The 2020 Commodity Technology Advisory’s Vendor Perception Study is a biennial survey and analysis conducted to establish end-user and market influencer perceptions of the CTRM vendors, and to determine market leadership perceptions as well as buying criteria and brand awareness of the different vendors. As in previous years, the research survey was comprised of a comprehensive set of questions that CTRM end-users and industry consultants were invited to answer.
2. Introduction | 3
Demographics | 5
Global Brand Awareness And Market
Perceptions | 9
Brand Awareness And Perceived
Leadership Views By Geography | 16
- North America | 16
- Europe | 25
- Asia-Pacific | 32
Users Versus Influencers | 39
Market Leadership Summary | 45
Buying Criteria | 48
Overall Buying Criteria Results | 49
Brand Awareness Historical Trends | 51
Summary | 53
About Silver Sponsor Enuit LLC | 54
About Commodity Technology Advisory LLC | 55
3. 2020 CTRM VENDOR PERCEPTION SURVEY AND ANALYSIS A ComTechAdvisory Report
INTRODUCTION
The 2020 Commodity Technology Advisory’s Vendor Perception Study is a biennial survey
and analysis conducted to establish end-user and market influencer perceptions of the CTRM
vendors, and to determine market leadership perceptions as well as buying criteria and brand
awareness of the different vendors. As in previous years, the research survey was comprised of
a comprehensive set of questions that CTRM end-users and industry consultants were invited to
answer. CTRM system vendors were explicitly excluded from participating and ComTech analysts
were diligent in ensuring no responses from any vendor representatives were included in the final
results. The survey was open for responses during the Spring of 2020 and ultimately collected
some 290 validated and usable responses.
The survey was promoted in several ways to attract
bona fide respondents. ComTech Advisory used email
notification, Linkedin posts, blog articles, banner
advertisingandverbalrequeststoencourageresponses.
CTRM vendors and service providers also promoted the
survey of their own accord. Some 762 people opened
the survey instrument over an 89-day period in the
Spring, while 322 of those attempted to complete all
the questions in the survey (42%). Many of the 762
opted out at the privacy notice without answering any
questions at all, while others answered some, but
not all questions. These incomplete responses were
discarded as it was made clear in the survey preamble
and instructions that only complete survey responses
would be used. Compared to the last Vendor Perception
Study conducted in 2018, response counts were up
significantly over 2018 (195 responses) and in fact, it
was a record response for this type of study. We believe
that this may have been due in part to the COVID-19
lockdown that took place over the late Spring period.
ComTech was extremely rigorous in validating the
complete responses and in the end, utilized only
290 (38% of total questionnaire opens and 90% of
completed surveys) in the results presented below.
Reasons for rejecting responses included:
1. The respondent worked for a vendor. Despite
instructions to discourage vendor representative
responses, ComTech eliminated several such
responses. These included responses that were
obviously by vendor staff using a vendor email
addressandseveralthatwerefromvendorpersonnel
using a private email or alternate addresses,
2. Duplicate responses were eliminated,
3. Finally, suspicious responses were eliminated.
Theseincludedthosewithfictitiousemailaddresses,
names or company names, or those lacking any
validation data.
16. 2020 CTRM VENDOR PERCEPTION SURVEY AND ANALYSIS A ComTechAdvisory Report
16
Market Leadership
Perceptions –
Commodity Management
Commodity Management is a term that is often
misunderstood and, despite attempts to define it as the
superset of ERP for commodities and CTRM1
, some
vendors insist on marketing their CTRM as Commodity
Management, which only seems to further cloud the
picture. Unfortunately, the results show that the term
Commodity Management has not been understood as
we define it.
Ion Consolidated (26%) and Ion Openlink (11%) were
the most mentioned products followed by SAP (less
than 6%). Of those 3 mentions, it could be argued that
only SAP should be categorized as a true Commodity
Management platform. Around 39% thought there was
no market leader and more than 5% suggested Enuit
and Ion Allegro.
BRAND AWARENESS AND PERCEIVED
LEADERSHIP VIEWS BY GEOGRAPHY
For the first time, the response rate was such that we can examine the above categories by
geography for North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions as well as by types of respondent.
Thisanalysiswillhelpustounderstandtheregionalvariationsinbrandawarenessandperceptions,
as well as better differentiate between users and influencers opinions.
North America
The North American ETRM market is the most mature
in terms of the regions dating back to FERC 636 for
natural gas and even earlier for crude oil and refined
products. The power market is a little younger, but still
quitematurewhenmeasuredagainstothergeographies.
As might be expected, there are many vendors who are
regional and cover only North American markets for
various commodities, though particularly natural gas,
power, and agricultural markets. In terms of the broader
CTRM software category, early adoption of CTRM
products in the North American markets has resulted in
a broad and mature market for these products.
1. CTRM As An Architecture, Commodity Technology Advisory White Paper – available on CTRMCenter.com
39. 2020 CTRM VENDOR PERCEPTION SURVEY AND ANALYSIS A ComTechAdvisory Report
39
Commodity Management
Much like many of the other Asia Pacific categories
examined, Enuit was again noted as a leader here.
