I remember well the days I spent on the trading floor talking with traders about how they were using the technology we had provided them with. While traders wouldn’t express their requirements in terms of workflow automation, this was nearly always at the heart of these conversations. And nearly always I knew that they were going to get frustrated just like the child who says to their parent “why can’t I have ice cream and a bag of sweets”. And the answer “well, just because” was going to be equally unsatisfactory.
These conversations usually went something like this:
Trader: I want to click in here and bring this up over here. I want to pull this data from here and send it to that system. I want to see these data values in my order blotter. I want to link these two windows? Can you do that? Can you integrate system X with application Y?
Me: Yes, but…
The ‘Yes, but…’ was usually followed by a number of different responses:
- It’s not as simple as it might look. This will require back-end and front-end changes which will take time. (Lengthy IT systems integration project)
- I’ll have to add it to the product backlog and then we will look to prioritize but it’s likely to be at least a few months or longer. (Needs to go to the back of the queue, may never get prioritized – high effort, low value)
- We need to wait until system X has been upgraded. They said we should get a release at the end of the year. (Dependency on vendors for software release)
- We can’t do it the way you want but how about I show you what we could do. (You need to bend your business processes to fit with the technology – the classic workaround)
It was always about managing expectations and preparing the users for the worst-case scenario. Of course, there was always a small number of requests that you could push through quickly and in the way that the users wanted and when that happened it was a win-win for the business and technology. Happy days all around.
The Importance of Business Needs
As technologies have evolved the focus has switched. Rather than the business having to bend their processes with the technology they have in front of them, the technology now bends with the business putting the users’ needs at the forefront and in turn, simplifying systems integration. This has been a major cultural shift and has seen waterfall methodologies and lengthy IT projects replaced with agile methodologies and new ways to integrate systems and applications.
Silos between business and technology have been replaced with strong collaboration between business and technology. The traditional build v buy debate is now becoming build and buy or even better still, augment and evolve. This has led to rapid innovation on the trading floor rather than stagnation. All of these factors have enabled firms to remain competitive.
With this in mind, we have seen an increased demand from firms wanting to solve one business problem at a time and take the shortest path to add value now and that’s exactly where the G42 Appliances fit in.
Speed up Systems Integration, Solve a Specific Business Problem, and Get the ROI Now
The question for many embarking on digital transformation projects is about knowing where to start? The beauty of Glue42 is that we recognize there are many roads to digital transformation. So why not take a “multi-path” approach to let traders have their ice cream and their sweets?
With G42 Appliances we recognize this bottom-up approach to digital transformation, and we enable firms to deliver solutions to their trading desks at lightning speed, in a matter of days rather than months.
By solving one business problem at a time, G42 Appliances allow end-users to get agile solutions that fit the way that they work and get the value-add now rather than waiting months for a solution to appear.
An Example in Practice
Our latest G42 OMS – Custom Appliance is the G42 Fidessa – Velox (Consolidated Order Manager) Appliance, which was built specifically to solve a business need.
The Problem:
The client acquired a new firm and did not want their sales traders to have two separate instances of Fidessa running side by side to manage orders and IOIs. This would increase costs and add operational risk. Additionally, they did not want to engage in a lengthy systems integration project and were looking for a speedy off-the-shelf solution which would take into account the business needs and pave the path to desktop integration.
The Requirements:
Together with our partner Velox we were asked to create a centralized order blotter that would display orders from both systems and then add the ability to create IOIs off the back of these orders regardless of which Fidessa system they came from.
The Solution:
The attraction of using a combined Velox – Glue42 solution is that they are two halves that make a whole. Velox brings together different data feeds from the back-end and consolidates the data in a front-end web application. Glue42 then allows desktop communication between the different applications in scope.
In this case:
Velox consolidated order data from the two Fidessa platforms into a web application.
Glue42 enabled Fidessa UI actions to be launched from the web application.
The Results:
- Greater business coverage: Full visibility of the European Order Book.
- Greater client coverage: The ability to create IOIs regardless of which Fidessa the order was in has led to sales traders hitting more clients.
- Firm reputation: The firm is seen as one entity from the outside world.
- Increased productivity: The need for double-keying has gone away and has been replaced with efficient business and user-focused workflows.
- Decreased costs: Sales traders only have to log into one Fidessa.
- Happy sales traders: Delivered in less than 10 days!
Watch our demo below:
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