Enhancing chat through standardisation of data

The importance of technology and data connectivity was highlighted a year ago in March 2020 when the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the Vix, which is also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, reaching levels that were even higher than during the financial crisis in 2008. Staff had to deal with extremely high volumes while working from home and there has since been an acceleration in the digitisation of workflow to cope with the inefficiencies and inconveniences of remote working. Firms have needed better data in order to become more efficient and continue to serve their customers.

Standardisation of data – one syntax

However, where dealers are still carrying out pre-trade negotiations over voice and chat there are often manual processes for recording quote data. By taking the heavy lifting away –the copy and paste, the rekeying, the robotic tasks – that employees do every day you free them up to do the tasks you want your humans to do – spark conversation, cultivate relationships, generate ideas and create revenue. Standardised syntax means you can rely on a set format and build technology to use those messages. This helps automate the repetitive processes to avoid failures. This could be something as simple as recognising a pricing request and pushing notifications out to the involved parties.

Standardisation of data and syntax also drives automation and whilst we look towards global uptake of these standards an interim state can still offer more efficient, safer processes that lead towards full electronification. Where standards are not adopted across the board there exists the ability to develop a translation layer so that both sides can use their native formats but still understand their counterparts requests and responses. When you can connect data sitting in existing tools and applications you can build data-driven workflows on top of that data. You are unbundling the data that was in spreadsheets, file shares, voice and chat and giving it a structure. That workflow becomes easy to record, auditable, trackable but more importantly it’s real-time and collaborative. Everyone sees the same real-time data and can interact with it and make decisions on it at the same time. This doesn’t just mean sales and traders but across the organisation as a whole – from compliance to operations to finance, legal and beyond. In order to analyse client relationships and focus on improvements for mutual gain you need a high quality, consistent, agreed data set to work from. That will only exist when you record your interactions accurately and at all stages of the process.

Artificial Intelligence

For the buyside to fully leverage value contained in their data its essential to bring Artificial Intelligence into the workflow to present insights and opportunities based on data that AI has processed. This means we preserve the human interaction, whilst leveraging automation and ultimately allowing the trader to make a better decision – the trader will no longer interface with the data directly but with the possibilities of the AI processing the data.

ipushpull has recently launched PPQ (Pushpull Quotes), which standardises and automates the negotiation process to help both the buy and sell side achieve these aims. PPQ fits within existing workflows so neither the client or their counterparties need to install a new system. Trading and sales can enhance chat by communicating pricing information in private bilateral conversations more quickly and efficiently using a standardised syntax. Chatbots interpret key features within the standardised data and display customised information on the desktop so the user can manage their workflow from just one screen. Standardised syntax also allows bots to take on the heavy lifting of repetitive administrative tasks so trading and sales can minimise operational risk by removing manual touchpoints.

If you would like to know more about standardisation of data, feel free to get in touch.

October 3, 2019November 4, 2019

The ipushpull Bot Framework: No-code rapid delivery of data bots

ipushpull is excited to extend its data sharing platform to include a new innovative bots-by-configuration framework that means powerful data chat bots can be built and deployed in hours.

Normally building bots takes time: integrating with chat, developing the logic and importantly connecting to the right data services or applications. This means costs are high and time-to-market is often weeks or months.

The new ipushpull offering rapidly accelerates delivery combining our existing plug-and-play unified live data platform with a bots-by-configuration approach.

This means your chat bot can easily be configured with no-code to connect to data from multiple sources (MS Excel, in-house DBs, cloud services) and to run in multiple chat environments including (Symphony, Microsoft Teams, Slack).

The ipushpull platform provides a no-code paradigm shift in how powerful workflow data bots can be rapidly built, deployed and managed with a consistent and unified approach.

Its as easy as:

Plug in your live data to ipushpull
Configure your bot tasks
Deploy your bot and get going!

In capital markets the ipushpull bot model is already being applied to many live or on-demand workflows including:

Product due diligence permission for trading desks
Live axe trades for buyside
Reference data from 3^rd party data-as-a-service

An example of a data bot in Symphony chat

ipushpull is a live data sharing platform that is revitalizing financial services with innovative workflow automation solutions for clients such as NatWest Markets.

To learn more please contact sales@ipushpull.com.

November 9, 2017November 9, 2017

Share spreadsheets into Slack – app takes data interoperability to the next level

In a recent blog we highlighted that if chat and collaboration platforms are looking to replace email then ipushpull is positioned to replace file attachments and file sharing.

In the past few years, driven by version control frustrations, email fatigue, security concerns and the desire for faster, more interactive communication, the sharing of information via email is increasingly being overshadowed by a growing range of collaboration tools.

This space is occupied by a combination of familiar tech heavyweights together with specialist collaboration app providers where Microsoft Teams and Workplace by Facebook compete with the likes of Slack, Symphony and Atlassian’s Stride.

The development of this new set of messaging and collaboration applications offers new channels for ipushpull‘s real-time data interoperability for end users in applications they already use. ipushpull is one of the first providers to really push to the limit the capabilities of these new collaboration tools, making it easy to share spreadsheets into Slack and Symphony along with other data.

In recent years, Slack has become one of the most popular and established applications in the chat space and has seen incredible growth with 6 million active daily users. It offers cross-team channels, private groups and 1-to-1 direct messages for messaging as well as file sharing.

However, even though Slack allows spreadsheets to be uploaded on the go, there is still no way to view them in the app itself. For sharing data from Excel spreadsheets, this can be a big drawback introducing the common problems of version control and collaboration difficulties associated with files. While users of Google Sheets still have to jump out of Slack (and thus context switch) to see their data, leaving ipushpull as the only app on the market that allows users to share spreadsheets into Slack.

