A recent survey of buy-side traders conducted by Coalition Greenwich revealed a surprising result: the number one issue for respondents wasn’t technology, execution quality, or access to liquidity, it was customer service and desk coverage. In the survey, nearly two out of three named customer service as their most important factor, ahead of all other issues, when choosing a broker.

This doesn’t surprise us here at BornTec. As a provider of solutions for e-trading support, risk, compliance, and operations with a deep knowledge of the trading industry, we know that customer service is a key differentiator when it comes to sell side success. At a time when teams are pressured by cost cutting and larger workloads on one hand and customer dissatisfaction on the other, our CrossCheck platform is a great tool to help address the needs of the trading community and deliver exceptional buy-side support.

Addressing Challenges with CrossCheck from BornTec

The “US equity broker selection: It’s the service, stupid” report from Coalition Greenwich revealed what most sell-side support staff already know: customers are often unhappy with the level of service and support that they receive from their brokers. As trading has gotten bigger and faster, sell-side support has failed to keep up and, in many cases, has fallen behind as cost pressures have forced teams to try to do more with less and trading has become more complex.

BornTec understands this dilemma and we have built our CrossCheck solution to directly address the need to improve customer service and client coverage. Specifically, CrossCheck offers:

Unified Order Flow Data In One Workspace for Maximum Efficiency
Sell-side coverage teams often juggle multiple platforms and fragmented workflows from exchanges, ISVs, execution platforms, and internal systems. CrossCheck consolidates all of this order flow and data into a single, unified workspace, giving full visibility at a glance. This single-pane approach streamlines processes and allows support teams to monitor activity, prioritize outreach, and respond in real time with minimum effort and maximum impact.

Proactive Alerting and Reports to Stay One Step Ahead
Rather than waiting for issues to crop up—or for the client to call—CrossCheck employs intelligent alerting to flag anomalies, execution issues, or operational errors as they occur. Alert triggers ensure that the sell-side can “be the first on the phone,” offering insights or remediation, sometimes before the buy-side even notices an issue, enabling your team to provide the white glove service that the buy-side demands.

Human + Machine Synergy to Deliver Augmented Coverage
CrossCheck doesn’t replace the human touch—it enhances it. And at a time where budgets are constrained and qualified team members are hard to come by, CrossCheck is a tool that answers both needs by delivering a cost-effective solution that supports a sell-side team. Automated alerts and reports cut down on manual work and inform coverage teams when and where attention is needed – now.

Sourcing Success with CrossCheck from BornTec

“Even as electronic execution becomes the norm,
the human touch has emerged as the ultimate differentiator.”
Jesse Forster, Coalition Greenwich
“US equity broker selection: It’s the service, stupid”

Technology isn’t always the answer. Over the past several years, sell-side firms have learned the hard lesson that they won’t win or retain business by handing out screens to the buy-side and expect that all of their problems will be taken care of. In the big picture, something has been lost as a ruthless drive towards efficiency has often hollowed out the ranks of back and middle office teams, leaving behind a fast and highly automated landscape that is sorely lacking for support. Here at BornTec we recognize this challenge and build our CrossCheck solutions and modules to meet both the technical and customer support needs for e-trading support, risk, compliance, operations, and technology teams. Contact us to find out how we always put the customer first – and how you can too.

Jennifer Burrows is VP of Client Services and Support at BornTec, a technology solutions firm that provides data management and tools to support digital integration, operational resilience and surveillance, risk, compliance, and regulatory reporting functions in financial markets. Contact us to learn more.

Visit Coalition Greenwich to request a copy of their research report, “US equity broker selection: It’s the service, stupid”