The CTRM Blog

The CommodityPoint CTRM Technical Conference initial event will take place in Prague on May 23rd followed by the Houston Conference on July 21st. Over the last few years, CommodityPoint has been asked to hold a conference focused on CTRM and/or ETRM software and the issues around selection and implementation—and we listened. The Prague Conference is fully sponsored by Brady PLC, Eka, LIM—A Morningstar Company, Opportune, Sirius Solutions, SolArc, Triple Point and additionally TransGraph, TRADEPAQ:TRM and Pioneer Solutions will be sponsoring the breaks and Cocktail reception on the evening of May 22nd. We thank them for their kind support.

After polling almost every vendor in the space for our Market Sizing study one thing that is very apparent is that the majority of vendors had a record year in 2010. In fact, we heard this from so many vendors it seemed almost a mantra. A case in point was my discussion yesterday with Ms. Anette Nordskog of Navita. She told me that Navita had also had a record year in 2010 and that the activity levels had continued into 2011 with several new clients signed already in Q1 of this year. She also sent me the company’s Annual Report which shows that the company grew revenues by around 5.4% and EBITDA by 132%. Navita has also invested heavily in modernizing the POMAX platform utilizing .Net and other Microsoft technologies.

Remember, this is the only conference in the industry to cover technical and business issues around Commodity Trading & Risk Management software!

This inaugural event features a keynote address from Mr. Rob Pringle, Director of Global IT, Gazprom Marketing & Trading who will discuss “CTRM for a Global Trading Business: Does Utopia Exist?”

Additionally, we’ll have a number of experts and other industry experts, including:

I haven’t posted much this week as quite frankly I am busy. We are about to complete the 2011 CTRM Market Sizing Study, the Service Providers Study, issue an updated CTRM SourceBook and are finalizing the two conferences. Needless to say, free time is at a premium.

UK-based Contigo is a relatively newEnergy Trading & Risk Management (ETRM) vendor that has began to carve out a niche for itself in northwest Europe. Founded by three industry veterans who had previously worked at Powergen (E.ON UK) in the systems area for trading & risk and other parts of the business, Contigo set out to “do it better.” The founders experience working with commercial and homegrown ETRM software at E.ON helped them gain an understanding as to the relative strengths and weaknesses of different approaches in ETRM software which they brought into sharp focus when founding Contigo. As Simon Piercy, Director, puts it; “When we founded Contigo, we knew there was a great opportunity to combine systems expertise with industry knowledge. We have a pin-point focus on this niche area and we’ve stuck to that rigidly—it means we’re up to speed from day one and can get started on projects without a lengthy ramp up time. We make sure customers projects are delivered quickly and are successful; in doing so we continue to grow and be successful ourselves.”

Back in 2009, I wrote about Contigo and its plans to bring new products to market and since then, Contigo has signed six new customers for its EnTrader software product including E.ON UK, Centrica, Barking Power, Drax, First Utility and RWE npower. Contigo seems to be becoming the provider of choice for many energy companies which are looking for expert knowledge of their business in a supplier. The company has adopted a different approach to solving the system implementation problem; this has also contributed to the sales and delivery success. Its enTrader software product, launched in March 2009, is quickly becoming a market leader in addressing both energy retail portfolio management and fuel logistics, as well as establishing itself as a serious contender in the ETRM/CTRM space.