The data generated by our survey of the industry suggests that, in general, Energy and/or Commodity Trading and Risk Management (E/CTRM) buyers are increasingly open to considering alternatives to traditional “on- premises” implementation models including both SaaS and hosted in the cloud delivery. While a small, but committed, minority continue to resist anything but the traditional on-premises implementation approach, the overwhelming majority of respondents will consider SaaS/hosted in the cloud for a variety of vertical application areas in and around commodity trading.
Despite that finding, only 16% of those who responded to the survey actually utilize a SaaS or hosted in the cloud E/CTRM solution, and while the data strongly suggests a great deal of interest in the cloud for E/CTRM, it does indicate that the final procurement decision isn’t necessarily a slam-dunk in favor of the cloud. Though 54% of our respondents would consider a SaaS/hosted in the cloud alternative, there are indications that the final decision is still more likely to lean toward a traditional installation on-premises – at least for now. ComTech’s forecast growth rates of 15% per year for SaaS/hosted in the cloud solutions do seem to be reasonable but may accelerate in the future if a sufficient numbers of trading firms adopt the model, are successful with it and are willing to advocate the approach to their peers in the industry. Overall, this finding is in agreement with broader studies such as those conducted by Gartner that found that interest in cloud-based solutions is primarily in horizontal applications such as accounting, HR or billing; and that as a result of buyer concerns around integration and ability to customize, the uptake of cloud-based vertical applications like CTRM lags somewhat.