Commodity Technology Advisory (ComTech) recently released the 2016 CTRM Market Update, their latest report on CTRM technology spending and the trends that impact technology buyers around the globe. The central message to this report is that almost all companies that trade, market, or produce commodities have been significantly impacted by the collapse of prices over the last 18 months, with budgets squeezed more tightly than ever before.
But companies that reduce spending on IT infrastructure risk falling behind competitors. So how can companies remain competitive in these challenging times?
For companies currently using older CTRM solutions or even those that use relatively modern systems that do a good job of capturing, valuing, and accounting for commodities transactions, the current market conditions are presenting challenges that can’t be adequately addressed with these solutions. Finding profits in this market requires complete data visibility, analytics, and information integration across all aspects of a business, including operations, trading/marketing, risk management, and treasury. First- and second-generation ETRM and CTRM software solutions simply weren’t deigned for those purposes.
Learn more about the need for analytics in "Do You Need Advanced Analytics in Your Organization?"
In an environment of low commodity prices when budgets are tight, you need advanced analytics to make the best decisions. Opportunities can be short-lived. Rapid identification and decision-making are key to successfully exploiting opportunities as they arise. These opportunities may be only available in small local or regional markets or may be associated with supply chain functions, such as transportation, warehousing, or processing. CTRM solutions don’t provide the necessary analytics coverage and were not designed to facilitate such decision making, particularly across business units and the multiple systems found in most businesses.
Advanced analytics solutions are designed to reach across the boundaries within your business and can provide the insights necessary to operate profitably in a difficult market. These types of analytics solutions do not replace your existing CTRM software – they enhance its capabilities by leveraging data within that system and others.
An analytics platform allows users to aggregate critical data from multiple systems (including CTRM, ERP, CRM, treasury, accounting, and spreadsheets), quickly process and analyze that data for critical insights, and make rapid decisions on potentially short-lived opportunities. These capabilities are simply impossible if one is relying on analytics within individual systems.
If your company is struggling with finding opportunities in this environment of low commodity prices, and seeking to improve performance and profitability via improved strategies driven by advanced analytics, you don’t need to replace or upgrade your expensive CTRM system - you need Eka’s Commodity Analytic Cloud.
Commodity Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based, advanced analytics solution delivering apps specifically designed for the commodities markets that address high value business issues. These apps provide an end-to-end analysis of the entire enterprise, spanning multiple categories including P&L, procurement, risk, and supply chain.