the respondents.
Allegro OpenLink SunGard Triple Point Brady Murex EKA Contigo Amphora OATI SolArc Ventyx Aspect Enterprise None SAP Generation 10 Abacus Pioneer Lacima Navita TradePaq Enuit SAS Trayport Agiboo iRisk DBC Smartsoft Entero Quorum Woodlands Sakonnet Delta JustCommodity ComFin
In all, our respondents’ noted 76 different vendors and/or products, though it could be argued that several of those which were cited would not be accurately described as CTRM suppliers. In calculating this result, we did not combine named products, or vendors which had been previously acquired by other vendors, under the vendor of those products, meaning that Solarc or DBC Smartsoft were not combined with OpenLink.
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Figure 9: How closely do you follow the E/CTRM Market? Don’t follow
It should be noted that when asked about their knowledge of the current market for ETRM or CTRM products (Figure 9), most of our respondents noted that they rarely follow the market, with more than a third saying they only research current vendors or offerings when they are seeking to buy a new solution. This lack of ongoing examination of the market would explain the inclusion of vendors that have either been acquired by others (Solarc) or others that have left the market for other reasons (Sakonnet). The lack of regular or constant examination would also point to the market lagging in their awareness of companies that have rapidly grown in the last several years, such as Aspect, Brady or EKA. In fact, the survey shows that brand awareness in this market consistently lags both reality and vendor marketing efforts.
No Answer Avidly Occasionally Only research when buying 0%
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The results also indicated that Consultants and System Integrator’s, unsurprisingly, follow the CTRM market much more avidly than the end users.
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Experience with Vendors
Figure 10: Which vendors/products have you utilized previously?
When asked what CTRM vendor or products our respondents had previously used, Allegro (43%) was most noted, with OpenLink Endur, Triple Point and SunGard also being commonly mentioned. Beyond those vendors cited in Figure 10, Figure 11: Of the products you've utilized previously, which one were an additional 38 other you most satisfied with? vendors were also noted, Allegro each with only one or two OpenLink SunGard citations each.
Allegro OpenLink Endur Triple Point SunGard OpenLink Right Angle Zainet Brady OATI Nucleus None Amphora Navita Generation 10 Contigo EnTrader Vedaris EKA DBC Smartsoft SunGard Altra Murex Sakonnet Xenon IRM iOPT 0%
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When asked which one system of those they had used, they were most satisfied with (Figure 11), Allegro was cited by 48 of the respondents, followed by OpenLink (20) and SunGard (11). In all 34 vendors were noted by the group, with 21 of those being cited only once (Figure 11).
SolArc Generation 10 Contigo Brady Triple Point ComFin DBC Smartsoft OATI Zainet Navita 0%
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Market Leadership Perceptions
Figure 12: Considered to be Market Leader in ETRM/CTRM
Overall CTRM/ETRM Market Leader
Don't Know OpenLink Endur Allegro None Triple Point SunGard DBC Smartsoft EKA ComFin Bulldog Affinity Calvus Solutions Generation 10 SAP OATI Agris Amphora VuePoint Brady OpenLink Right Angle
When asked who they considered to be the leader in the ETRM/CTRM markets, 27% of the survey respondents indicated they didn’t know who the leader would be. Of the vendors named, 24% indicated OpenLink’s Endur product as the leader in the market, followed by Allegro with 18%. In Europe, OpenLink’s Endur was noted about twice as often as Allegro; however, in North America, the two companies/products were noted equally as market leaders (Figure 12). 0%
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Overall Energy Commodities
Figure 13: Leader - Overall Energy Commodities
When asked to name a leader in the energy commodities space (regardless of the type of energy), 24% indicated OpenLInk was the leader, with 18% noting Allegro. Those that felt there was no singular leader comprised 9%, followed by SunGard with 6% and Triple Point with 4% (Figure 13).
Don't Know OpenLink Allegro None SunGard Triple Point Trayport Contigo SolArc Calvus OATI SAP Brady 0%
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When asked to name a leader in managing electric power trading, OpenLink was again the vendor named most often, and again was followed by Allegro. However, though OpenLink was clearly considered to be the leader in Europe, Allegro was considered the leader in the North American market. Though 12% felt there was no leader in the power trading space, SunGard was noted by 7% of the respondents.
Don't Know OpenLink Allegro None SunGard OATI Contigo Triple Point Brady PCI Ventyx Calvus SolArc 10%
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Much like the market leader in ETRM/CTRM, OpenLink was named more often in Europe and equally so to Allegro in North America.
Electric Power Trading
Figure 14: Leader - Electric Power Trading
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Beyond OpenLink and Allegro, 11% of the respondents felt there was no leader. Triple Point was noted by 5% and SunGard was noted by 4%. OpenLink’s DBC Smartsoft product was most noted by Asia-Pacific respondents as the market leader.