Though not commonly viewed as a CM application, the
strengthoftheEnuitbranddoesseemtohaveinfluenced
the Asia Pacific based respondents in this category as
well. And much like several other categories, the Ion
consolidated brands rank second with Fendahl making
a relatively strong showing by tying with Ion Openlink.
Aspen and Comfin also received multiple mentions
(Figure 68 shows only those vendors that did receive
multiple mentions in the category).
Brand Awareness
When it comes to simple brand awareness among the
survey’s respondents (Figure 71), it seems that users
(70) were able to name more brands than were the
influencers (59). Among the users, three Ion brands
are the most well-known (Ion Openlink, Ion Allegro and
Ion TriplePoint) followed by FIS, Brady, Eka and SAP.
USERS VERSUS INFLUENCERS
There was enough data to compare responses between users and influencers as well. Users
are about equally weighted in terms of location among the three main regions, while there
are relatively fewer influencers in the Asia-Pacific region. However, as the Asia-Pacific region
responses demonstrate some degree of market immaturity, we must be somewhat cautious
interpreting the results which can be biased by that region’s lesser exposure to a wide range of
vendors.
40. 2020 CTRM VENDOR PERCEPTION SURVEY AND ANALYSIS A ComTechAdvisory Report
40
The Influencers positioned FIS in third place, pushing
Ion TriplePoint down. Eka is more widely known among
the influencers, as is Enuit, Pioneer, Gen10 and several
others; whereas Brady is less well known along with
Contigo, Ignite and SAP. Interestingly, the differences
are somewhat smaller when installed base is removed
from the user side, confirming the ‘bias’ that users with
an installed solution bring to the study (that is users will
almost always mention the product they use first in each
category in which they use the product, and often in
unrelated categories as well).
That said, among users, 69% mentioned at least one
Ion brand in the brand awareness section and 77% of
influencers mentioned at least one Ion brand, which is
a relatively insignificant difference and indicative of the
residual strength of those brands consolidated by Ion
over the last several years.
Overall Market
Leadership
In terms of overall leadership perceptions (Figure 72),
it seems that users are less confident than influencers,
with almost a quarter of users saying ‘None’ versus
around 16% of influencers. Other intriguing differences
seem to be that influencers are happy to cite Ion as an
undifferentiated brand whereas users gravitate to the
particular brands more often. Influencers also rank SAP
and Comfin much more highly than users. Users though
more uncertain, also cite more vendors as possible
overall leaders in the market.
It is tempting to see the users as being less certain
than influencers in their views or less informed about
the rapidly changing CTRM landscape. Influencers
appear to be more up-to-date in terms of brands (Ion
versus Openlink, for example) and perhaps also feel
vendor size is more important than users. An obvious
conclusion is that system integrators and consultants
are exposed to a much greater degree to the various
developments in the software market as much of their
businesses are tied to the vendors themselves, either via
direct relationships or simply through the need to have
staff that is knowledgeable on a wide range of products.
51. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
2 0 0 9 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 8 2 0 2 0
Figure 89 - Brand Awareness Through Time
Ion TriplePoint Ion Openlink Ion Allegro FIS Brady Eka
OATI Amphora Ion Aspect SAP Ion Enuit
This is likely due to a number of factors, including:
1. The larger number of responses and greater
geographical representation. In the less mature
Asia-Pacific region where we got around 1/3rd of
responses, many respondents, particularly users,
recognize fewer brands meaning that averages for
each brand will be lower overall.
2. The Ion factor – Many of the Ion sub-brands have
declined as respondents, particularly in North
America, start using the Ion name instead. The
overall Ion brand is now mentioned by 11% instead
of the sub-brands. However, that in of itself does
not fully offset an overall fall off in Ion sub-brand
recognition.
3. More respondents are mentioning other brands
like SAP and Enuit, for example, as the market
overall becomes more familiar with more vendors
and products. Part of the decline in larger company
brands is partially offset by increasing strength in
small vendor brands.
BRAND AWARENESS HISTORICAL
TRENDS
We can look at brand awareness (that is “What E/CTRM companies/products are you aware
of?”) over several years. Many brands, particularly the top 6 most recognized in previous surveys,
saw declining recognition in this year’s survey versus those previous surveys.
2020 CTRM VENDOR PERCEPTION SURVEY AND ANALYSIS A ComTechAdvisory Report
51
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55. ABOUT
Commodity
Technology
Advisory
LLC
Commodity Technology Advisory is the leading analyst organization covering the ETRM and
CTRM markets. We provide the invaluable insights into the issues and trends affecting the
users and providers of the technologies that are crucial for success in the constantly evolving
global commodities markets.
Patrick Reames and Gary Vasey head our team, whose combined 60-plus years in the energy
and commodities markets, provides depth of understanding of the market and its issues that is
unmatched and unrivaled by any analyst group.
For more information, please visit:
www.comtechadvisory.com
ComTech Advisory also hosts the CTRMCenter, your online portal with news and views about
commodity markets and technology as well as a comprehensive online directory of software
and services providers.
Please visit the CTRMCenter at:
www.ctrmcenter.com
19901 Southwest Freeway
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ComTechAdvisory.com
Email: info@comtechadvisory.com