CTW Americas Exposed a Costly Truth: Back-Office Risk Management Is Still Stuck in the Past

Commodity Trading Week Americas (CTW) in Stamford, CT delivered some encouraging news: the commodity trading industry has finally reached the consensus that digital transformation is inevitable, and this includes the back office!

The event, held in June, gave us valuable insights into the real concerns of commodity trading organizations. Across the board, we saw an industry ready to embrace the digital transformation and workflow automation of paper records, data, and information. Trading organizations are no longer arguing against modernization across the trade lifecycle — they're focused on how to make it happen.

But while we were pleased to see more and more people accept the need for digitization and automation, we also confirmed an alarming suspicion: while the industry has built sophisticated, robust risk management processes and systems for the front office, back office operations are still treated like an afterthought – especially from the perspective of risk.

This disconnect is expensive in more ways than one.

The Alarming Blind Spot

We see the same pattern everywhere: front offices running on integrated ETRM/CTRM systems with real-time portfolio risk management, market risk models, and credit risk tools—while back offices are stuck in 1995, using manually intensive processes to review trades, invoices and all the associated information.

Here's the problem: operational risk in the back office is just as dangerous as portfolio risk in the front office. When duplicate trades, missing invoices, or compliance violations surface 30-60 days after they occur, you're left making trading decisions on phantom data – while dealing with the disruptions these create for the business.

You think you bought a million bushels. Your records show 900,000. You're hedging positions based on inventory that may not even exist and setting yourself up for costly mistakes. It happens all the time and frankly, it’s unnecessary.

Four Operational Risk Zones Hiding in Plain Sight

And you're not just risking one bad trade. When you can’t trust your data, you’re exposed across four critical operational zones:

Trade Confirmation: Duplicate trades slip through the cracks. Missing transactions go unnoticed. Contract compliance failures emerge months later. You never really know for sure when your trade is completed.

Logistics: Did you actually load everything you bought? Did those bushels go to the right silo? How much crude actually got picked up at the wellhead, and how much was delivered?

Finance: Are there options, obligations, and opportunities within your contracts and letters of credit that are actually misunderstood or downright forgotten? What business exposure does this create

Compliance: Sanction violations surface long after they occur. Could it be possible there is financial crime hidden within your counterparties and entities they deal with, or underlying logistical network?

Trying to solve these challenges and risks with more staff just creates more risk, while your current staff is busy trying to stay ahead of the day to day. Let’s be honest, these risk management problems are rooted in bad data, and they're jeopardizing your profits and potentially your business.

The Digital Roadmap Reality Check

The good news is trading organizations have the DNA to confront these risks and turn them into opportunities.

At CTW Americas, ClearDox CTO Mark Lefebvre talked about this directly at the "Technology Leaders Panel: Developing Digital Roadmaps for the Next 12 Months and Beyond" discussion. He asked attendees a question that cut to the heart of the industry's risk management challenge:

"When you think about digital transformation at your company, does it stop at the front office, or does it extend to every corner of your business?"

The panel discussion revealed what we've been observing across the industry: most firms are still thinking about data processing narrowly. They’re worried about trading processes and information instead of widespread operational transformation. They’ve equipped their traders in the front office with everything they need to make informed decisions. But they haven't extended that same strategic thinking to back-office operations.

Lefebvre walked the audience through what comprehensive operational risk management actually looks like in practice: managing invoices and payments with the same precision as portfolio risk, tracking inventory movements accurately and in a timely manner, ensuring compliance with sanction regulations before violations occur, and catching contract discrepancies immediately rather than months later.

The conversation highlighted a critical strategic gap: firms are building digital roadmaps that don’t touch their existing data silos. They're improving digital readiness in trading while leaving operations teams to work with the same manual processes and unreliable data that have caused them problems for decades.

Beyond the AI Hype

Everyone's talking about AI in commodities. But AI isn't the real story. What matters most are outcomes.

At ClearDox, we don't sell AI. We sell commodity intelligence and operational automation. AI powers our platform, but our value comes from solving real operational problems more efficiently and accurately than manual processes.

We're commodity operations professionals who understand your data and workflow challenges because we've lived them ourselves. Our platform works alongside your existing systems. It turns mountains of paperwork, spreadsheets, emails, and information into structured, usable data, helping you reduce operational risk, increase efficiency, and drive profitability. And our Intelligent Applications turn manual workflows, into intelligent and highly automated processes as they drive outcomes and insights from your daily operational functions.

And most importantly, our commodities intelligent technology unites your front office trading and back office operations so everyone can make smart, proactive decisions using reliable data.

Don’t Operate in the Dark

You wouldn't make a trade without real-time market data. Why are you managing operational risk with 30-60 day delays?

Firms ignoring their back office operations are getting left behind. And companies that treat them with the same urgency as the front office are working with an advantage.

ClearDox’s technology can help you do that, ensuring everyone on your team is making decisions with the most up-to-date data possible.

Want to learn more about how ClearDox can turn data chaos into ready-to-use insights?