All About the Uses, Less About the User?

0545. London. It's starting to get cold, and my alarm is shrieking insistently at me to wake up. I try to melt it with the power of my not-insignificant glare, but to no avail. One hand snakes out from under the covers, trying to figure out how to stop this noise from turning a headache into a migraine, before I remember that I changed phone from iOS to Android a few days ago, and the screen is therefore incomprehensible. Instead, I resort to hitting it, and a sullen, mutinous beep marks that I've inadvertently managed to put it into snooze. But it'll be back.
It always is.
The point of this isn't to demonstrate my lack of technical sophistication, although anyone who's ever seen me try to put up a cabinet will attest to that, but that user experience and ease-of-use are important when it comes to technology. Apple's practically built a corporate empire around that simple notion, after all.
This morning, I moderated a webcast on analytics tools and technologies, in which this very question came up. After all, you can have these giant data deathplants, taking in streams of information and churning out results, but in what form? Do they come in pretty visualizations that may look good on a Power Point presentation, or are they rendered in such a way that anyone without a PhD in rocket science may as well pack up and go home now?
The answer, as always, seems to be a mix. Some constituents in a business will be so-called power users, or Excel Wizards, and they're perfectly happy with stochastic numerical output. Others may be less so, but catering to both is equally important. Business intelligence is, after all, not intelligent if it can't be understood.
The same applies for basic things, like graphical user interfaces. The financial services industry has never been known for its aesthetic prowess when it comes to market data platforms, or trade blotters, or order management systems, outside of putting a few gradients on line graphs. Other industries do this expectionally well. My housemate, for instance, works as a graphic artist for a software company related to the visual effects industry. His job, for the past year, has essentially been making things look pretty for websites and GUIs (slacker).
Yes, the nuts and bolts are important. But when designing these products, it might be best to spare a moment for the poor consumer.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: https://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Trading Tech
Academic warns of systemic risk from AI-powered trading
Strategies generated by LLMs exhibit “very strange, correlated trading behavior”, says Lopez Lira.
The Model Context Protocol brings agents to life—along with risk
Waters Wrap: From chat to infrastructure modernization, Anthropic’s MCP offers a ‘bridge’ to agentic AI, but its early days may prove disillusioning.
NZX outlines plans to bolster fast-growing dark pool
Since launching one year ago, NZX’s dark book has 5.5% of the exchange’s total turnover, and price improvement per trade on average is 11 basis points, but the exchange has more in store.
Agentic AI comes to Bloomberg Terminal via Anthropic protocol
The data giant’s ubiquitous terminal has been slowly opening up for years, but its latest enhancement represents a forward leap in what CTO Shawn Edwards calls, “the way we should talk to the world.”
M&G Investments braves cost headwinds in pursuit of AI
The UK asset manager’s AI ambitions started with the creation of a data lake to ensure high-quality data is being fed into models.
Asic probe piles pressure on ASX to deliver Chess replacement
But market insiders think late intervention by regulators could even slow down implementation.
Stakes raised for UK bond, EU derivatives tapes after Ediphy clinches win
The pressure is on for TransFICC, Etrading, Finbourne, and Propellant Digital, who are still vying to provide the UK’s fixed income consolidated tape after Esma awarded the EU’s tape to Ediphy and its partners.
Exchange M&A, US moratorium on AI regs dashed, Citi’s “fat-finger”-killer, and more
The Waters Cooler: Euronext-Athex, SIX-Aquis, Blue Ocean-Eventus, EDM Association, and more in this week’s news roundup.