From somewhere you've never heard of in the Czech Republic, 12 August 2010

Being a CommodityPoint analyst has its moments. It would seem that few of my friends and relatives can actually grasp what it is I do for a living and so they politely ask me how is business and nod wisely as I reply. Quite honestly, it is difficult to explain to almost anybody what I do for a living but I can tell you this—I love it!

First, Commodity Trading and Risk Management ( CTRM) is quite a small area to specialize in, so you end up tending to know almost everyone involved. It's a community and as a friend of mine told me at a trade show recently, you don't check name badges for names, but just to make sure who they are working for this month! But what do I actually do? Essentially, I try my very best to keep up with what is going on in the industry—particularly as it relates to CTRM and associated software and technologies. This doesn't make me a technology geek, however, as I also have to understand the business context in which this all occurs.

In the final, I end up doing a lot of writing. IssueAlert articles, CommodityAlert articles, White Papers, Technical Briefing Notes, blog entries, research reports, etc. I am almost a paid writer in many respects. I gather my knowledge by researching, discussing and talking to people in the industry, I filter it, analyze it and come to conclusions regarding trends, issues, problems and solutions. Then I write about it.

But what I actually do can range from consulting assignments to helping vendors with marketing efforts, designing and marketing research topics, providing hopefully useful third party independent advice to many in and outside of the industry, and of course, as I mentioned, writing.

Being based in central Europe and also being responsible for the day-to-day management of a Czech entity—UtiliPoint, s.r.o.—also provides a number of other tasks and activities to do. These range from hiring staff, administering the company, accounting, and even vacuuming the office. I have learned more than I care to know about VAT and Czech employment law, and I must admit, a spot of occasional vacuuming is a stress buster!

We recently moved offices here to the quite nice International Business Center. The first two floors have all kinds of shops and cafes and sometimes you might find Mark Tredway and myself discussing business over latte downstairs. The strange thing is that it is apparently quite normal for people to bring their pet dogs to work here. Very odd to share an elevator with an office worker and two dogs but, well, you get used to it! The office itself is very comfortable and includes air conditioning—which is actually pretty unusual here.

I guess the other thing I have learned about working in the Czech Republic is to have a more relaxed attitude. Czech bureaucracy has now become something I am used to and tolerate with a smile. No one will do anything here until you have an official document stamped multiple times with various stamps (our accountant tells me as long as it looks official, it will work even if it is useless in of itself!). You can't form a company here with $50 and two minutes on a website —no, it takes months and lots of paperwork and stamps and more stamps. And that doesn't end after a company is formed—it simply goes on and on but you get used to it. Amazing, but true.

And, one last thing: lunch. Here no one goes to McDonald's or other fast food outlets. They are way too expensive. Instead, we go to any one of hundreds of decent Czech restaurants that offer lunch menus—home cooked soup and main course—and usually for less than the equivalent of $2.00 USD. Well, unless you order a drink. Even a bottle of water will set you back more than the cost of the food!

At the end of the day, I enjoy doing what I do: keeping up with the industry, trying to second guess trends, writing commentary and advising our clients. It really is fun and even better, I like doing it from here—the Czech Republic—and in the past four years, we have gained significant new clients, not just in Europe, but across Asia and the Middle East, too. Our research is now more truly global, and so is our perspective. We have transitioned from covering essentially North American Energy Trading and Risk Management (ETRM) to global CTRM software. We are building tools and providing intelligence to help people in the industry navigate complexity and reduce risk. And, in the end, that is what Patrick Reames and I do for a living.

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By Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Europe and AsiaPac