Performance Challenge
The zenith of a company’s CBOL’s journey converges with a pivotal juncture during the software selection phase. This crucial phase aligns seamlessly with our Advisory Services, where our expertise in commodity trading, risk management, and technology come to bear in performing the upfront planning & due diligence to establish a solid foundation. This fusion empowers us to guide enterprises in selecting software solutions that perfectly match their strategic goals.

In this context, a renowned Power Trading Company wanted to improve the system performance while ensuring accurate accounting and reporting. The Customer’s goal was to evaluate various software options and select a consolidated solution with robust CTRM capabilities that was better aligned with their evolved trading needs & technology capabilities. Following Value Creed’s analysis & recommendations, the power trading company chose a suitable software over incorporating new applications.. This decision aimed to prioritize reliability and peak performance while achieving their operational aspirations. The case study encapsulates how prudent software selection can significantly impact a company’s journey toward excellence.
KEY RESULTS
Alignment with Strategic Objectives
Comprehensive Fit/Gap Analysis
Expected Costs & Benefits
Software Selection
- To assess solutions from the CTRM vendor landscape, our team of experts conducted surveys and workshops involving key stakeholders. This aimed to understand short-term and near-term trading strategies, as well as to identify operational challenges.
- Comprehensively, our team crafted scenarios and scrutinized business requirements to meticulously assess all available software applications in the market. The objective was an impartial evaluation of how well each software aligned with current and future business needs. The assessment covered usability, cost, implementation, extensibility, and end-to-end integration across front-office, mid-office, and back-office operations.
- During the software selection process, our team also identified process areas that needed optimization and identified relevant KPI’s and weightages that were established based on organizational objectives identified early on.Our key focus for the process was to provide flexibility while performing a search for the applications.
- Our team ensured that the software selection process aligned with the strategic and tactical needs of the organization to future proof their investments and have an extensible foundation in place to adapt to constantly evolving business needs (Example: Renewables Trading) In addition to the technology selection aspects, the combined teams worked to develop a Project Charter and a right-sized Governance Model and organizational guard-rails to protect from implementation risks that could arise.
- Finally, a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model was established to evaluate all the software options including any targeted cost avoidances & savings opportunities that would need to be actively managed during the implementation to ensure that the desired benefits can be realized.
Value Creed Services Mobilized:

Software Selection
Our comprehensive Software Selection process ensures a complete study of the business operations. Workshops help us to understand the key requirements of business operations to design a process map and conduct a gap analysis. Since our team is formed of industry-experienced personnel, we’re able to understand the future requirements and needs of the business which plays a key role in software selection service

CBOL™
CBOL™ is a proprietary framework designed to assist trading companies realize their strategic objectives throughout the evolution of their trading operations. This encompassing framework addresses specific needs at each stage, including future state design, software evaluation, implementation, and process optimization.
Key Takeaways
Our comprehensive software solution engaged stakeholders through surveys and workshops to unearth trading strategies and operational challenges. This process led to an all-encompassing evaluation of available software, assessing alignment with current and future business needs across factors like usability, cost, implementation, extensibility, and integration. Strategic alignment took precedence to future-proof investments and ensure adaptability.
To mitigate implementation risks, a Project Charter, Governance Model, and safeguards were instituted. A holistic Total Cost of Ownership model evaluated software options, managing costs during implementation to achieve anticipated benefits. This approach effectively bridged CBOL’s vision with execution, underscoring technology’s pivotal role in operational excellence.
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