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Figure 15: Leader - Natural Gas Trading
Natural Gas Trading
Don't Know Allegro OpenLink None SunGard Triple Point Trayport Contigo Calvus EKA SAP SolArc Lacima Murex
In the natural gas space, Allegro edged out OpenLink as the leader in the category, driven particularly by their strength in the North American market. Others noted included SunGard with 5%, Triple Point with 3% and Trayport Contigo with 2%. All other vendors listed in Figure 15 were noted only once. 0%
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Figure 16: Leader - Oil and Oil Products Trading Don't Know OpenLink Allegro None Triple Point SolArc Amphora Calvus SunGard ComFin
Oil and Oil Products Trading In Oil and Oil Products Trading, OpenLink (18%) was again the most noted vendors, again followed by Allegro (9%). Triple Point, though trailing those that felt there was no leader in the space, received notice by 7% of the respondents and was followed by Solarc (which was acquired by OpenLink more than 2 years ago) with 5%. Amphora, with 3% was the only other vendor to receive more than a single response.
Coal Trading
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Coal trading is not a large market for ETRM/CTRM vendors, and the responses we received bear that out. The two companies most often cited, Allegro and OpenLink, each were noted by less than 10% of our respondents, with the combination of “Don’t Know” and “None” making up about 70% of the total responses. SunGard (5%), Triple Point (4%), Solarc (2%) and Trayport Contigo (2%) were the only other companies to be noted more than once by our respondents.
Figure 17: Leader - Coal Trading Don't Know None Allegro OpenLink SunGard Triple Point SolArc Trayport Contigo EKA Calvus Amphora ICE 0%
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2014 ETRM / CTRM Vendor Perception Study Figure 18: Leader - Ags and Softs Trading
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Ags and Softs Trading Very few of our respondents could identify a leader in ags and softs trading, with 65% indicating they didn’t know and another 10% saying they felt there was no leader in this category. Of the companies named as leaders, OpenLink was cited most often (8%), followed by EKA (6%) and Allegro (3%). The other named leaders were cited only a single time each by the respondents.
Don't Know None OpenLink EKA Triple Point Allegro Agris iRely Generation 10
Cotton, Coffee, Cocoa and Sugar Trading
Agiboo SolArc 0%
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Figure 19: Leader - Cotton, Coffee, Cocoa and Sugar Trading Don't Know
The category of leader for cotton, coffee, cocoa and sugar trading was much like ags and softs trading, with 80% of the respondents saying they didn’t know who the leader would be and another 8% saying there was no leader in this category. EKA was the most cited vendor, though only with 4%, followed by Triple Point with 3% and OpenLink with 2%. The others, Solarc, Allegro, G10 and Calvus Solutions were cited only a single time each.
Grains Trading
None EKA Triple Point OpenLink SolArc Allegro G10 Calvus 0%
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Much like the other Ag categories, our respondent group had difficulty identifying a leader, with more than 80% saying they either didn’t know or felt there was none. Of the named vendors, Triple Point and EKA were tied, each being noted by 5% of the respondents, followed by OpenLink (4%) and Allegro (2%). The others, iRely, Calvus Solutions and Agris were each noted one time.
Figure 20: Leader - Grains Trading Don't Know None Triple Point EKA OpenLink Allegro iRely Calvus Agris 0%
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Figure 21: Leader - Edible Oils Trading
Edible Oils
Don't Know None OpenLink Triple Point EKA Allegro SunGard Calvus iRely JustCommodity 0%
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The edible oils trading category was again much like the other ags categories, with few of the respondents able to name a leader. Of the named companies, OpenLink was noted by 4%, Triple Point and Eka by 3%, and Allegro by 2%. The others that named a single time were SunGard, Calvus Solutions, iRely and JustCommodity.
Base Metals Trading Much like the agricultural categories, our respondents were not well acquainted with the metals trading markets. In leadership in base metals, only Brady (5%), OpenLink (4%) and Triple Point (3%) received more than a single notice by the respondents.
Figure 22: Leader - Base Metals Trading Don't Know None Brady OpenLink Triple Point Amphora Calvus Allegro
Precious Metals Trading 0%
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Metals Recyclables Trading Recyclable metals trading, though an important and growing market, is a specialized market and is essentially unknown to most commodities traders. This lack of awareness is borne out in our results, with only OpenLink (3%) receiving more than one notice from our respondents. Allegro, Brady and Calvus Solutions each received a single mention.
Figure 23: Leader - Precious Metals Trading Don't Know None OpenLink Brady Triple Point Allegro Murex Calvus SunGard 0%
20%
In precious metals leadership, OpenLink was most often cited with 5%, followed by Brady with 3% and Triple Point, Allegro and Murex, each with 2%. Calvus Solutions and SunGard were cited by one respondent each.
