The world is in the midst of an AI revolution; new capabilities have begun to transform nearly all aspects of business. In particular, the commodities world—which is defined by complex physical..
Katie Carter, VP, Product, ClearDox
At this year’s Commodities Trading Week (CTW) Europe, a significant shift in perspective emerged. Instead of the usual high-level discussions about AI’s potential, operational leaders were asking more pressing, practical questions: How can I use AI to make my business safer, smarter, and more scalable?
The tone of the event was different this year. It wasn’t just about financial risk anymore. Operational risk, cybersecurity, and reputational risks were at the forefront of many hallway conversations. For the first time, AI wasn’t a buzzword — it was being evaluated as a real lever for transformation.
During my time at CTW Europe, I had the chance to lead the ClearDox Advisory Board meeting and engage in discussions with a diverse range of industry leaders. Here’s what I learned:
The Rise of Operational Risk and the Need for Change
One of the most striking changes I noticed was the growing recognition that operational data needs to be treated with the same seriousness as trade data. In fact, I spoke with one data architect from a global trading firm who described his team’s challenge perfectly: “We have beautiful trade data and ugly operations data.” This frustration was echoed by many others.
The good news? There’s an emerging understanding that clean, streamlined operations data is a massive untapped opportunity. Companies are increasingly seeing how AI can help transform this “ugly” data into actionable insights, but it starts with recognizing the value in normalizing data across different systems.
A related theme that kept coming up was what I’d call the “aggregation whisper.” Firms are beginning to realize the drawbacks of relying on multiple, siloed systems of record — ETRMs, CTRMs, spreadsheets, and even email workflows. Without a unified layer to aggregate these systems, true operational intelligence is out of reach.
Risk, too, is being redefined. No longer is it just about financial exposure. Companies are grappling with cybersecurity, compliance, and the errors that crop up from disconnected workflows. According to a 2024 PwC survey, 62% of commodity trading executives cited “data integration and reconciliation across systems” as one of their top operational risk areas.
AI: The Missing Link for Operational Resilience
Between 2023 and 2024, the adoption of generative AI jumped from 55% to 75%, with many companies seeing a 3.7x ROI for every dollar they invest in AI technologies. While the growth of AI in commodities sounds like a dream come true, there are still real pain points that industry leaders are grappling with:
- Scale overwhelm: As volumes surge, operations often get deprioritized, leading to costly errors.
- Manual reconciliation: Many still rely on Excel, handling reconciliation outside their system of record.
- CTRM platforms: These systems are typically optimized for valuation, not actualization, leaving firms to manage the post-trade process by hand.
What ClearDox Agents Do — and Don’t Do
ClearDox agents help streamline low-risk tasks like flagging exceptions, suggesting remediations, and drafting responses. They don’t make autonomous decisions or access data outside their defined workflow. Think of them as copilots — empowering your team, not replacing it.
ClearDox agents help streamline low-risk tasks like flagging exceptions, suggesting remediations, and drafting responses. They don’t make autonomous decisions or access data outside their defined workflow. Think of them as copilots — empowering your team, not replacing it.
What I found fascinating was the disconnect around AI’s role. Many still view AI as generative tools — think ChatGPT-style assistance — and are surprised to learn that ClearDox has been embedding AI in its platform for years, though more quietly and with a different focus.
The industry is excited, but there’s also healthy skepticism. Questions like, “What if AI makes a mistake?” or “Can AI act without oversight?” came up repeatedly. These questions are valid, but they point to an important takeaway: AI’s true value is in supporting human decision-making, not replacing it. ClearDox’s AI agents help with tasks like remediation and exception handling, while ensuring human oversight remains central.
The Missed Opportunity: Letters of Credit
One of the most eye-opening insights from CTW Europe came from a conversation about Letters of Credit (LCs). While these financial instruments play a crucial role in commodities trading, they often go underutilized. The opportunity within LCs — such as options and contract milestones — is frequently overlooked, which means firms are missing out on potential business value.
In a conversation with a leading research analyst, he pointed out that many firms don’t recognize the business potential hidden within their LCs. ClearDox, with its AI-driven capabilities, can help firms digitize and monitor these documents, raising alerts when opportunities arise, such as contract milestones or expiring options.
Through AI-powered analysis, ClearDox unlocks business value in places firms haven’t thought to look. This ties directly back to operational resilience — ensuring that no valuable opportunities are missed, while risks are proactively flagged.
