White Papers The New Generation of ETRM Systems | Page 2

INTRODUCTION Energy Trading and Risk Management (ETRM) solutions have now been a part of the broader wholesale energy trading application landscape for around 20-years, having evolved in step with both business and technology trends over that time period. As a result of this evolutionary pro- cess, there are a large number of diverse solutions on the market that address any number of combinations of industrial segments, energy commodities, geographic locations, and functional reach. But, ultimately what is it that separates one ETRM solution from another? The obvious answer to this question is functionality first and foremost - customers need a certain functional foot- print that addresses the needs of their business. Howev- er, how a solution is architected, designed, and deployed is also a key criterion that should not be under estimat- ed when assessing solutions and recent research bears that out (Figure 1). In recent years, the emergence of web-enabled, or cloud-based, ETRM solutions serves to emphasize that point as the ability to more economically license and reduce implementation timeframes of these critical sys- tems is gaining greater importance. This whitepaper briefly examines system architecture and design as a differentiator when selecting ETRM software and also reviews Contigo’s approach in this context. Figure 1: Reasons for dissatisfaction with CTRM Solutions ϱй ϱй ϱй &ƵŶĐƚŝŽŶĂůŝƚLJ ϱй ϯϴй ϱй ^ƵƉƉŽƌƚ EŽƚƵƉƚŽĚĂƚĞ ƌĐŚŝƚĞĐƚƵƌĞ ŝĚŶΖƚĚĞůŝǀĞƌĂƐƉƌŽŵŝƐĞĚ ϵй WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞŝƐƐƵĞƐ EŽĐůŽƵĚ džƉĞŶƐŝǀĞ Ϯϴй  Source – 2016 Vendor Perceptions, Commodity Technology Advisory Report © Commodity Technology Advisory LLC, 2018, All Rights Reserved.