EDF Trading set to re-energise its IT

EDF Trading is undergoing a technology revamp that will see the complete overhaul of its core energy trading risk management (ETRM) platform as well as the adoption of several new technologies.

The process is expected to take about two years and will support business growth in the international wholesale energy markets.

Owned by the world’s largest utility firm, EDF, the trading company manages round-the-clock purchase and sale of electricity, carbon, natural gas, coal, freight, biomass and oil worldwide.

“One of our priorities for 2010-11 is to create a robust, modern architecture for our in-house ETRM system to support future business growth and improve speed to market of new business requirements,” said Mark Pickering, chief information officer at EDF Trading.

Since most of the company’s systems are built internally, the IT department runs “almost like a software company”, and rapidly changing business demands mean project and systems development need to be equally agile, said Pickering.

“The modernisation plan is a strategic long-term bet. If what the business has done over the past 10 years is any indication of what will happen in the next decade, the current platform will not be able to cope,” he told Computing.

Microsoft’s .Net tools play an important role in the modernisation of the system, which has an Oracle 10g database at its core that will be maintained, and may well be upgraded in future.

The need for scalability means EDF Trading prefers to use third parties to manage other areas of its IT, such as the management of its two datacentres. These were recently moved offsite under services contracts with BT and Telecity. The overall cost of the move was £8.5m.

The two sites in West London and the Docklands host about 800 servers provided by HP, while EMC supplies storage equipment, with VMware providing virtualisation technology, which is used extensively.

EDF Trading is already a user of grid computing for complex financial modelling, but is considering using graphics processing unit technology for more intense tasks. Upcoming projects at the company also include a rollout out of Windows 7 and Office 10 next year.

Pickering strongly supports component-based architecture and now service-oriented architecture, but still has doubts about the web-based version of this.

“Cloud computing is a big fad. There are a lot of companies investing heavily in this and it will undoubtedly be great. However, I think early adopters need to proceed with caution,” he said.

“From my perspective it is tricky to integrate with other systems and getting data in and out of that environment in a secure way can pose problems.”

The company plans to keep most of its coding work in-house, but is using EMC Consulting for some development projects and Amsphere for testing. One thing the firm will not do is go down the offshoring path, said Pickering.

“Due to the nature of our business, and the fact our projects are so closely linked to the business, we need to have people right here. I cannot create a spec that I can just hand over to people 10,000 miles away and expect that everything will be fine,” he said.

EDF Trading blends IT professionalism with business analysis expertise

Mark Pickering joined EDF Trading in September 2008 from Shell, where he was CIO of the firm’s trading division. One of the key factors that attracted him to the EDF job was the importance of technology to the business. “IT is absolutely recognised as a core part of the business. You can see it in our annual reports, in our CEO presentations and the fact that I report directly to him,” he said.

“In many organisations that is not necessarily the case, but it is more fun when you are closer to the business and not merely seen as a ‘necessary evil’.”

To further strengthen the bond between IT and the business, EDF Trading places a big emphasis on the business analysts working for its 100-strong IT department. These hybrid business analysts/project managers manage projects from start to finish and are the key interface to the business.

Pickering says that with such a relatively small team, succession planning does not always run smoothly.

“Most senior people are on a three-month notice period, but on most of the occasions when somebody in an important role leaves, we have to go to the external market,” he said.

“I must admit it [the IT skills gap] is not something I worry too much about. My assumption is that we can go to the market and get the people we need.”

Pickering recalls that one of his main priorities was to set up one-on-one meetings with all the members of staff to tell them about his experiences and hear about theirs. “It is very important to have a personal connection with people,” he said.

Apart from having vision, excellent communication skills, and good relationships with business people, Pickering believes aspiring IT leaders should find a role model to teach them the importance of effective people management and decision-making.

“Nothing beats learning through experience. It is the only way you will learn what it takes to be an IT manager,” he said.