The combination of technology costs rising and margins shrinking throughout the financial services industry benefitted QUODD greatly in 2022 as we continued to position ourselves as a cloud-first market data provider that is consistently changing with the way information is consumed in this era of on-demand digital services.
In 2022, I wrote about how legacy market data providers will always have a place at the table within large firms. But it’s become clear that different roles within an organization, particularly in the middle and back office, don’t always need (or want) the bells and whistles that come with those offerings. The trend towards data-on-demand involves customized delivery models that are coupled with a user-specific experience that work better with the workflow needs of these workers, who are often either full or partially remote and need immediate fingertip access.
This trend will continue into 2023 and beyond, and QUODD will continue to be at the forefront of helping the industry adapt to these changes.
QUODD in 2022 continued to position itself in the industry as a cloud-based data provider that is consistently evolving with the way information is consumed, and how these shifts are affecting our clients. Throughout the last year, we assisted our clients in tackling two main issues that have become paramount in the industry:
1. Our clients seek digital tools that need to be deployed at the user/function level within an institution, not a holistic institutional level and priced accordingly for a remote and hybrid environment. The reason for this is simple: there have been residual impacts of the pandemic. Remote work is here to stay, meaning digital and remote access is now part of the norm for operations and back-office functions, which I wrote about in late 2022. Organizations need to provide cost effective tools to retain as well as attract the best talent. Critical market data can’t be something that’s strictly tied to a physical terminal and must be fully accessible in remote environments.
2. Associated with this need for digital tools is the need for lowering the friction of on-boarding to such a system. This is where our Universe+ product comes into play for our current and perspective clients. This goes way beyond the table stakes of ensuring that the data is centralized, accurate, timely, and easily accessible with intuitive tools and interfaces. The real differentiation is in the Universe+ process whereby institutional adoption matures from self-service online displays towards power-user bulk queries for automation, sharing, and downstream system connectivity. This results in a truly frictionless experience with fine-grain entitlements and billing transparency.
As we move ahead into 2023, we’ll see much of the same challenges we saw last year. But perhaps the biggest issue our clients will face this new year will be the ability to find a trusted partner that will provide these digital tools at a cost-efficient price in a cloud-based flexible delivery model; a partner with experience in delivering superior commercial frameworks as measured by total cost of ownership, predictability, transparency, and cushions for growth.
Before we look ahead, I would like to emphasize some of the milestones we achieved with Universe+, which is a highlight of the QUODD Command Center, the fit-for-purpose digital platform that gives our customers access to reliable and comprehensive market data for middle and back-office workflows.
With Universe+, we have brought global market data content to a user’s fingertips for online display and download. We are focused on continuous innovation for self-service, power users, transparency, and fine-grain billing for institutions and suppliers; with premium entitlements that provide actionable intelligence or insights with utility spanning back-to-middle office use cases. Our customers span leading institutions across wealth servicing platforms, banks, trusts, and insurance companies and have been instrumental in helping to shape the ongoing modernization through an active user group.
As 2023 continues, we’re seeking to launch what we believe to be game-changing new functionality: Query Connect API. This automates our content library in a request/response process that is connected to the customer’s downstream systems in the same way our fingertip intelligence fits into the workflows of back-office professionals using look-up and scheduled downloads. The Query Connect API will become the industry-standard process for the wealth management servicing industry that has for too long been held back by old technology.
I will leave you with one final thought as we begin the new year. As the best-of-breed market data content is integrated into one single client-centric digital platform, where our customers consume what they want when they need it in the delivery mechanism of their choice, the fact is that people remain at the core of the success of any business. It’s the people whose efficient workflows make teams work better which then leads to improved functional areas, business lines, and firm-level success.
This will be a key theme throughout 2023, and QUODD is well-positioned today to become the most trusted source to provide fingertip access to comprehensive, global information in any format with the greatest quality, timeliness, and service levels at the lowest total cost of ownership.
Wishing you all a most successful year end and look forward to being your trusted partner along the way.