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Figure 24: Leader - Recyclables Trading Don't Know None OpenLink Allegro Brady Calvus 0%
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Figure 25: Leader - Shipping and Freight Trading
Shipping and Freight Trading
Don't Know None Triple Point Allegro OpenLink Amphora Calvus Solarc Transcore Veson Shipnet 0%
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Asia-Pacific Middle East SAM
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Europe NAM
Figure 26: Leader - Cloud Delivery
Shipping and freight trading is a market that has been in suffering to a large degree since the start of the financial crisis and global economic recession in 2008. As it’s not been a market of great activity for some time, it is not surprising that 80% of our respondents could not identify a leader in the space (Figure 26). Of those that were cited as leaders, Triple Point was most often noted (6%), followed by Allegro (5%), OpenLink (3%) and Amphora (2%). Calvus Solutions, Solarc, Tanscore, Veson, and Shipnet were each noted by a single respondent.
Cloud Delivery
Don't Know None Allegro OpenLink Aspect OATI Amazing EKA Woodlands Calvus Kiodex VuePoint
Surprisingly, particularly given the growing interest by the marketplace surrounding cloud delivery of CTRM solutions, very few of our respondents could name a leader in the cloud delivery category (Figure 27). Allegro, OpenLink and Aspect were noted by 3% of our respondents each, followed by Amazing, EKA, Woodlands, Calvus Solutions, Kiodex and VuePoint. 0%
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Figure 27: How is your current CTRM Solution Deployed? Don't Know Multi-tenanted Cloud Single Tenanted Cloud Leased Traditional 0%
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Overall Technical Architecture
Middle East
Though the category of “leader in overall technical architecture” (Figure 28) had a relatively high number of “don’t know” responses (59%), Allegro did emerge as the clear leader amongst the named vendors with 17% of the respondents noting the company as the overall technical architecture leader. OpenLink was noted by 6% and EKA by 2%. The others, including Calvus Solutions, Solarc, Triple Point, SunGard and Trayport Contigo, were noted with a single response each.
Figure 28: Leader - Overall Technical Architecture Don't Know Allegro None OpenLink EKA Calvus SolArc Triple Point SunGard Trayport Contigo
0% Asia-Pacific
20% Europe
40%
As a follow-on question to the leader in cloud delivery category, we did ask our respondents how their CTRM solutions were currently deployed (Figure 28). 75% of the group indicated their products were traditionally installed, which would correspond to the lack of knowledge of cloud solution vendors noted above. That being said, 13% of our group did indicate they were utilizing some type of cloud deployment, with 8% deployed in a multitenanted cloud model and 5% using a single tenanted model (or hosted) solution.
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Summary of Leadership Perception Results Following is a summary of the results of perceived market leadership: Leadership Category Overall ETRM/CTRM Energy Electric Power Natural Gas OpenLink Coal Ags and Softs Cotton, Sugar, Cocoa etc. Grains Edible Oils Base Metals Precious Metals Recyclables Shipping Cloud Delivery
Leader
Runner Up
Third
OpenLink OpenLink OpenLink Allegro OpenLink Allegro/OpenLink OpenLink EKA Triple Point OpenLink Brady OpenLink OpenLink Triple Point Allegro/Aspect Enterprise/OpenLink
Allegro Allegro Allegro OpenLink Allegro EKA Triple Point EKA Triple Point/EKA OpenLink Brady Allegro -
Triple Point SunGard SunGard SunGard Triple Point SunGard Triple Point OpenLink Triple Point Triple Point OpenLink -
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Critical Attributes in ETRM / CTRM Software ComTech took advantage of this research effort to examine the attributes that buyers and users of CTRM software view as most critical to their business.
otherwise manage both physical and financial commodities, and whose ability to manage their business is dependent upon a quality product that is backed by quality support from their vendor.
We asked our respondents to rank numerous attributes/capabilities/functions of CTRM products by their view of the criticality of each, ranging from “Critical” to “Unimportant”. The descriptions of each attribute and its relative position in terms of criticality are shown in Figure 29.
Other critical or highly ranked attributes include quality implementation services provided by the software vendor, noted by 87% of the respondents as being at least important, if not critical; support for multiple commodities (80% noted as at least important); and support for comprehensive market/price risk management (81%). Interestingly, price was noted highly, with a total score of 86% combined “critical” and “important”, but had a lower critical ranking than 8 other functional or vendor attributes; implying that while the price of the software is important, buyers are willing to pay more for those systems that best meet their needs.
Figure 29: CTRM Attributes Physical Support Quality support by vendor Financial Support Multi Commodity Capable Quality Implementation Quality Implementation Service… Services Provided by Vendor Vendor Comprehensive market/price risk Physical logisitics
While the largest vendors do still dominate the market place, many of our respondents do indicate that they would be open to purchasing a system from a supplier that would not typically fall within the category of a market leader - with 39% saying it is less than important that their supplier be considered a “top vendor”.
