Reflect for a moment on an amazing feat recently accomplished in China, where thousands of people built a hospital in just 10 days. Creating a safe, functional and secure medical facility in 10 days would not have been possible years ago, but today – with automation, advanced analytics, and real-time communication – they were able to create a plan, gather resources and build a working hospital.

In many ways, this amazing engineering feat is a good analogy for commodity management. When market disruptions occur – driven by politics, extreme weather, rogue viruses, or other unexpected events – companies need to react as quickly as possible to form a response that protects their profits while mitigating risk. They need to react fast – just as officials in Wuhan, China did to create a hospital just weeks after recognizing the severity of the coronavirus outbreak.

Speed is essential because commodity markets are constantly changing. Take, for example, oil. The International Energy Agency (IEA) cut 2020 oil demand estimates this week, predicting that first-quarter oil demand would fall by 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) from a year ago because of the coronavirus. China is the world’s largest oil importer, so a disruption to the Chinese economy has repercussions around the world. At the same time, January 2020 was the hottest January in the 141 years that global records have been kept, providing another kick to global energy markets.

Commodity-intensive companies buying or selling oil must analyze the impact of these events real time, not days or weeks later, because the situation is constantly evolving. You need real-time visibility and you need to be able to turn it into real-time action.

Eka’s platform delivers the speed and agility you need through automation, real-time access, and rapid analytics. Because all your data is connected, you can create reports in seconds instead of spending hours – or days – manually collecting data from different applications. Because the platform is cloud native, Eka’s analytics engines are fast and efficient.

If commodity markets shift dramatically, you need to immediately assess your position and evaluate how vulnerable you are. Do you have open contracts you won’t be able to fulfill? Are you holding too much inventory that you won’t be able to sell?

With Eka’s Position app, you have that information in hand in minutes, because the data from across your entire value chain is automatically aggregated. With Eka’s analytics, you can run simulations and evaluate options for mitigating risk and taking advantage of new opportunities quickly and efficiently. You move faster and you move smarter.

Eka’s Blockchain Marketplace enables real-time collaboration across the entire value chain – delivering both speed and agility. Buyers and sellers can bid, negotiate, and create contracts digitally, communicating instantly to all registrants across geographies. If a market shock occurs, traders on the blockchain can react immediately to secure the most profitable deals without waiting for phone calls or emails.

Eka’s Blockchain Marketplace also provides visibility across the entire value chain, enabling traceability for those worried about sustainable sourcing. It’s efficient, provides increased value to all participants in the value chain, and is cost effective.

Commodity markets are becoming more volatile, so you need to harness the power of data and analytics to trade smarter. Eka’s platform delivers the speed and agility you need to thrive.

Explore the speed and agility of Eka’s platform.