ION Upbeat About EMEA Success in 2022
I recently chatted with ION’s Yagnesh Savania (Yags) to see what he and ION Commodities had observed in the Europe, Middle East and African (EMEA) markets for its software solutions so far this year. Like many other vendors in the CTRM and related software space, ION has seen an active market, but Yags specifically pointed to the high rates of growth it has experienced in the emerging Middle East and African regions. Additionally, he told us that “We have had high client interest since the beginning of the year with one deal every two weeks on average. The demand came mostly from entry level solutions with small to medium size firms getting more sophisticated and looking to get an holistic view of their business operations and risks.”
So, what is driving the high levels of activity? Well, Yags suggests that it is “partly down to market volatility driving the need for firms to have controls in place as they grow in sophistication with a stronger focus on technology and data – especially among new entrants. Excel and old legacy systems are just no longer an option,” he added. He also sees continued digital transformation and system replacements due to firms seeking “a more integrated approach which includes combining operations, logistics and treasury functions all under one roof, which ION can do by leveraging our portfolio of value-added solutions like Softmar, FEA, WAM and so on.” Finally, he also credited ION’s solid references for I’s strong EMEA customer base.
Yags offered greater insight into the regions saying that Africa “is a developing market with small players requiring some degree of sophistication, however there is a strong demand from the secondary distribution market (in-land distribution) which is technical by nature.” He sees increased technology adoption across all market segments and substantial growth in metals (base and concentrates) and petrochemicals driven by demand for these commodities. Finally, in the Middle East he notes “an intensified velocity of new customers in the region for Aspect (oil and petrochemicals), Agtech, ION’s commodity management for agriculture origination, and Softmar for vessel chartering and operations management.”
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