Multi Currency Available at a competitive price Comprehensive credit risk Ability to Personalize User Ability to personalize user… Interface Quality Support Available Quality support available by… from Consultants Graphicaland anddrill-down… drill-down Graphical analytics and reporting Supplied by a top vendor Modern Modular Architecture Comprehensive treasury support Ability to deploy in the cloud
0% Critical
Important
Not Essential
Unimportant
50%
100% Nice to Have
According to the survey respondents, the top three critical capabilities they look for in a CTRM solution are support for physical commodities, quality support supplied by the vendor and support for financial commodities. These results are not necessarily surprising and are generally reflective of the capabilities of the largest vendors in the space – those that service firms that trade and/or © 2014 Commodity Technology Advisory, llc
Interestingly, the ability to deploy the solution via the cloud ranked as the least critical or important attribute of all those tested, with less than a quarter noting it as at least important (combined critical and important), and only 5% saying cloud was critical to their purchase decision process, and another 18% indicating cloud deployment was important. This result does reinforce ComTech’s outlook for sales of cloud based solutions in the near term, with our current estimate being that approximately one in ten systems sold in the next several years will be cloud based; with that ratio increasing over time. 17
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Trends and Analysis Installed Base and Geographic Differences When looking at brand recognition, it could be assumed that the respondents know, and are most familiar with, their own solution providers. In order to eliminate a potential bias associated with this familiarity, the indicated vendor installed bases can be removed to provide an adjusted view of brand recognition. When the installed base is removed from the unprompted brand recognition results, the overall effect is not hugely significant except for a small number of relatively minor changes (Figure 30). Figure 30: Unprompted Brand Recognition - Total Adjusted for Installed Base OpenLink Allegro SunGard Triple Point Brady Murex EKA Trayport Contigo Amphora OATI
0%
20%
40%
Less Installed Base
60%
80%
Unprompted
It is also interesting to look at geographic recognition differences between the vendors’ recognition levels. In North America (Figure 31), the top 4 vendors are Allegro, OpenLink, SunGard and Triple Point and in Europe (Figure 32), the same 4 vendors are again top except that OpenLink and Allegro have switched places. Figure 31: Unprompted Brand Recognition - North America Adjusted for Installed Base Allegro OLF SunGard Triple Point OATI EKA Amphora Ventyx SolArc Murex SAP Abacus Pioneer Enuit Aspect Enterprise Lacima SAS Entero Quorum Woodlands 0%
20%
Less Installed Base
Any vendor that had respondents from its installed base in the sample will show a decline in unprompted brand recognition depending on the size of that installed base. One impact is that as a result of Allegro having a larger number of clients responding to the survey than its competitors, its unprompted brand recognition falls from equal first with OpenLink to fourth behind OpenLink, Triple Point and SunGard respectively. Despite this, the top 10 vendors remain the same either way the data is reviewed. In Allegro’s case, it is the relative size of its North American installed base in our sample that has the most impact. © 2014 Commodity Technology Advisory, llc
40%
60%
80%
Unprompted
Even accounting for installed base adjustments, the same four vendors dominate in both regions with just slight changes in pecking order. Below the top 4 however, we observe regionally dominant vendors. In North America, OATI, EKA, Amphora and Ventyx are the next four best wellknown vendors whereas in Europe, it is Brady, Murex, Trayport Contigo and EKA. Below these vendors are smaller vendors such as Pioneer and Abacus in North America and Agiboo and TradePaq in Europe.
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Market Maturity
Figure 32: Unprompted Brand Recognition - Europe Adjusted for Installed Base
One way of assessing market maturity is to look at the virgin or replacement market ratios. The virgin component of a market is that that utilizes something other than a commercially available software solution and the replacement market is that which uses only commercially available solutions. In the data collected by the 2014 survey, the virgin component of the market is Europe and North America is almost identical at 34.7% and 34.1% respectively and at 34.5% overall across all of the data. Effectively then about 1/3rd of the market is virgin and 2/3rds is replacement overall. Plainly, this will vary significantly by commodity but there is insufficient data to assess for specific commodities.
OpenLink Allegro SunGard Triple Point Brady Murex Trayport Contigo EKA Navita SolArc TradePaq Agiboo iRisk Aspect Enterprise Generation 10 Amphora Delta
0%
20%
40%
Less Installed Base
60%
80%
Unprompted
The top four vendors are all well established brands with global reach and these are also the top 4 vendors on an annual revenues basis. Below them are the larger regional vendors that are challenging the top 4 (e.g. Brady and EKA), formerly well-known brands that no longer independently exist as they have gone out of business or have been acquired (e.g. SolArc and Navita), vendors which seem to be fading in recent years (e.g. Murex and Ventyx) in the commodities trading software category, and then smaller regional vendors that are well known in smaller geographic markets or commodity verticals (e.g. Trayport Contigo, Agiboo, OATI, Generation 10, Delta). Finally, in neither North America nor Europe is any vendor absolutely dominant in terms of brand recognition. The highest ranked vendor in both markets is known by less than 7 out of 10 respondents in North America, the most mature geography and by even fewer in the marginally less mature European market. All is still to play for. Š 2014 Commodity Technology Advisory, llc
The maturation of the CTRM market is further indicated by looking at the ratios of those who named a vendor solution as their market leader versus those respondents that didn’t know or didn’t think that there was an overall market leader. In this instance, 45% of European respondents and 35% of North American respondents did not or could not name a vendor as overall market leader. 37% of all respondents could not name an overall market leader. Essentially, only 1/3rd of respondents could not identify a vendor as their choice of overall market leader. Another indicator of overall market maturity is the relative percentage of respondents who can name a vendor in each of the market leadership categories. Of course, the nature of the respondent impacts on this too, as an agricultural trader is more likely to be able to name a solution vendor for grains trading than an oil trading respondents for example. Nonetheless, the more mature the software category and industry the more respondents should be aware of a vendor. Figure 33 shows the results of this analysis. 19
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Figure 34 (compare with Figure 8 on page 9) shows the vendors that the consultants and integrators indicated that they knew, including geographic splits as well. In fact, the responses are almost
Figure 33: Segment Relative Maturity Energy Commodities Overall Natural Gas Electric Power
Figure 34: Known Vendors Consultants and Systems Integrators Only
Crude Oil/Products Coal Overall Architecture Ags/Softs Shipping and Freight Grains Base Metals Delivered in the Cloud Ediable Oils Precious Metals Cotton/Coffee/Cocoa/Sugar Recyclables 0%
Named Leader
20%
40%
60%
80% 100%
Un-named Leader
As might be expected, the energy segments are indicated to be the most mature and metals and general ags and softs, along with recyclables appear to be the least mature.
