Data service redesign extends Bloomberg's dominance

Ask just about anyone to imagine an investment banker at work, and even those less familiar with capital markets goings on might well conjure up an image of a sharply suited deal-maker hunched over a multiple-screened computer set-up, displaying a dizzying array of pricing information in an unconventional colour on black format.

In many cases, of course, this is not too far from the truth, and for more than 310,000 users, the computer set-up in question is a Bloomberg terminal, which allows access to the New York-based information and data provider firm’s eponymous 'Professional' service, and has earned itself a genuinely iconic position within the financial community.

But position of dominance or not, times are tough. Strict regulations and cost-cutting drives have left potential customers looking to reduce the number of data sources they subscribe to. Meanwhile, competition is on the rise, for example, from arch rival Thomson Reuters' recently launched Eikon service.

Bloomberg has not been complacent, however, and recently unveiled a $100m-plus redesign of its 30-year-old system, designed to make it more intuitive and accessible for users. The update, christened ‘Next’, has already been rolled out to about one-third of its users and represents a significant jump forward, says Tom Secunda, Bloomberg’s co-founder, vice-chairman and head of financial products and services, describing it as “a step function change on the organic growth scale”.

Information discovery

Making it easier for users to quickly discover information and pull together related data was a key part of the overhaul, and is a must in today’s increasingly enmeshed markets. “We can’t assume equities traders concentrate on just equities or fixed-income traders on fixed-income rates anymore,” he says. “Markets are more interconnected than ever. Who would have thought 10 years ago that stock buyers would need to understand Greek interest rates… [or that] people trading equities in France would need to monitor credit default swaps. All of this data has to be discoverable now.”

It has always been there, says Mr Secunda, but you had to know where to look, and customers were not always able to find what they sought. Now, queries will generate a wider variety of returns, such as related companies, research and charts. A search for 'Greece', for example, will pull up options for the eurozone crisis, the world bond market, and top news, as well as the most popular securities and functions. Meanwhile, a query on inflation will also return results for the consumer price index, a common proxy.

In keeping with the overlapping nature of today’s capital markets, the system has also been redesigned so that the look and feel of every screen remains constant, regardless of asset classes and functions. However, doing away with Bloomberg’s polarising graphic and text style was never a consideration, says Mr Secunda. This was partly, he explains, because while the far more common dark text on light background style is easier to read, the firm considers it harder on the eyes, an important consideration for users who will spend a huge part of their working day glued to a terminal. Of course, he adds, it also helps maintain the unique visual identity, which has become something of a trademark.

Internal development

This individualistic outlook is exercised throughout the company, particularly when it comes to the influence (or lack thereof) that external sources have had on Next’s development.

The world of consumer computing, for example, which many business technology providers highlight as influencing the usability and functions of their products, played very little role in coming up with Next’s improved interfaces, says Mr Secunda. He also stresses that the company is averse to implementing a delivery method that relies on any other firm or piece of technology, such as an internet browser. “We always believed in being an app, not inside another,” he says.

Similarly, beyond some natural language search functions, Mr Secunda goes out of his way to stress the differences between Bloomberg’s search functions and web-based services such as Google, or Microsoft’s Bing. “It is completely different from web search. They have billions of unstructured data/pages, whereas our data is structured, and there are tens of thousands of functions.” Moreover, he adds, Bloomberg develops a level of familiarity with its users that is unrivalled by mass-market consumer tools. “The other difference from a web-based search engine is that we know our customers, and our own data, so our searches can give different results for different users.” This is achieved, he explains, initially via a user survey, and as usage patterns are established, their habits, and those of their peers.

He is similarly adamant that Bloomberg’s market-hungry rivals are of little concern, technologically speaking. “We really don’t spend much time looking at our competitors, that’s just not how we do things; it’s part of the Bloomberg philosophy.”

Users themselves, however, are a different story altogether. When he sat down with The Banker, Mr Secunda was fresh from a meeting where he jokingly says customers “beat me up on a couple of different things” – issues that he says Bloomberg will be addressing immediately. And Next is designed to help adapt the service to individual needs. “Offering clients an intuitive way to access prices and build their own journey is a key point, because every client has requirements and it’s impossible to satisfy everyone yourself, but through smart tech, you can build an interface, which allows clients to do exactly that.”