Member Article

The Mobile Revolution

Mobile technology has revolutionised the financial services industry by eliminating traditional methods of working. With people spending more time on their mobile phones than ever before, this service is not only important; it is imperative. But for success, organisations must deliver the right data to multiple devices in real-time, without affecting performance.

As the financial service industry frees employees from the shackles of the desktop computer to ensure that capital markets, wealth management, retail banking and e-commerce transactions can be done in real-time, anywhere in the world on any mobile device. Gone are the days of knowing where customers will trade, bank or shop as they increasingly transact on the move. As a result, financial organisations must support their customers accordingly. Mobile solutions are no longer an option, but an essential, strategic tool to reach customers.

Celent reported that “financial institutions are investing in more capable online and mobile platforms… [and that] fielding and maintaining a competitive mobile channel is a high priority toward achieving retail banking strategic objectives among 81% of banks and 93% of credit unions surveyed.”

With these considerations, financial services organizations are challenged with how to deliver critical and intelligent data at speed to mobile customers and employees. Data moving across networks needs to meet expectations for speed and reliability to ensure competitiveness, quality of service and customer acquisition and retention. For the organization, this needs to be done both cost-effectively and without interfering with the existing business.

Critical Data at Speed

All financial services organizations are driven by critical data. But now that critical data has been extended outside a company’s firewall. Critical data must be available anywhere employees conduct business, on any mobile device. Whether it is the hedge fund manager running trades through multiple brokers requiring updates on his tablet or an investment bank’s single-dealer platform (SDP) being accessed via a tablet, the data being aggregated, delivered and used to make trading decisions anywhere is critical.

Nicole Sherrod, managing director of the Trader Group at TD Ameritrade said in a Futures Magazine article, “Speed is a consideration for anything you’re doing with mobile technology; you’re at the mercy of whatever kind of connection you have.” And if critical data is not delivered or is even a millisecond too late, opportunities can be missed and profit could be at stake.

Without the capability to transmit, internally or externally, the critical data necessary to make informed decisions, financial services organizations will lose customers and revenue. Real-time speed is essential, but it is not only speed that is important; it is also what data is sent.

Financial services organisations should look for a solution that delivers the right data, to the right device in real-time, intelligently.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Push Technology .