A good brand and awareness of that brand is one sure way to be successful at selling anything. But what is a brand? While many people might believe that a brand is some statement like “I’m Lovin’ It” (MacDonalds) they would be wrong - that is a tag line that hopefully supports the brand. No, a brand can be likened to a person’s personality. A company will develop its brand essence - essentially a carefully composed and considered annunciation of its personality and value – and then use various means to communicate that to the market. Like a personality, getting that brand to ‘stick’ isn’t just about communicating it, it is about living it. It is about how customers, employees and other interested parties perceive and respond to the brand. In reality, the brand is what the market perceives in its interactions with the company.

Many ETRM/CTRM vendors work hard in developing and communicating their brand. In the end though, it is the market’s perception of brand that counts. That is why CommodityPoint performs a Vendor Perception Study every two years. We test the market perceptions of the vendor’s brands and gain a good idea about who the perceived market leaders are across a wide range of categories. As we perform the survey regularly we can get a good idea of how things may be changing in the space too. The last survey and report was released in Q2 of this year and was kindly sponsored by Navita and SolArc.

The study indicated that the TRM software market landscape is becoming increasingly dominated by a group of transnational vendors and products that includes OpenLink Financial (OLF), Triple Point, SunGard Energy, Allegro Development, SolArc and Ventyx. Other vendors have a higher degree of importance in particular geographies (for example Navita in Europe and OATI in North America) or in particular industry segments (e.g. Amphora in Crude Oil and other segments, Abacus Solutions in the Generation segment and so on). In terms of brand recognition, this smaller group of more dominant vendors is increasingly well known.

In general, the survey indicated that the market has matured and continues to mature. Users and prospective buyers are familiar with a broader range of vendors than at any time in the past. At the same time, there appears to be broader consensus about which vendors lead the market overall as the group of vendors mentioned by respondents as overall market leader has grown smaller and those vendors mentioned have mostly increased their perception as overall market leader. Despite that, for many segments of the industry or for specific areas of functional coverage there is remains some confusion and disagreement over market leadership.

CommodityPoint utilized previous performed perception studies to place the results in a historical perspective and there has been some movement between vendors in terms of both overall brand recognition and perceptions around market leadership – particularly in Europe. OLF and Triple Point have both made gains while SunGard Energy and Allegro Development have seen some erosion by comparison. Other vendors such as SolArc, Navita, OATI and others continue to emerge with greater brand strength and awareness. Ventyx, which has made several acquisitions over the last year or so, appears to suffer from some brand confusion as a result but may well emerge as a market leader as its acquisitions are consolidated.

In general, the survey showed continued maturing of the software category and consolidation of the major vendors however, it continues to demonstrate that the various flavors of TRM solution required across the commodities space, means that there is still a place for regional and segment specialist solutions.
As the group of five to six major vendors emerges however, in a sense the market is becoming increasingly competitive. Brand is becoming more important and these vendors need to carefully protect and further define their brand qualities in order to differentiate themselves. At the same time, emerging vendors are waiting in the wings to take advantage of any faltering steps on the part of the major vendors. There is still plenty of choice for buyers and still plenty of brand building to be done.

The 2009 Vendor Perception Study Report sponsored by Navita and SolArc can be purchased at www.commoditypointstore.com

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