Maximizing Your Natural Gas ETRM System Investment
This is the tale of two Natural Gas businesses. To protect company image, let’s say their names are Encumbered and Unencumbered. Both companies have a lot in common … both have Wholesale Natural Gas operations, both in excess of 100 BcF annually, both with experienced staff, both in multiple markets and both seeking to grow top and bottom lines. What they don’t have in common is their approach to achieving the latter or the ROI being realized on their investments.
Encumbered is a business that not so long ago was lured by the siren song of a traditional multi-commodity ETRM product vendor: “We are a global brand. We’re on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. We can do it all. Your implementation will only take 6 months. A single system for multiple commodities is the way to go, etc.” With such a chorus of messaging, Encumbered team members attended a demo (during which many promises of capability were made), believed what they were told and took the plunge, only to become miserable when reality set in … you see, traditional multi-commodity ETRM systems having to cater to 100s of disparate commodities, from corn to metals to gas, are a generic software architecture requiring extensive and never-ending customizations for a given commodity; necessarily equating to lengthy, costly, and torturous 1-off implementations that take much longer than 6 months (more like years) and, in most cases, require expensive, specialized consultants to manage the system in perpetuity.
Conversely, Unencumbered is a business that almost followed the path of Encumbered, but instead discovered that there are a very large number of Encumbered companies out there and when Unencumbered spoke with a few of them, the companies unanimously recommended against a traditional multi-commodity ETRM system. The problem was, Unencumbered only had traditional ETRM vendors on its radar, so it was doing what it could to make the best of a handful of poor choices. Fortunately for Unencumbered, it had contracted an independent global Risk expert who has several encumbered clients of his own and, with that knowledge, steadfastly recommended the world’s only best-of-breed, designed-for-natural gas operations solution. Unencumbered jumped on investigating this solution via numerous calls and almost as many demonstrations, reference calls and everything else imaginable in disbelief of how much better the solution was relative the traditional ETRM products seen to date – “How could such a solution exist!? A solution actually designed for natural gas!?” Unencumbered discovered it was the Real Deal, acquired the solution, transformed its business operations, and gleefully kept its discovery to itself, so as not to aid a competitor!
The title of this blog is ‘Maximizing Your Natural Gas ETRM System Investment’. For Unencumbered, this is a given. For Encumbered companies, it requires a course correction to be made. Encumbered companies have every ability to “stop the bleeding”, redirecting their paths with a proven solution, designed for natural gas. In practice, it’s a hard choice to make – the original vendor selection process no doubt involved review and approval at several levels of management. Nobody likes to make mistakes that cost a business considerable time and money. Even fewer wish to find themselves having to acknowledge an error was made and course correct, but it is the right thing to do for the business!
If I just touched a nerve, know this: In the Natural Gas industry, a proven, designed-for-natural gas, mature, and tremendously capable solution exists that delivers ROI during implementation. Hard to believe? Call me and take the first step to join the ranks of the Unencumbered!
End Users, Producers, LDCs, Marketers, Pipelines, and Utilities face increasing competitive and compliance pressures, requiring increased operational efficiency, data integrity and process improvement. Their operational systems must support this, but most don’t. Engage us and we’ll show you how to make a breakthrough. It’s what we do for natural gas companies, and we are experts in our field.
~Ken
