With its revolutionary 24/7/365 support model for C/ETRM platforms, Value Creed’s Run Smart™ managed services is disrupting traditional models

The Silicon Review

Commodities and Energy Trading and Risk Management (C/ETRM) systems integrate market execution and commercial decision making using a system that enables data exchange among operations, trade floors, accounting functions, and contracts. C/ETRM is an integral component of comprehensive risk management strategies, trade identification, and settlement execution. The process also provides a platform for market monitoring, controlled access, price transparency and regulatory compliance. Commodity prices are highly volatile, and they often represent a large portion of the total costs of production. This is especially true of oil, natural gas, and other energy commodities.

With a focus on improving C/ETRM application efficiency in the run and operate phase, Value Creed’s dual-time zone Run Smart™ Managed Services provides customers with the expertise to get the most from their system. They can securely and rapidly move to the cloud and engage with experts to accomplish the support and enhancements that will achieve their business goals and vision. Founded in 2016, Dallas, TX-based Value Creed, LLC has transformed managed services. The company specializes in commodity trading and risk management technology and business process optimization. The company offers expert-driven managed services, business process outsourcing, cloud enablement, and complementary technologies to help customers achieve optimal value from their C/ETRM software investments.

In conversation with Priyankar Datta, Founder and Managing Director of Value Creed

Q. What are some of the trends that you expect to have an impact in the C/ETRM space this year and how is Value Creed planning to leverage these trends and evolve?

Currently, there are a lot of merger and acquisition activities in the space, both in the software and the consulting business. In this environment of consolidation, we intend to expand our Run Smart™ offering to other C/ETRM vendors in this ecosystem, such as Enuit, Right Angle, and Endur and refine our model to support ancillary vendors connected to the C/ETRM vertical (for example: K3 by BroadPeak, ZEMA, ICE & other integrated products). While C/ETRM product vendors are interested in selling more products and acquiring more logos, and consultants are geared toward capturing a greater share of the new implementation space, we want to focus only on current C/ETRM customers and help them be successful in the “Run & Operate” phase of ownership by managing and maintaining their investment for greater value over time and helping them stay up to date on their software investments by periodically upgrading them to the latest version of their C/ETRM software.

Q. In your interactions with commodity CIOs, what sense do you get of the challenges they face now in the ETRM space and how is Value Creed effectively addressing these issues?

We serve a very particular niche in the market for energy companies that use C/ETRM software to make critical business decisions. This business critical software requires highly-skilled experts to implement and maintain the application to adequately support operations and business users. These people are difficult to recruit and retain over the long run. Thus, CIOs are forced to battle lengthy hiring cycles, perilous employee churn, and extreme upgrade or support expenses, leaving their application exposed to risk. Run Smart was created so organizations using C/ETRM solutions can have fractional access to many experts based on their unique business needs. Run Smart’s North American and global teams provide 24/7/365 dual time zone support - the same level of support as a full-time employee but at a cost-effective and flexible monthly plan.

Q. “Our expert-driven team seamlessly blends with yours to bring you unwavering support from industry experts inside your corporate walls. Our team extends and augments your resources, and allows you to field a team of C/ETRM experts – on demand, in an easily forecastable, elastic and cost-effective model.” Please walk us through this statement and shed some light on the C/ETRM solution on the basis of its methodology, features and benefits involved?”

Our Run Smart offering is flexible but based on a fixed monthly cost. As part of the service, we are able to offer fractional access to not only technical experts but also to functional experts all for the same fixed monthly cost. Our off-shore experts conduct all the proactive activities needed during off-hours to ensure 100 percent application availability. Our on-shore experts are available during business hours to troubleshoot any issues. Our professionals usually work closely with the customer’s IT & App Support team and thus act as a seamless extension of their workforce. If the customer needs more technical help, we can make our people available, and if the customer needs more business help, we can make those team members available too. However, this is all done under a fixed priced monthly cost, so customers do not have to scour the market for talent to cover every small need they may have.

Q. There are a number of companies out there that are vying for the top position. What are the strategies employed by Value Creed to thwart the market competition and what according to you are the distinct features of Value Creed /differentiating factors that give it a competitive edge?

Our Run Smart offering is our greatest competitive advantage. With a combination of off-shore and on-shore experts, we are able to provide 24/7/365 dual time zone support and are able to come up with a predictable cost model compared to the traditional support model which charges by the hour.

Q. What does the future hold for your organization? Any footprint expansion plans or platform enhancement strategies that you can shed light upon?

We have a very positive outlook on the future of Value Creed based on the overwhelming response of our Run Smart offering from our current and future customers. Our goal is to grow our team by 75 percent in 2021 and continue to add new partnerships with other leading software vendors. We expect much of this growth to occur outside the United States, and we are especially excited about our opportunities in Europe, the Middle East, and the APAC region.

Q. Is there anything more that you would like to add or highlight? Any other interesting insight you would like us to talk about in the story that we may have missed in this questionnaire?

C/ETRM software is absolutely business-critical, but many companies struggle to support the platform around the clock, day-in and day-out. This effort is time consuming and consumes on-staff C/ETRM specialists, putting their scarce expertise to work on low-value tasks and leaving them at risk of being lured by more compelling offers.

Run Smart was created as a solution to optimize C/ETRM system performance and day-to-day management. Run Smart helps CIOs and their teams manage, extend, and optimize the application. Our approach is unique in that we spend time getting to know you and your business operations so we can customize your Run Smart services to your unique goals, whether you need an application upgrade or a full migration or deployment. Then we monitor your system 24 hours a day, seven days a week under an industry-first, high-performance SLA. We keep a vigilant watch to ensure your system runs optimally and provides proactive maintenance every step of the way. Run Smart’s global network of C/ETRM and cloud experts act as an extension of your team, helping to propel your business. With 24/7/365 dual time zone support, you’ll never need another high-priced consultant who rarely answers the phone again. And it’s all made available through a cost-effective and flexible monthly plan.

Meet the leader behind the success of ValueCreed

Mr. Datta is Value Creed’s Principal and Founder. He has helped develop and implement a wide variety of C/ETRM products across a range of upstream, midstream and downstream energy super majors. He transformed these experiences into his leadership philosophy at Value Creed, which is now one of the Top 10 solutions providers in the industry. Mr. Datta pursues the mission of bringing a new run operating model to the ecosystem built upon outsourcing, on-demand expertise and cloud deployment. He has a master’s degree in computer science from The University of Texas at Dallas and has received numerous awards for delivering projects on time with added last-minute changes in functionalities.