Customer-Centric ETRM: How to Align Systems with Business Realities
What is customer-centric ETRM anyway? Enuit’s James Hsu defines it as “meeting different client needs through both product configurability and tailored implementation approaches.” He explained that energy companies vary by size and focus (asset-based trading vs. operations-focused) and often require different functionality beyond the core ETRM capabilities.
“Enuit’s system,” he claimed, “creates new deal types without additional coding through configuration,” citing this as an example of customer centricity and configurability that is baked in to its software. Another example, he said, was it’s risk calculation engine’s ability to break down different risk components that can be configured without coding. However, it’s not just about being able to configure in flexibility he told me. It’s also about implementation and support capabilities. James covers the Americas for Enuit where clients have many different operational focuses and risk sensitivities. “Our Implementation teams deliver specific functional areas based on what each client prioritizes,” he said.
To illustrate his point, he described a recent South American client example. In this example, the define phase included business analysts, technical analysts, and product experts meeting with clients to understand operations and expectations. The execution phase broke work into streams covering trade capture, operations, and back office functions. Enuit provided the seed data (industry-standard locations, curves, counterparties) so that the implementation didn’t start with blank databases and users quickly validated that data identifying gaps rather than entering everything from scratch. “Implementation follows deal lifecycle: trade entry, scheduling/operations, billing statements, volume actualization, and risk valuation,” he said and business analysts work with users to define user acceptance testing criteria throughout the process. The support team joins before go-live to learn the client’s environment and establish support processes – “We see every client as an individual that comes with a need of special care,” he said.
Enuit leverages expertise from its global teams to support its clients moving commodities worldwide. It’s service organization doesn’t follow strict level 1, level 2, level 3 support hierarchies like larger vendors, he told me, and it’s implementation team members continue supporting the product after go-live, maintaining knowledge continuity. He sees this as a key differentiator and James contrasted this with larger vendors where system implementers leave after project completion, taking knowledge with them. “Enuit aims for lifelong customer relationships rather than one-time implementations,” he said. “Our implementation teams are familiar with the industry and know what different company types need based on past client work.”
Essentially then, for Enuit, customer-centric ETRM is a unique combination of configurability baked in and delivery and on going support. This approach, James feels, delivers a solution that is aligned with business realities at its clients.
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