As Tradesparent Rebrands as RadarRadar, we talked with Norbert Verhagen about the company, its rebranding and its objectives.
ComTech Advisory: What is RadarRadar, how did it get started, and what are its objectives?
Norbert Verhagen: RadarRadar was founded in 2010 by industry experts, who experienced a common and still very actual challenge in the industry: a fragmented IT landscape with a multitude of E-/CTRM, ERP and/or legacy systems; internal and external market prices & usually multiple other data sources including Excel spreadsheets, which makes adequate management reporting and decision-making challenging.
RadarRadar’s objective is to resolve this challenge by integrating technology and business to provide clients with a single source of truth for on-demand and trusted insights. With the integrated business intelligence tools, we support our clients to manage their exposures in the highly volatile markets.
ComTech Advisory: You talk of an integrated data and analytics solution but what does the platform do?
Norbert Verhagen: The Radar Engine is the foundation of the Radar technology, serving as an out-of-the-box commodity data hub that ingests, harmonizes, and normalizes all relevant business data.
On top of this strong foundation, we offer a comprehensive range of fully customizable modules tailored for the commodity business. These modules provide reporting functionalities for positions, financial performance (Mark-to-Market & P&L), as well as advanced (risk-) management tools such as Value at Risk (VaR) analysis, Stress testing and Regulatory reporting for companies with exposure to commodity markets.
We also offer our Dynamic Margin Management solution. This solution allows our processing clients to get real-time insights in their forward margin by combining the sales/production planning with raw materials and energy purchases, along with product sales. As a result, our clients are always up to date on their margin developments and can optimize their margins while managing their risks.
One of the latest products is the Data Analytics Hub. This hub can be used by analysts to configure their own analytical reports with any preferred tool or technology: from BI tools like Power BI or Tableau to programming and modeling tools like Python, R or Matlab.
ComTech Advisory: How does your platform interact with CTRM software solutions? How do you make the two solutions communicate?
Norbert Verhagen: RadarRadar provides a flexible integration solution that can be adapted to fit into any existing E-/CTRM system, including those that are custom-built. We offer a range of integration options, from flat files and APIs to advanced real-time protocols like FIX, enabling the Radar Engine to consume data in different forms and shapes. Additionally, the Radar Engine can distribute data using a variety of technologies, making it simple to integrate into any company.
It’s important to highlight that in addition to E-/CTRM systems, we can also integrate various other data sources, including ERP systems, external and internal price provides, budgets, FX, planning, yields, and more. This creates a comprehensive and unified view of our client’s business operations for improved decision-making and risk management.
RadaRadar recently introduced the integration of the Radar Engine with client’s master data management systems. Changes made in the Radar Engine (such as data mapping) are also synced back to client’s master data application. This ensures that all systems are up to date. These changes are constantly logged resulting in a full audit trail, showing who changed what, where and when.
In addition, RadarRadar offers a complementary Business Intelligence (BI) solution with more sophisticated risk metrics and exposure modeling, including filter and drilldown capabilities.
ComTech Advisory: Originally, you targeted ags and softs, have you broadened that focus and if so, why?
Norbert Verhagen: RadarRadar is market leader in the Food and Agri sector and has expanded its offerings into other commodity industries, such as energy, freight, metals, and mining. This is a natural expansion as we know that challenged faced by our food & agri clients are common across all parties involved in the commodity industry.
ComTech Advisory: What do you see as the market challenges you address?
Norbert Verhagen: Current market challenges such as high market price volatility and severe geopolitical and economic uncertainty require reliable and real-time insights more than ever. In these markets it’s insufficient to rely on a weekly Mark-to-Market or Value-at-Risk number. Our clients also want to be able to stress test their portfolios by a fixed or variable set of parameters, to better understand what the effects will be on their P&L. Stress testing is a functionality which comes standard in the solution we provide.
The positive aspect is that many of the organization we engage with already have plans to address the data challenges. However, they frequently encounter roadblocks due to a lack of expertise or insufficient development resources. This is where RadarRadar steps in. Our experienced team and user-friendly SaaS platform have not only assisted some of the largest clients globally, but we also empower smaller and mid-sized companies to overcome their challenges by finding effective solutions.
Digital transformation is good, but it can also be difficult. Therefore, we are proud to be acknowledged by our clients for the fast and non-disruptive implementation of our technology in their daily operations.
ComTech Advisory: Finally, you have recently rebranded, what does your new brand project and communicate?
Norbert Verhagen: RadarRadar (formerly Tradesparent) is an industry expert in the commodity trade, production and processing business, operating in the most fundamental industries of the world: food, energy, and other commodities. Since 2010, we deliver high profile projects for world’s leading commodity producers, traders, and processors. We work with clients to configure bespoke and extendable data solutions, enabling their successful digital transformation.
With the increasing volatility, the evolving data landscapes and growing demand for advanced data and risk management tools, our mission is more relevant than ever. Therefore, we brought our technology and service to the next level and have positioned ourselves more boldly and strongly. RadarRadar helps commodity producers, traders and processors zoom in on the right targets and navigate to success.
About Norbert Verhagen is Chair of the RadarRadar Management team, RadarRadar
Norbert Verhagen is Chair of the RadarRadar Management team with more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience. He specializes in digital integration and transformation, bringing together business with the architecture of the Radar technology which today supports the world’s leading food & agri companies.
