Why is real-time information so important? Simply put, when the reach and speed of information is increased, organizations become more agile and are able to make better, faster decisions. But becoming a truly “real-time organization” involves more than just having instant access to external market data. It requires getting the right data, from anywhere within your organization, to the right person, at the right time.
In order to get more meaningful analysis from increasingly large amounts of data, organizations need to combine internal and external information into an actionable decision support system. Energy and commodity trading businesses need to make complex, strategic decisions using both real-time and historical data from many sources, both market and operational. This is often a high cost and high effort activity. Even large IT firms specializing in data management find it burdensome to manage their data internally. The storage and maintenance of this data is time consuming and costly, and it becomes especially challenging to collect all of the right data for analysis when it comes in a variety of formats, quantities, and speeds.
Additionally, spreadsheets continue to be a ubiquitous and integral tool on trading desks, yet the risk exposure associated with spreadsheets is enormous — perhaps one of the greatest risks that exists within an organization. It is notoriously difficult to ensure that all active spreadsheets have the same accurate data, and even more difficult to get important information out of them in a timely and consistent manner. (See the post "4 Reasons to Give Up Spreadsheets for CTRM Software" to learn more about the risks of spreadsheets in commodity management).
In the commodity business, the right systems and processes must be in place to ensure that the front-, mid-, and back-office don’t each become dead-end repositories of critical information. The value of real-time data diminishes if it does not flow seamlessly between departments.
Commodities companies need the ability to take data from any source, whether it is internal or external, structured or unstructured, and bring it together in an advanced analytics system. Eka recognizes that commodities companies have data stored in numerous different systems, including spreadsheets, CTRM or ETRM software, and ERP, as well as external market data from a provider like GlobalView. Having access to real-time data from each of these sources is necessary, but not sufficient for commodities companies. To get value from the data, companies require an analytics solution such as Eka’s Commodity Analytics Cloud to provide timely insights across an organization.
Eka understands that data is the lifeblood of successful organizations. Getting the right information into the right hands in a timely fashion has always been the key to proactive trade and risk management. With its data ecosystem, Commodity Analytics Cloud addresses the issue of disparate databases, resolving the underlying problem of systems that do not communicate with each other. Eka drives a holistic approach to analytics that empowers users without reliance on IT or a team of BI specialists, and enables users to respond more quickly to changing market conditions. With the combination of real-time data and advanced analytics, commodities companies can make better business decisions.