Focus on Consultants and Integrators Consultants and Integrators are often influential in selecting software and so their views are also interesting. In the previous results, the consultants and integrators are represented in most of the responses (unless otherwise stated), but what do the consultants and integrators responses tell us and how do they compare to the general responses?
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OLF Allegro Triple Point SunGard Brady EKA Amphora Trayport Contigo Murex Enuit Abacus Quorum OATI Pioneer SAP Entero SolArc Aspect
0
5 NAM
10 Eur
15
20
25
Asia
identical to the broader sample’s response with OpenLink and Allegro neck and neck as the most widely known vendors, and Triple Point and SunGard rounding out the top four. The next group is again Brady, EKA, Amphora, Trayport Contigo and Murex with just a slight change in order.
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As perhaps might be expected, on average the consultants and integrators do keep abreast of developments among the vendors more diligently than the broader sample, as shown in Figure 36.
There is little geographic variation except perhaps for Trayport Contigo which is much better known by European service companies. Figure 35: Overall Leadership Consultants and Systems Integrators Only
Figure 36: How closely do you follow the ETRM/CTRM markets? Consultants and System Integrators Only
OLF Allegro Don't know None Varies Generation 10 SAP SunGard EKA Triple Point
8% 21% 71% 0
5 NAM
10 Eur
15
Asia
In terms of market leadership perceptions, the results are also similar (Figure 35). The Consultants and Integrators favor OpenLink followed closely by Allegro. Fewer of them proportionately don’t know who the market leader is and another small proportion doubt that there is a market leader at all. Other vendors obtained just a single response.
Category Overall ETRM/CTRM Energy Electric Power Natural Gas Oil and Oil Products Coal Ags and Softs Cotton, Sugar, Cocoa etc. Grains Edible Oils Base Metals Precious Metals Recyclables Shipping Cloud Delivery
© 2014 Commodity Technology Advisory, llc
Avidly
Occasionally
During Systems Selection Only
In terms of market leadership perceptions across the range of commodities, the table below summarizes only the consultants and integrators views of market leadership. By and large, the results are the same but there are some subtle differences outside of the energy commodities.
Leader – All Respondents
Leader – Consultants/Sis only
OpenLink
OpenLink
OpenLink OpenLink Allegro OpenLink Allegro/OpenLink OpenLink EKA Triple Point OpenLink Brady OpenLink OpenLink Triple Point Allegro/Aspect Enterprise/OpenLink
OpenLink OpenLink Allegro Allegro Allegro Allegro/Triple Point EKA EKA Triple Point Brady Triple Point Brady/Triple Point Triple Point SunGard Kiodex
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When it comes to the features and functions of an ETRM or CTRM that are important, the general respondents and the Consultants/SI’s generally agree (Figure 37). Figure 37: CTRM Attributes Consultants and Integrators Only Multi Commodity Capable Financial Support Physical Support Quality support by vendor Multi Currency
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However, there are one or two glaring differences that are interesting. While Consultants and SI’s would rank ‘Supplied by a top vendor’ very highly, the general respondents do not. Similarly, the Consultants and SI’s rank ‘modern modular architecture’ and ‘graphical and drill-down analytics and reporting’ as much more important than the general respondents. This suggests that Consultants and SI’s are more likely to look at brand and technical architectures/UI’s as buying criteria where the general user might not necessarily view that those factors as highly.
Supplied by a top vendor
While overall, the differences between the general responses and those of the SI’s and consultants are broadly similar, there are a number of small but perhaps important differences that might be useful for buyers to understand.
Quality Implementation Quality Implementation Service… Services Provided by Vendor Vendor Modern Modular Architecture Graphical and drill-down Graphical and drill-down… analytics and reporting Comprehensive market/price risk Ability to personalize user interface Comprehensive credit risk Ability to deploy in the cloud Quality Support Available Quality support available by… from Consultants Physical logisitics Comprehensive treasury support Available at a competitive price
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Critical
Important
Average
Low
Not Important
The issues are the same but the order vaguely different.
