It had been a while since we last spoke with Commodities Engineering and its CEO, Jerome Seguin. Jerome told us that 2021 (and into 2022) had been a year in which the vendor had worked on phase two of its growth hiring key staff and building out processes and leadership for implementation, support and so on, as well as adding to its software functionality. One of those hires turned out to be Brian Collins who ComTech knows well and who has a great deal of expertise in the metals’ software business. The growth continues as Commodities Engineering still seeks to hire for other key roles, including a Commercial Director, I was told.
“We are now beginning to promote the company and our software solution,” Jerome told me. “We continue to receive a steady stream of RFPs and there is a good deal of opportunity.” Jerome says that he still sees a lot of firms using Excel or homegrown solutions that now desire a commercial solution as there is so much more volatility, inflationary pressures, and risks to manage now. He sees this only continuing as “metals are a key component of a greener world.” Commodities Engineering has also decided to focus on the mid-tier market to market its solution. This makes sense as it is a true ‘packaged software’ market and one that has historically tended to procure solutions. Jerome has also noted a growing replacement market where firms are not just replacing homegrown solutions, but older vendor supported software solutions as well.
The vendor is now marketing version 2 of its solution, which comes on a modern technology stack providing flexibility and agility, he told us. “We see the metals side of commodities as being underserved. The industry is very complex and is now dealing with a whole new set of external constraints and it needs a robust and functionally rich solution like ours,” he told me. Indeed, Balsamo has it seems been designed to deliver support across the supply chain and to perform commodity management as well as having all the CTRM functionality. It tracks every step in the process making available all of the valuation and other data that is really needed to manage the complexities of metals, he said. “We often see users on different platforms resorting to performing key calculations in Excel and then loading that back into their CTRM,” he told me. “Balsamo helps users avoid that altogether handling everything within the solution.” Jerome is also keen to point out that it handles tolling, blending and so on, keeping track of everything along the way.
For Brian Collins, his experience with Balsamo and Commodities Engineering has been eye opening, he told me. “The technical architecture and approach are so modern that it is a real contrast to what I was used to. Hundreds of automated tests run overnight, virtual instantaneous deployment and so on. These are real differentiators as well as the functionality of the platform itself.” he said. “It’s modern-day software and has all of the attribute that you would expect.”
We will be tracking Commodities Engineering and Balsamo closely as it enters its next phase of growth.
