White Papers The New Generation of ETRM Systems

The new generation of ETRM systems A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper ARCHITECTED FOR USE Unfortunately, a rapidly changing industry means rapidly changing requirements and in recent years, increasing regulation and oversight has meant that compliance, controls, and reporting are increasingly important for users (Figure 3). In recent months, traders have been fined large amounts by the CFTC, amongst other regulators, for trade manipulation issuing total fines of more than $1.2 billion in 2016 alone 3 . Over time, ETRM solutions have evolved from monolithic solutions to a tightly coupled collection of modular components that better facilitates rapid de- velopment and deployment of new functionality. There has also been significant attention paid to configurability and personalization such that the same ETRM solution can be deployed in different contexts (e.g. across industry sectors like utilities, retailers, generators and so on) and provide rich functionality targeted at specific users out of the box. Figure 3 – ETRM Capability Requirements in current business environment ZŝƐŬZĞƉŽƌƚŝŶŐ >ŽŐŝƐƚŝĐƐͬ^ĐŚĞĚƵůŝŶŐKƉƚŝŵŝǌĂƚŝŽŶ dƌĂĚŝŶŐKƉƚŝŵŝǌĂƚŝŽŶ ĂƚĂŐŐƌĞŐĂƚŝŽŶͬĂƚĂDĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ ZŝƐŬŶĂůǇƚŝĐƐ;sĂZ͕DϮDĞƚĐ͘Ϳ ZĞŐƵůĂƚŽƌǇZĞƉŽƌƚŝŶŐ ƐƐĞƚKƉƚŝŵŝǌĂƚŝŽŶ /ŶƚƌĂͲĂǇdƌĂĚŝŶŐĂƉĂďŝůŝƚŝĞƐ ƌĞĚŝƚZŝƐŬDĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ KǀĞƌĂůůĨĨŝĐŝĞŶĐǇͲŽŶƐŝƐƚĞŶƚh/͕^dW͕ĞƚĐ͘Ϳ dƌĞĂƐƵƌǇĂƉĂďŝůŝƚŝĞƐ;ĐĂƐŚĨůŽǁŵĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ͕ ďĂůĂŶĐĞƐŚĞĞƚĞǆƉŽƐƵƌĞĞƚĐ͘Ϳ ƐƐĞƚDĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ More Important ϭ͘ϬϬ Improtant ϭ͘ϮϬ Less ϭ͘ϰϬ ϭ͘ϲϬ ƵƌŽƉĞ EŽƌƚŚŵĞƌŝĐĂ ϭ͘ϴϬ Ϯ͘ϬϬ Ϯ͘ϮϬ dŽƚĂů Source – ETRM in a low price environment, Commodity Technology Advisory Report, 2017 3 With the advent of the Internet and cloud, more mod- ern solutions have web-enabled and highly usable user interfaces, and include discrete services to de- liver functionality including integration, reporting and even performance improvements. A key consider- ation, often not considered by many, is the ability to upgrade without a near re-implementation of the sys- tem. Unfortunately, many users of older ETRM solu- tions now find themselves stuck on older versions of the solution unable to justify the cost and risk of an upgrade. Many invariably end up having to self-sup- port it at significant and ever-increasing cost. Adding bespoke functionality to address business change re- sults in increased complexity and unsustainable costs which can ultimately force an organisation to abandon the solution altogether. https://www.reedsmith.com/en/perspectives/2017/01/us-cftc-enforcement-key-compliance-takeaways-from © Commodity Technology Advisory LLC, 2018, All Rights Reserved.

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