The TradeTech FX group found that collaboration through open standards is critical for front-end technology in a post-pandemic world.
Panelists agreed that desktop interoperability is key to minimizing the screen space required for remote work.
The global pandemic forced most of the industry into remote working conditions overnight. While most participants have returned to the office, the aftermath of the lockdown has been a mix of work that has put a strain on both technology and culture at some companies.
“Working from home needs to be just as efficient, but without the six screens. We still need to add value to customers with all this extra data, and that’s where desktop interoperability comes in,” said David Shack, head of FX technology products at Fidelity Investments.
However, the panel agreed that the key to this basic desktop interoperability is open standards. These can be used to ensure communication between systems and ensure efficient transaction decision-making layer processes within the buy-side workflow and in the workflow that connects them with their sell-side counterparts. However, not all technology providers use these standards.
“As a provider, we are open to our analytics being used in another EMS or OMS. It’s important to have open standards. In some cases, data is hindered,” said Ruben Costa-Santos, head of multi-asset analytics at Virtu Financial. .
Communication is considered another essential element of the hybrid work model, with some panelists noting that given the greater degree of automation, the system’s workflow requires pop-ups or alerts to communicate that a transaction has been corrected or stopped.
“Applications need to be able to share data between them. We need to adopt open standards to help them communicate with each other,” Shack added.