These continued investments in functionality , and a growing acceptance of cloud-based solutions servicing the commodities markets , has provided Eka with a significant number of new clients for the product in 2016 with 11 announced new deals , spanning a number of commodities and industries , but including agricultural commodities and products , energies , and metals . Additionally , ComTech has observed growing interest in a comprehensive risk overlay as an architectural CTRM component across many parts of the industry . Eka ’ s timing has been very good , introducing a product into an area of growing interest and demand and without significant competition .
InSight CM Eka ’ s 2016 performance was solid especially when taking into consideration the general economic conditions across the commodity sector . It announced a number of new CTRM license sales in the agricultural space in calendar year 2016 , including Canadian ag concerns Broadgrain and Providence Grain , CJ International in Asia , Cremer in Germany , and others at a time when demand in ags & softs trailed expectations 1 under difficult market conditions in the sector . Eka does appear to continue to compete well across the agricultural space ( and particularly in the grains area ), with company management noting that “ four out of the top five agricultural traders are Eka customers , including Bunge , Cargill , Glencore , and Louis Dreyfus .” Additionally , its strong market presence in the agricultural space has allowed it to leverage a large client base in which to cross sell the Commodity Analytics Cloud solution .
Other notable new license sales in 2016 included Progress Energy , a Canadian based energy producer . Following the acquisition of EnCompass in April 2013 , Eka has made obvious investments in the product to expand its commodity scope and market reach . According to the company , Eka ' s InSight CM ® platform for energy has seen growing momentum , with additional sales in the US and Canada . Although Eka notes they have added European functionality since the acquisition , the energy solution has not yet been licensed outside of North America .
Corporate Developments Despite a difficult year for technology sales in the commodity space , Eka ’ s continues to exhibit growth opening three new offices to accommodate its rapidly expanding business , adding locations in Canada , the United States , and Europe . Headcount grew over 19 percent globally and will continue to grow with another office opening in the Americas in the first quarter .
Importantly , staff additions included four new executive level positions , with Colin Cooper named Eka ’ s vice president of EMEA to manage Eka ’ s expansion in the EMEA ; Sudhir Anandarao was appointed chief operating officer , analytics to oversee development of Eka ’ s analytics solutions ; Sanjay Singla became Eka ’ s general manager , CTRM to manage sales and support of Eka ’ s commodity trading and risk management solution ; and long-term industry veteran , Sebastian Esposito joined the company in early 2017 to oversee sales for their products in North America . The company continues to strengthen its management team bringing in experienced and knowledgeable staff to support its plans for growth .
Outlook and Analysis
While the global markets for CTRM and CM products have been difficult for more than 2 years , with persistent low commodity prices negatively impacting a broad spectrum of market participants , Eka ’ s results in 2016 suggest that the company has momentum across the space . During a period of slower growth generally , Eka ’ s results are quite impressive and contrast sharply with those of competitors such as Triple Point , for example . With its InSight CM platform selling well and the rapid market adoption of the Commodity Analytics Cloud product , Eka does appear to be closing new business at a rate that places them in the top tier of the market for CTRM / CM vendors . Eka ’ s ability to innovate , as evidenced with its adoption of cloud technologies and models for deploying enterprise-level analytics suites ( including “ big data ” capabilities ) and CM solutions , has positioned Eka strongly for continued success .
With the cloud in mind , ComTech continues to see growing acceptance of cloud delivered product and services across all market regions and segments . While the US markets have traditionally lagged Europe in terms of cloud adoption in CTRM and CM , recent ComTech research indicates this is changing rapidly and we expect the growth in demand for cloud solutions to significantly outstrip that of on-premises installations . Eka is one of the vendors in the space that has truly cloud-enabled products and it will benefit from this trend accordingly . There may well be the beginnings of a major technology shift occurring related to cloud deployment in which , should it occur , Eka will be strongly positioned . In fact , Eka recently announced that “ 75 % of its new customers are choosing the cloud based solution .”
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2016 ComTech CTRM Market Sizing Update © Commodity Technology Advisory llc February 2017 2