Brno, Czech Republic, 16 June 2011

I often get asked what I do for a living. Quite frankly, that is a hard question to answer. I am an analyst, I say, covering global commodity markets technologies and business issues. The usual blank look returned to this statement tells me that I may as well have said I was an astrophysicist! In fact, I have been an analyst in this space for almost 15 years now and I still have a difficult time explaining to those outside of the industry exactly what I do. But let me give it a try nonetheless.

An analyst essentially polls the market at all times. The information gathered then has to be assimilated leading to the formulation of theories and ideas which are then tested and offered back to the market place in one form or another. My role is to try to make sense of complexity and in the process offer tools and narratives that help to explain the complexity and aid the market's development. It involves listening, questioning and generating and communicating ideas.

A key part of the role is to remain unbiased and balanced. It's human to fall in love with products, concepts and ideas, but one must try to always keep a balanced point of view. At the same time, CommodityPoint is also a business concern. It must generate revenues to pay salaries, office rents, phone and travel bills and so on. It is also expected to deliver a margin for the stakeholders. This is a hard balance to strike. To remain independent and yet need to generate revenue at the same time. But it must be struck or else!

The goal of CommodityPoint remains to provide thought leadership, critical analysis and tools designed to aid and assist others in the industry. In particular, we focus primarily on E/ CTRM and related software which is highly complex. To help us fulfill our objectives we have and continue to produce a suite of tools:

Books which are readily available for a small fee from Amazon.com and other outlets including Trends in ETRM Software - A Primer and Selecting and Implementing ETRM Software - A Primer;

The CommodityPoint SourceBook series which includes a guide to over 40 E/CTRM solutions that aids those looking to procure software in developing a long list;

Research reports around pertinent industry issues that poll the industry and seek to establish metrics, data and trends;

The E/CTRM Technical Conference Series designed to provide a 1-day forum for information and networking;

White papers and other tools in which we write about current trends and solutions.

These are just some examples of what we do at CommodityPoint. We also maintain blogs, online directories and deliver services for those seeking to procure E/CTRM Software.

We fund our work in a variety of ways. We offer sponsorships of our research and conferences, we offer advertising on our blogs and in our reports (which unlike the traditional model are offered freely to the industry), and we develop client relationships with many in the industry for a variety of services. “But don't sponsors and clients gain an advantage?” I hear you say. Yes, they most certainly do. They gain the advantage of a formalized relationship in which both sides place value and in which that information gathering can go on on a regular basis. They also hopefully receive value from the services we may deliver for them.

What about non-clients or sponsors? CommodityPoint covers the industry in its entirety—not just our clients. We research all vendors and service providers irrespective of whether they are a client or not. If someone has something to tell us, we take a briefing call. If it's interesting enough to write about, we write about it. In fact we cover 85 E/CTRM vendors in the space alone, of which only around 40 percent have ever had a contractual relationship with us of any kind. Have something to tell us? Contact us, we are interested.

Let's take an example in the CTRM SourceBook. In version 3, we list 43 different vendors and not one of them paid for their listing. Every issue (published every six months), we reach out to all the vendors and ask them to submit their information and every vendor who responds is included (and the actual listing is written by us, not the vendor!). How do we pay for the work that goes into this? We ask for advertising in the SourceBook from the vendors and others who may have an interest. Buying an advertisement gains the vendor no favors in terms of their standardized listing. The SourceBook has, in fact, become a standard tool in the industry.

We also provide services to the end user community in the form of advisory and audit services into E/CTRM software selection and implementation. CommodityPoint has a unique view of the vendor community afforded by our analyst work and this is another way that we can assist in reducing complexity and risk. The services in this area include:

Pre-selection project briefings in which we provide education on the E/CTRM software market, the procurement process and implementation issues as a ½ to 1-day workshop to prepare the client team for their project;

Advisory and audit into selection projects where we review project documentation at key milestones and assist in preparing or reviewing the vendor long list, for example;

Advisory and audit into implementation projects again reviewing key project milestones.

Being an analyst is fun, but demanding. Fairness and balance are always open to question and criticism – and rightly so. The more there is sensitivity around what we write, who we mention and so on, probably means that more value is perceived around our activities and actions. It's a double-edged sword. However, CommodityPoint always strives to be independent and to offer a balanced view and, if we engage in an activity that is associated with a specific vendor or client, we disclose that openly.

I'm still not sure I can explain what it is I do as an analyst. I often tell people I'm sort of a writer because I do tend to end up writing a lot of material. Of course, the very next question is, “What do you write about …?”

Ends --

Gary M. Vasey, Ph.D., Managing Director, CommodityPoint.

Houston Conference Registration now open – July 21st,

Four Seasons Hotel, Houston, TX – Register here

The CTRM (Commodity Trading & Risk Management Software) Technical Conference Series for 2011 comprises two one-day conferences around important technical issues in the commodity trading and risk management business function including; CTRM Software, Risk Management Software, Data Management and more. The conferences are taking place in Prague, Czech Republic on May 23rd and Houston, Texas on July 21st hosted by respected industry analyst Dr. Gary M. Vasey of CommodityPoint.