Talha Khan is Phlo System’s CTO and recently I had an opportunity to talk with him about some of the technology initiatives going on over at Phlo Systems and gain an understanding of the technology and platform strategy there. However, first a little background… Commodity trading and risk management solutions (CTRM) re defined by ComTech as a subset of the broader commodity management application group, which is essentially ERP with CTRM functionality or, put another way, ERP built with an emphasis on commodity trading. For firms in ags & softs, for example, it’s not just about entering trades, position management and invoicing. It’s about managing transactions through complex supply chains and so many firms end up first procuring an ERP solution and then customizing it for their commodity trading or integrating it with a CTRM solution from a vendor. This integration can be non-trivial and extremely expensive. The market for Commodity Management solutions is very large – we estimate five to six times that of CTRM. It has attracted the likes of SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and so on with commodity-focused versions of their ERP solutions or via add-on modules for commodity trading provided by solution partners. Many CTRM vendors have… continue reading