Aspect Comes of Age
The last couple of years have not been exactly stellar when it comes to the fortunes of CTRM software vendors. In fact, I think it is probably accurate to say, they have been difficult. Commodity prices collapsed, buyers cut budgets, and were meanwhile inundated with sweeping regulatory demands – particularly in Europe. At the same time, markets continued to evolve and new issues manifested themselves in areas like an increased need for traceability, the rapid rise and impact of renewable generation not to speak of a good deal of political uncertainty following BREXIT and the election of a new President in the US.
Against all of this however, one vendor has apparently not just weathered the market but has actually thrived. In a note posted to Aspect’s blog recently, CEO Steve Hughes outlines the recent successes of his company and it is impressive reading. 2016 was a stellar year for the vendor and as Steve notes, Aspect achieved the following,
– Growth of the business by 67% with $15m in new cloud software bookings,
– Dozens of new clients for AspectDSC and AspectCTRM to reach more than 487 clients in 87 different countries,
– Adding 5 of the top 10 trading companies as clients including names like Anglo American, Glencore, Ferrocadia, Gulf Petrochem, Qaiwan Group, MENA Energy, AOT, and Afco Energy,
– A bunch of new functionality to extend the platform into concentrates, and enhanced features for physical supply chain and risk.
The more cost sensitive environment may actually have aided Aspect in all of this as buyers opted for lower cost, recurring fee-based cloud solutions. Aspect innovated CTRM in the cloud along with vendors such as OATI in the US, and its approach has come of age.
In fact, the company is worthy of study. Initially marketing data products (AspectDSC) and focusing in on liquid hydrocarbons, it developed an ETRM solution in the cloud and found niche markets in areas like Africa and the bottom tier of the industry initially where a low cost solution was exactly what was needed. Gradually extending its data products into metals and Ags meant that it added clients and a footprint in those areas that in turn allowed it to incrementally add on to its ETRM solution to become a CTRM software product that could cater for many different commodities in the cloud. Being relatively small, the vendor also operated under the radar for much of it’s early years and has only recently opened the spigot a little on establishing a broader brand awareness in the market on the back of its successes.
Aspect faces increased competition now partly as a result of its achievements. CTRM in the cloud is no longer unique and many newer vendors have emerged on cloud platforms – some even offering multi-tenanted solutions (e.g. Agiboo, Generation 10, InaTech, Pioneer, Contigo, and even SAP). Many of the larger vendors in the space have also began to offer true cloud deployment as an option including Brady, OLF, FIS, and Allegro. Despite that, Aspect has a strong position now in the market on which to build. Though in overall revenue terms it is still a smaller player, it’s installed base and global customer base give it the reach of a larger vendor and, as other vendors migrate to a cloud and subscription revenue model, their annual revenue totals may change.
Steve has every right to be proud of Aspect’s accomplishments and ComTech will watch future developments with interest.
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