In the past trading houses had only two options: spreadsheets or big-budget custom software development programs. Now SaaS-delivered solutions combined with Cloud Computing offer a real, cost-effective alternative. With the global economy, regulatory environment and credit shrinkage increasingly mandating formalized systems for even small trading companies, SaaS offers fast-start, turnkey solutions without up-front investment or resource demands.
Steve Hughes
President & CEO
Aspect Enterprise Solutions
Cloud-based applications — aka Software as a Service (SaaS) — have seen steady growth over the past few years and will continue to grow.
Gartner, Inc., Cloud Computing: The Next Generation of Outsourcing, Ben Pring, November 1, 2010

According to Technology Research Analyst Firm Gartner…

We are in the midst of a fundamental shift, as more enterprises start to use services enabled by cloud technologies. This will heavily impact IT services providers, who must now consider strategies for coping with profound changes in the marketplace or risk being left behind.
Cloud Computing:
The Next Generation Of Outsourcing
Ben Pring, November 1, 2010
According to Technology Research Analyst Firm Gartner…
Increasingly, hosted or SaaS-based solutions are gaining favor among end users as a means of reducing capital costs, deployment times and support overheads. While traditionally these solutions were preferred options for smaller end users or end users with limited functional requirements, as the functional capabilities of SaaS - or application service provider (ASP)-based deployments grow, the appeal to larger organizations will widen.
Magic Quadrant For Energy Trading And Risk Management Platforms
Keith Harrison and
David Furlonger
March 18, 2011
AspectCTRM was installed and working for us so fast – quickly enabling us to get a real-time understanding of profit and loss, exposures, price movements in the markets and how we can better manage risk.
Peter Malcom King
Business Development & Strategy Manager
Linetrale Oil Supply & Trading Company, Nigeria

Board Members

STEVE HELLMAN - Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder

Steve Hellman co-founded Aspect Enterprise Solutions, as OILspace, in 1999 to create a global solutions provider for the energy industry. Steve began his career with a major commodities trading company where he developed and managed an investment portfolio of approximately USD 100 million in the former Soviet Union.  He then established and managed a world-wide trading and shipping company, which he left to co-found OILspace.

After Steve became the non-executive Chairman of Aspect in 2005, he built a large international real estate development company and a media company.  Steve received an MS degree in Industrial Engineering and an AB in Political Science and Slavic Languages from Stanford University in 1987.

 

LAWRENCE AUSTEN - Board Member and Co-Founder

Lawrence co-founded Aspect Enterprise Solutions, as OILspace, and serves as a board member. He began his career in 1992 when he joined Phibro, Salomon Brothers' proprietary energy trading subsidiary and one of the world's largest energy traders. During his five years at Phibro, he designed and implemented Phibro's worldwide risk management platform and deal valuation analytics using NeXT's object-oriented development environment. In 1997, Lawrence moved to Salomon Brothers fixed income trading floor, where he designed and implemented innovative multifactor, nonparametric models of interest rate dynamics. In 1998, he accepted a position to head currency and fixed income derivatives trading at Renaissance Capital, which he left to co-found OILspace.

Lawrence graduated with First Class Honors in Economics from the University of British Columbia, where he won numerous academic awards, including the prestigious Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Special MA Scholarship. He then accepted a full scholarship to Stanford's Graduate School of Business PhD program, where he focused on auction theory, marketing of high technology products and the numerical implementation of quantitative analysis algorithms.

 

STEVE HUGHES - President & CEO

Steve has contributed to the success of many software companies and immediately prior to joining Aspect Enterprise Solutions, he was CEO of Carnegie Information Systems, a provider of highly customizable CRM software solutions. Prior to Carnegie, Steve was the Vice President of International Operations of Europe for YOUcentric, which was purchased by J D Edwards (since acquired by Peoplesoft, now Oracle). At YOUcentric, along with building the company's operations from scratch in the UK and Europe, he participated in the company's IPO, merger and acquisitions activities. He gained significant exposure to the process, and built relationships within both the software and investment community that he has sustained and strengthened since.

Steve has also built relationships and business partnerships with key executives within CGEY, PWC and others. Prior to YOUcentric, Steve served on the management teams at POINT Informations Systems, Seer Technologies and Legent Corporation.