The non-compliant use of messaging platforms has led to billions in regulatory fines. Symphony helps enable seamless compliant messaging with clients via WhatsApp, WeChat and SMS
Enable surveillance and recordkeeping of clients’ preferred messaging platforms
Enable maintenance of SMS communication records for regulatory compliance
The only fully open, scalable, and secure collaboration platform purpose-built for global markets – enabling efficient workflows and compliant communication
Suite of modular collaboration capabilities accelerates communication
Leverage Symphony’s capabilities in your platforms and portals
Secure, compliance-enabling framework meets the stringent needs of markets
Compliance-enabling and scalable voice technology maximizes efficiency by defragmenting communication and connecting traders and trader-adjacent teams instantly
Eliminate communication silos and provide instant voice connectivity
Cross-organizational solution native to Symphony and built for speed
Trader-adjacent connectivity with global intercom across internal teams
Full-featured turret replacement with maximum external connectivity
Facilitate productivity, collaboration and effective co-working with leading video conferencing platforms integrated alongside Symphony chats and rooms
Keep collaborating in Symphony while joining or hosting Zoom meetings
Retain Symphony workflow context during Teams Video meetings
Connect your everyday systems to Symphony to improve efficiency, reduce context switching and mitigate manual tasks
Enterprise software bi-directionally integrated with Symphony
415+ apps and 2K+ bots to help streamline and automate workflows
During our virtual Symphony Innovate New York 2020 event, it was my pleasure to host a breakout panel discussion on operations workflows featuring three leaders from the Symphony community, representing BlackRock, BNY Mellon and Credit Suisse.
At Symphony, our goal is to be the connective tissue that enables our community to use data more intentionally and overtly, while minimizing the need for context switching, which can interrupt workflows, hinder efficiency and increase risk. From confirms to clearing and collateral to custody, this complex topic yielded insights on data analytics, identity in a more connected and distributed digital financial world, transparency across the lifecycles, and more.
When it comes to operations workflows, getting data to the individuals and teams who need it is paramount. As Lou Rosato, Director, Investment Operations, Global Business Strategy and Relationship Management at BlackRock said during our panel, “We’re moving data so that people can make decisions. When we get the right data to the right people at the right point in time, then decisions are improved upon and the friction comes out.” For BlackRock, Symphony’s role in this process extends beyond that of a communications tool. Symphony has “been a catalyst for change. It’s a tool where we can connect through that lifecycle with our ecosystem better.”
Orchestrating the efficient flow of data also depends heavily on securing input from the right people–which requires access to the right contacts at the right moment. Whether that contact is an internal colleague, external contact, or even a bot, a secure, shared and granular directory helps streamline the collection and exchange of data to power efficient workflows.
In the collaboration economy, the ability to work across barriers that separate teams and organizations is critical. But as Raj Iyer, a Director of Core Digitalization and Reimagination at BNY Mellon pointed out, “the challenge is there are a lot of disparate processes built up over time: different roles, different nomenclature.” Within the trade lifecycle, different teams and individuals speak different languages, describe tasks differently, and focus on different priorities.
Technology, Raj added, can help solve this challenge by establishing a “connective tissue” to facilitate data sharing and streamline workflows. This increased interoperability doesn’t just happen overnight — it’s incremental and iterative. But with more of the investment lifecycle happening in real time, the need for standardized systems that can support real-time processing is growing. Tools like Symphony that facilitate connectivity play an important role in achieving the greater interoperability that operations require to be more collaborative, agile, and efficient.
Karen Newton, Managing Director, Credit Suisse shared thoughts on how human-led technology–specifically automation, augmented reality, and virtual reality–would be game-changers for operations professionals in the future. “Automation allows us to point our talent in more challenging and mentally stimulating directions, whether that’s client service, problem solving, future design, or strategic thinking,” she explained. And while some people associate bots and artificial intelligence with eliminating human jobs, Karen stressed that when it comes to operations workflows, the types of responsibilities automation can take over tend toward time-consuming busywork like manually transferring or mining data. These are tasks a bot can do instantly and flawlessly, and most professionals are happy to hand them off in order to focus on work that is both more rewarding and adds more value.
Looking to the future, our panelists expressed excitement about innovations still to come. From interoperability that enables seamless collaboration across supply chains and lifecycles, to augmented and virtual reality tools that “shrink the world” by replicating our sense of physical presence in virtual meetings, human-led technology presents myriad opportunities to evolve operations workflows and enhance collaboration.
Today, the world is fragmented, siloed, linear, and batched. The future is more connected, more circular, and more real-time. Digitization can play a significant role not just in automating manual processes, but also by acting as the fabric within the frame of larger and more connected workflows. Professionals and teams can leverage this technology for improved outcomes to better share information, increase transparency, and collaborate to solve challenges.
Many thanks to Lou, Karen, and Raj for joining me in this informative discussion during Innovate New York 2020. To watch the video of this panel and other sessions from the event, visit our event replay page. You can also read my blog that recaps my other panel which dives further into the Future of Markets and our new human-centered digital reality here.
More than ever before, business success depends upon an organization’s ability to communicate quickly and effectively. It’s clear that the “workplace” has radically changed. This new landscape demands three things from every company’s communication tools:
In December of 2021, SIFMA, ICI and DTCC called for the shortening of the settlement cycle in the U.S. financial markets from T+2 (transaction date plus two days) to T+1 (transaction date plus one day) within the first half of 2024. Their report indicates that accelerating the settlement process will “reduce risks and costs for the industry while building upon the benefits achieved in the successful move to T+2 in 2017.” This is in line with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s announcement on Feb 9, 2022 of a proposed rule to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer transactions from two business days after the trade date (“T+2″) to one business day after the trade date (“T+1″), while soliciting comments regarding challenges and possible approaches to achieving settlement by the end of trade date (“T+0″).
In our journey building an event mesh, we face the challenge of reconciling with Symphony’s engineering history. Specifically, we are transitioning from a single-tenant, monolithic architecture to a multi-tenant, microservice architecture. And critically, due to the nature of our business, this shift must be both progressive and smooth.
