Day One

So today is my first official day back as an analyst (yesterday was a holiday in the Czech republic). It is nice to be back too. It is good to be working with Patrick again and to be reconnecting to a lot of people that I have known for many years. Day One. It’s been a day of reaching out to a lot of people and catching up with the latest news.

Over the last 18-months, I learned a great deal. I know more than I really care for about regulations and I saw how an ETRM solution and other systems get used in anger, day-by-day, as the industry and the company’s requirements change. It certainly wasn’t easy. Traders don’t much care about why a system is down or why a requirement might take some time to deliver, they just want it now and they want to be able to respond to trading opportunity, make profits and not incur any scheduling penalties. It’s that simple really. Meanwhile, management wants to know how other people do it? Do they spend more money or less? Do they have more people? What is best practice and how would that apply to us? How do I keep my costs down? and so on… So, going forward, I will be focusing on working with Patrick to provide if not answers then certainly tools that can help with these types of operating issues.  I trust that our research will be compelling and our reports focused and consumed across the industry.

I now have an opportunity to fill the information gaps I saw as a consumer and to help our clients keep costs down. One example of that is ComTech Advisory’s ability to help end users navigate the complexity of the vendor and provider landscape, get to short or long lists faster and understand the procurement process better. This allows clients to save money and reduce risk.  Patrick and I have several ideas and thoughts about products and services that you will see emerge over the next several months. So please stay posted…..

Gary M. Vasey