There is a valuable lesson to be learnt from the
International Petroleum Exchange's drawn-out shift to online
trading
Next week the exchange will bring down the shutters on its
open-outcry trading pits where blazer-clad traders broker
multimillion-pound deals face-to-face.
After a virtual boycott of the new trading systems when they were
rolled out in November 2003, the IPE board last November moved to
force traders online for part of the day. Now they have resorted to
compulsion and are shutting the trading floor completely.
The arguments for online trading are clear. It is fast, efficient,
secure and will aid regulatory compliance. The IPE's business case
for its online trading project was unassailable. The technology was
proven and the investment made, yet users' views were clearly not
sufficiently considered.
Traders are so angry at the online move that a rival trading
exchange is setting up shop in London later this year offering both
online and open-outcry trading for those that that want it.
For IT professionals, the story of the IPE shows once again that
without end-user buy-in technology projects will falter, if not
fail.
Oil traders forced onto e-system, click here >>