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Trends By taking previous data from CommodityPoint Vendor Perception studies, it is possible to examine trends over the last several years in terms of brand awareness and market leadership perception development. Due to the differing make-up of the samples both geographically and by industry segment, there are some discrepancies that are visible in the overall trends. For example, since this latest survey is far more broader-based both geographically and by industry segment than the earlier CommodityPoint surveys, it would appear that overall values have dropped. Values for the top 4 vendors, as shown in Figure 38, have all declined from the 2011 CommodityPoint survey. However, that survey was highly energycentric and focused on North America and Europe – a more mature subset of the sample obtained by ComTech.
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Commodity Technology Advisory llc Figure 38: Brand Awareness Over Time 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 2009
2011
2013
OpenLink
Triple Point
Allegro
SunGard
SolArc
Ventyx/ABB
Navita
Murex
Amphora
Brady
Trayport Contigo
EnCompass
Woodland Solutions
SAS
EKA
OATI
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It is interesting is to look at the broader trends. Note that Triple Point’s brand recognition has eroded significantly faster than that of OpenLink, Allegro and SunGard from first to last in the group of four with the major fall occurring since its acquisition by ION, with Triple Point’s market visibility having declined significantly since the change of ownership. Additionally, Solarc was building brand strength, but since its acquisition by OpenLink, the Solarc brand has understandably disappeared. On the other hand, OpenLink’s brand strength did not increase as a result of that acquisition; given that company’s relative market strength, it would be assumed that those that were aware of Solarc were also previously aware of OpenLink. Also showing declines are Ventyx, who, despite having made numerous acquisitions to enter the ETRM/CTRM space, has not been visibly active in the space for the last couple of years. Another company showing decline is OATI, but this may be more likely due to the declining relative numbers of North American Power responses in the samples through time. Two vendors do show net gains over the period – Brady PLC and EKA. This is likely to be partly due to the more diverse nature of the sample; but, more importantly, it is also likely reflective of their efforts to challenge the top 4 vendors.
© 2014 Commodity Technology Advisory, llc
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Market leadership perception trends are also interesting (Figure 39), but also must be viewed cautiously for the same reasons as outlined previously. Figure 39: Leadership Perceptions over Time
40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2008
2009
2011
2013
OpenLink
Triple Point
Allegro
SunGard
SolArc
Other
OpenLink’s position has declined slightly over time as the market has matured, with more vendors continually challenging the company for market share. Meanwhile, Allegro goes from strength to strength and is indicated to be the current top challenger. Triple Point’s position has eroded considerably and even possibly collapsed since its acquisition by ION, while SunGard has seen a recovery from a few difficult years for the company. That the gap between the top four vendors and everyone else may even be increasing in perceived market leadership terms is shown by the fall of ‘other’ vendors, although this may also owe much to the broader-based sample.
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About Allegro Allegro is a leading provider of commodity value chain and risk management (CVCRM) software for power and gas utilities, refiners, producers, traders and commodity consumers. With more than 30 years of deep industry expertise, Allegro provides real-time intelligence and decision-making capabilities, from the source of the commodity (ground), through transportation, to the commodity consumer. Allegro’s software provides the global intelligence needed to manage physical and financial positions, and to optimize their assets and portfolios using tools that quantify and mitigate risks. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Allegro has offices in Calgary, Houston, London, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich, along with a global network of partners. Allegro pioneered the energy trading and risk management (ETRM) industry as the first vendor to offer software for tracking transactions and mitigating risks in commodity trading markets. The software provides enhanced visibility across trade books, within a single system of record, allowing companies to leverage the power of real-time decision making. It provides accurate downstream data to manage commodity acquisition, storage, transportation, optimization and sale. Further, it manages logistics and the interplay between commodities and demand-side intelligence helping customers better monetize assets. Solutions Allegro designs and delivers the industry’s leading multi-commodity trading, transaction and risk management software. Allegro provides agile ETRM software solutions that deliver the fastest time to benefit with the least risk. Our advanced software architecture and component based approach allow Allegro to rapidly deploy agile solutions to perfectly match customer priorities and deliver a high return on investment. Allegro solutions help companies: Improve Position Analysis and Valuation - Make better business decisions with accurate and instantaneous views of positions and valuation Improve Trader Productivity - Streamline and automate trade processes to reduce the risk and cost of dual-entry and manual processes to allow maximum attention to profitable opportunities Manage Market Price Exposure - Mitigate exposure to volatile market prices with effective hedging and real-time updates, comprehensive metrics, and simulation Manage Counterparty Exposure - Mitigate exposure with credit and collateral management, and a flexible credit scoring process Achieve Hedge Accounting Compliance – Manage compliance with accuracy and confidence Manage Liquidity Exposure - Manage cash and capital adequacy with efficiency Delivery Allegro energy trading and risk management software delivers the fastest realization of business objectives and greatest flexibility with minimal risk and disruption to our customers’ business. The key to this approach is that every effort centers around a specific business objective. This focus minimizes the number of specific business processes involved in achieving the objective. It also minimizes the number of technology changes required and minimizes the number of personnel affected. The result of all these steps is a faster realization of business objectives for our customers, better cost/benefit alignment, and higher total benefits over time. Deployment Allegro offers software delivery on premise or in the cloud through Amazon Web Services. Customers can manage the implementation process or elect to have a turnkey project through Allegro’s Managed Services offering. Customers Allegro delivers solutions to power and gas utilities, refiners, producers, traders, and commodity consumers worldwide. Today more than 3,000 users rely on Allegro to manage trading, risk management, physical logistics, and regulatory compliance across their portfolios in gas, power, coal, crude, petroleum, emissions, and other commodity types.
