Software-as-a-service (SaaS) commodities trading and risk management vendor Aspect Enterprise Solutions (AES), today reports a record first half year with revenues up 20% and profits up 43% over the same period in 2009; 2009 was in itself a record year for the company. Bookings for the first six months of 2010 were more than $10.5M in trade/risk management alone.

The AES performance, posted as rival vendors still wedded to the traditional enterprise software delivery model struggle to make headway, underscores the compelling flexibility and appeal of the SaaS approach.

AES solutions enable traders and others involved in the markets for commodities such as metals, petrochemicals and agriculturals to make faster, better informed, less risky decisions, and to buy and sell efficiently over a robust safety net of regulatory and accounting audit trails.

The company offers two core SaaS solutions. AspectDSC® supports trading decisions with real-time market information delivered direct to virtually any browser-equipped mobile or static devices from desktop PCs to the Apple® iPhone®, iPad® and Blackberry® platforms. AspectCTRM® is a complete front-to-back-office trading and risk management solution that, too, is delivered over the Web via any browser.

Increasing numbers of major global trading houses are moving from legacy enterprise software to Web-based AES solutions, keen to cut costs and benefit from the greater flexibility that the SaaS approach enables. Meanwhile mid-market houses that previously relied on spreadsheets to capture trades are adopting AspectCTRM because of its low entry costs and remarkable speed of implementation. Overall, bookings around AspectCTRM grew by 55% in the first two quarters, sustaining the steeply upward trajectory experienced throughout the global recession.

AES CEO Steve Hughes says the half year results support the observations of leading industry analyst firms such as CommodityPoint that identify the growing importance of SaaS in the CTRM space. “In the past trading houses had only two options: spreadsheets or big-budget custom software development programs. Now SaaS-delivered solutions offer a real and 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.”