As the commodities industry shifts toward greater digitization, LCs are becoming a focal point for AI-driven improvements. With growing interest in digital trade finance, AI is helping firms not only unlock hidden value in these financial instruments, but also streamline their trade finance processes, reducing delays and improving compliance across the board.
Think about it: without this kind of AI insight, a firm might never know that it could be making better decisions about Letters of Credit, which could boost profitability and reduce the risk of financial penalties due to missed deadlines or overlooked clauses.
Bridging the Gap: AI as a Solution to Data Fragmentation
What I took from all these exchanges is this: AI adoption will accelerate when it stays grounded in the real world. Not theoretical transformation, but concrete time savings, tighter controls, and reduced downstream surprises.
We built ClearDox to solve these exact challenges. And we’re doubling down in three key areas:
- Operational reconciliation: At ClearDox, reconciliation isn’t a feature. It’s the foundation. Whether you’re dealing with contracts, movements, or invoices, we reconcile across sources, systems, and silos. We give users confidence in what’s been confirmed, where gaps remain, and what needs attention.
- Agentic AI with guardrails: ClearDox agents don’t roam through your data. They work within tightly scoped workflows to assist with remediation and exception handling. Think of them as operational copilots — streamlining what’s safe to automate and surfacing what needs human oversight.
- Security by design: One of our customers said it best: “ClearDox helped us expose operational risk without creating security risk.” From entitlements to audit trails, from SOC 2 certification to permissioning, we don’t just check the boxes. We set the standard.
We’re also continuing to build out our agent-to-agent integration protocols, allowing ClearDox to operate securely alongside other AI-enabled platforms without centralizing or exposing sensitive data.
What Comes Next
As we look ahead to the next 12–18 months, it’s clear that the commodities industry is entering a period of transformation. Operational resilience is no longer an afterthought — it’s now central to business continuity. ClearDox is poised to play a significant role in this shift, helping firms move from reactive cleanup to proactive intelligence.
AI adoption will accelerate, but it will be driven by firms that are ready to make strategic, real-time decisions. ClearDox is not just a tool for automating tasks; rather, it’s an enabler of intelligent operations — allowing teams to stay ahead of risks, identify hidden opportunities, and make data-backed decisions at every stage of the trading lifecycle. We’ll continue to refine our capabilities, focusing on improving efficiency, reducing errors, and providing unmatched visibility across operations.
But this isn’t about replacing teams. Instead, it’s about empowering them. ClearDox’s role is to give teams the time back they need by automating low-risk, repetitive tasks and allowing them to focus on more strategic, high-impact decisions. By doing this, we can help firms tackle their biggest operational challenges — like data reconciliation, compliance, and risk management — before they become critical problems.
Looking ahead, we’ll be driving innovations that go beyond AI — creating smarter workflows, more secure integrations, and advanced AI capabilities to address complex, industry-specific needs. ClearDox will continue to bridge the gap between traditional operational processes and the next generation of AI-powered intelligence, helping firms not only adapt to the future, but also thrive in it.
By providing firms with tools that highlight hidden risks, we’re not just helping them stay in control today — we’re future-proofing their operations. This forward-thinking approach will be crucial as commodity firms navigate the challenges of the coming years, such as regulatory pressures, market volatility, and the growing demand for sustainability.
So, while the next few months will be crucial for AI’s adoption, the bigger picture is how AI will integrate seamlessly into commodity operations — transforming risk management, optimizing decision-making, and setting new standards for operational resilience across the industry. ClearDox will be at the forefront of this shift, helping companies make smarter decisions today, while preparing for tomorrow’s challenges.
Join Us for More Insights
If you missed the deep dive conversations at CTW Europe, don’t worry — the insights shared at the event are just the beginning. We’ve captured key discussions and real-world use cases in our on-demand webinar, where we explore how AI is helping commodities firms unlock new opportunities, reduce operational risk, and gain better visibility into previously unseen aspects of their business.
You won’t want to miss this chance to discover how AI can transform your operations and give you the tools to stay ahead of the competition.
Catch the ClearDox Team at the Next CTW Event!
If you're planning to attend CTW America, come meet the ClearDox team at booth #10. We'll show you the latest in Agentic AI automated commodity operations, and the power of AI revealing operational risk across your trading lifecycle.
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