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About Allegro (Cont’d) Technology Allegro business components are deployed as independent components in a Service Oriented Architecture under Microsoft .NET technology. Allegro’s software architecture has been designed with six key areas of focus: Standardization - Use of industry standards dramatically reduces the cost and time required for establishing network infrastructure, developing interfaces, support personnel, and systems administration. Usability - Ease of learning and ease of use are highly correlated to the proficiency of users. Highly proficient users will use the software more productively, generating a significant increase in business benefits. Allegro adheres to Microsoft Windows conventions for ease of learning and ease of use. Reliability - When users trust the software to be available when needed and to provide consistent and accurate results, it reduces reconciliation processes, support costs, and distractions from operational business processes. Connectivity - Sharing data between systems eliminates the costs of redundant data capture, improves the accuracy of information, and greatly accelerates the execution of critical business processes. Adaptability - Software must be as dynamic as the business it serves. Adaptability to change creates the innovation and continuous process improvement that organizations require. Allegro Software Extension technology allows Allegro 8 to be adapted to your unique and new business processes. Scalability - Rapid response to user requests facilitates multiple iterations and better decision making. As transactional volumes grow and become increasingly complex, rapid response becomes even more important. Allegro Grid technology is a key enabler of scalability and performance. Foundation Methodology The implementation of trading and risk management systems is inherently complex, and for more than two decades firms have struggled with the difficulties. Today, the situation is dramatically different with the introduction of Allegro’s Foundation Implementation Methodology. The Foundation approach relies on the most rigorous scope definition process in the industry to deliver highly predictable project execution, and has an impressive string of successes. The methodology includes the systematic configuration of Allegro 8 to meet each customer’s unique business or integration needs. Support Allegro provides a comprehensive customer support system to ensure customer success. Allegro’s support options range from access during business hours, twenty-four hour support, or on-site support. Each customer chooses the level of support that meets their unique needs. Highly trained, experienced technical support staff is available to respond quickly to ensure customers are getting the most value from their Allegro solution. Employees & Location The Company employs over 250 professionals in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Allegro has a talented team of seasoned industry experts with knowledge spanning the global energy and commodity markets. To ensure employees are current with industry and technology trends, Allegro invests significantly in training, education, and research. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Allegro has offices in Calgary, Houston, London, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich. Partners Allegro collaborates with a broad network of partners to provide leading solutions and services to address each customer’s unique business needs. Our partners are classified into four main categories: Consulting Partners, Data Partners, Software Partners and Exchange Partners. These partners provide the consulting and implementation services, connectivity, and integration that support greater operational efficiency and competitive advantage of our customers. Allegro U A well trained user community is essential to maximize the business benefits that our customers can realize with Allegro 8. Consequently, Allegro has made significant investments to develop Allegro U, which today offers more than 80 technical courses across 8 industry and business tracks. Courses are offered both on line and on site. This education is also used extensively by Allegro staff and our partners. Allegro’s commitment to education is unmatched in our industry. To learn more visit: www.allegrodev.com.
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About OpenLink The global leader in Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) software For two decades, OpenLink has provided leading-edge technology solutions to an increasingly diverse client base. Building on our pioneering development of cross-asset trading and risk management products for energy and financial services companies, we now offer a suite of solutions designed to meet the specific needs of clients within three broad categories: Financial Services A barrage of regulatory initiatives is transforming the landscape in commodities and derivatives trading. New OTC regulations will demand changes to the way financial institutions clear and report trades, and manage collateral. At the same time, unprecedented pressure on operating costs is driving a renewed focus on costs and efficiency. Banks, asset managers and other financial services institutions use OpenLink for trading, risk management and operations processing, enabling them to better address the demands of all stakeholders. Commodities Globalization of operations and a proliferation of contract types mean processors and manufacturers face increased complexity in managing inventory and forward commitment of commodities. There’s more risk of supplier default and price volatility continues. At the same time, unprecedented pressure on operating costs is driving a renewed focus on costs and efficiency. For major energy and hydrocarbon consumers, rising fuel and feedstock costs, continued volatility, and thinning margins mean companies face increased complexity in forecasting consumption, negotiating the best contracts and managing price risk. OpenLink products provide these companies with the operational insights necessary to address risks and optimize production. Energy OpenLink provides complete trade and risk management solutions for energy and power companies in all areas of the supply chain, helping our customers effectively manage natural gas, power, coal, crude & refined products and NGLS. Energy trading companies, utilities, generators, producers and processors around the globe rely on OpenLink solutions to help minimize risks and maximize profitability in an uncertain and increasingly complex energy market place. OpenLink provides these companies complete solutions for planning, procuring, processing, managing, moving and trading commodities and energy, right along the workflow from trade capture to accounting, risk, reporting and compliance. With hundreds of established clients, OpenLink technologies are the preferred solution among leading energy and commodity companies, financial services firms, multinational corporations, public utilities, hedge funds and central banks. Maybe your need is highly-focused on trading or derivatives, or optimization of physical assets, or logistics. Perhaps you are seeking a Treasury Management System, or want to benefit from truly integrated firm-wide risk management. Or, your goal could be to move your organization toward total margin and value chain management. Whatever your particular objective, OpenLink provides a suite of integrated, configurable and extensible solutions that can help organizations improve efficiency, make better use of capital and generate greater risk awareness around business decision making. Technology is only part of the story At OpenLink, we recognize that technological innovation and sophistication are only the beginning. Our software engineers and business experts are committed to supporting our clients completely. This relationship enables us to constantly refine and adapt our solutions as markets change and business needs evolve. Our ability to understand clients and their businesses means that implementation - including full integration with internal systems can be achieved with unrivalled speed and rigor. What's more, training can be tailored to ensure you get the most out of your investment in technology. To find out more about OpenLink and our solutions, please visit www.olf.com
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About JustCommodity JustCommodity is a leading software solutions provider catering to the commodity trading industry, particularly for the trading of Soft Commodities. Our solution, ContraXcentral™, is a web-based contract management and execution software suite specially designed to support the needs of commodity trading houses. The proprietary solution provides the framework for commodity trading companies to manage their trades, hedging, and risk management requirements. Incorporated since 2002, JustCommodity has developed deep domain knowledge in the physical commodity markets, providing industry-focused solutions that meet the real-world business challenges of its clients. Embedding industry best practices for trading, logistics, and risk management into its product, ContraXcentral™; coupled with dynamic real-time reporting tools, has yielded one of the most powerful Commodity Trading & Risk Management solutions in the industry. JustCommodity’s CxC™ used a robust architecture with a very thin, fast and efficient data transaction to handle multiple commodities requirement ranging from physical information to financial settlement. The design of the core platform is to allow drill-down information up to the source level to provide a flexible extraction for presentation layer to display its data efficiently. Scalability of integration with various external sources had been assigned throughout multiple layered to ensure maximum efficiency during data input/output. The software does not only benefit traders but senior management as well by providing a bird’s eye view of the entire team, on a real time basis, as it brings- trading, risk management and operations on a single platform. We take pride in providing a holistic solution which helps streamline back office and logistics process resulting in cost savings and operational efficiency by seamlessly getting rid of tedious excel sheets. The aim is to continuously innovate and develop advanced trading and risk management solutions which incorporate industry best practices and adhere to international compliance standards. These innovations are translated in to value for our clients through our professional services and consulting arms, allowing them the freedom to trade profitably and with accountability anywhere in the world. Some of the features of the system are as follows: A holistic solution which helps streamline your back office and logistics process resulting in cost savings and operational efficiency by seamlessly getting rid of tedious Microsoft excel sheets. Pro-active management of price, credit, currency, material and operational risks through consolidation of positions and real time reporting Visibility into Long Short Positions, Mark-To-Market , Trading Performance, Currency Exposures and Hedge Coverage Increased efficiency of trade lifecycle by seamlessly integrating front, middle and back office processes from trade capture to fulfilment to settlement – all within a single and automated information environment. Interface with physical and financial exchanges and market data sources like Bloomberg and Reuters for market visibility, tracking and statutory reporting. Automate Audit and regulatory reporting while seamlessly integrating with any ERP system. To find out more about JustCommodity please visit us JustCommodity.com
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About Commodity Technology Advisory llc Commodity Technology Advisory (ComTech) is the leading analyst organization covering the Energy and Commodity Trading and Risk Management (E/CTRM) technology markets. We provide invaluable insights, backed by primary research and years of experience, into the issues and trends affecting both the users and providers of the applications and services that are crucial for success in markets constantly roiled by globalization, regulation and innovation. Disclosures: At the time of this writing, many of the vendors mentioned in this report did have established commercial relationships with ComTech, including the research sponsors and advertisers. None of these companies influenced, in any way, the authors’ analysis or opinions; and all such analysis and opinions expressed in this report are solely those of the report authors. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19901 Southwest Freeway Sugar Land TX 77479 +1 281 207 5412 Prague, Czech Republic +420 775 718 112 ComTechAdvisory.com Email: info@comtechadvisory.com
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