How to share spreadsheets into Slack with ipushpull

Until now there has been no way to view selected ranges of data from spreadsheets within the Slack chat platform. ipushpull‘s Slack app offers just this – the ability to pull a selected range of data from a live spreadsheet directly into a Slack channel whether that’s a snapshot, live data or streaming data, in a secure encrypted form, so everyone on the channel can view and collaborate on the very latest information.

The ipushpull Slack app can support a wide range of use cases where customers have a need to share data in a secure way. Static, live or streaming data may be shared within the channel manually or via simple ipushpull Slack bots. Let’s explore a couple of use cases to explain how this functionality can be used.

Snapshot, or static, data

Snapshot data maybe shared manually or automatically when certain user-defined criteria are met. For example, a manager of a chain of retail stores may share sales data with management or staff by copying and pasting data into a chat channel, instead they can improve scalability and efficiency of their service by using a bot (also provided by ipushpull of course) to share the current state of sales or automatically alert management when a sales target is hit. All from a spreadsheet connected to Slack via ipushpull.

Live data

Live data enables someone in a team, working in a collaborative way, to make updates to data in their Excel spreadsheet, or local database, for example, and have that automatically – in real time – update in the ‘team’ Slack channel. For example, a multi-national enterprise, with a bid team working in diverse locations, can use the chat and ipushpull to collaborate on a financial model in a spreadsheet with changes reflected in real time within the Slack channel. The ‘no files’ model combined with the use of live data ensures the model is maintained in a single version and is always up to date.

Share data in Slack

Streaming data

Streaming data allows a real-time ‘ticking’ feed of data to be viewed in Slack. For example, whether monitoring the US stock market or live sporting results from one of ipushpull‘s streaming ‘public’ pages, or providing access to ‘in-house’ private streaming data in manufacturing or health sectors, ipushpull delivers the ability to share true real-time updates in fast changing environments where access to up-to-the-second information makes all the difference.

These use cases demonstrate just some of the ways ipushpull’s chat integrations can be used to enhance and improve workflow and communication within organisations. And with the recent launch of shared channels within Slack, which support intra-company collaboration, there will be many more to come.

So chat is great – but it takes more than just chat to make real improvements in business efficiency. That’s why ipushpull is focussed on taking chat to the next level.

Co-author: John Eccleston

September 28, 2017September 28, 2017

ipushpull at Symphony Innovate 2017

The ipushpull team is excited to be heading to New York for the annual Symphony Innovate conference on October 4^th 2017. Come and visit us at our booth for a demo of our popular Symphony integration and find out more about how our customers are using it. And don’t miss our CEO, Matthew Cheung, participating in the Operations Panel alongside

other thought leaders from the technology and investment banking worlds, discussing how Symphony’s technology is optimising communications internally and between financial institutions.

#SI2017 Symphony Innovate – The Event Itself

Symphony Innovate 2017 is a one-day conference led by Symphony, in which industry-leading technology and financial executives, engineers and thought leaders from around the world are brought together to discuss how technology enables the ‘power of community’ for the financial services industry. The event will see executives from leading technology firms and investment banks such as Google and Goldman Sachs, take the stage alongside executives from FinTech firms such as ipushpull.

At Symphony Innovate ipushpull will showcase its Symphony app, which combines secure enterprise messaging with live data sharing and collaboration. Whilst Symphony provides an alternative to email and outdated, expensive enterprise messaging applications, ipushpull provides a replacement for file sharing and email attachments and facilitates easy-to-use cross-platform data sharing and collaboration.

About ipushpull

ipushpull is a secure cloud service for sharing and collaborating on live data which links directly into the apps our customers already use, including Microsoft Excel, Symphony, websites and mobile. We help our customers to:

Improve workflow: by sharing data and removing the need to share files, users can work on data inside of existing applications they use – which means no application context switching or version control problems
Increase efficiency: improving collaboration and communication by always having access to the most up-to-date information
Reduce risk: eliminating the risks of file sharing by controlling, tracking, and reducing email attachments

The partnership with Symphony means ipushpull is embedded within the Symphony messaging platform. The ipushpull app for Symphony lets you share data with your Symphony network, collaborate on it, and link it in real time to your spreadsheets, databases, cloud services and internal systems.

About Symphony

Founded in 2014, Symphony is a secure, cloud-based, messaging and collaboration platform with a $1 billion+ valuation and over 200,000 users. Symphony has been backed by major investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley, and has become hugely popular amongst financial institutions across the globe. Security and compliance is at the core of the platform while end users benefit from improved workflow efficiency by replacing email communication and legacy chat platforms.

Since its founding, Symphony has allowed its partners to integrate HTML5 applications within its platform, thus enabling developers to build rich user experiences, and facilitate collaboration whilst minimising context switching. The ipushpull App extends Symphony’s capabilities by enabling users to collaborate on data within the platform in real-time.

September 21, 2017September 27, 2017

As enterprise chat replaces email, what’s replacing attachments?

It used to be so easy. If you wanted to share a document or a spreadsheet with your colleagues or clients you had one choice – attach it to an email and hit send. Email is reasonably fast and reliable and accessible by everyone, whether they are running Gmail in a browser or Outlook on the desktop. But times have changed. Driven by version control frustrations, email fatigue, security concerns and the desire for faster, more interactive communication, email is increasingly being overshadowed by a growing range of desktop chat applications. As chat replaces email, the range of communication and collaboration options available to businesses is radically expanding.

So how can you share information when you don’t know how your customers are going to access it? That’s the problem we at ipushpull are solving. We let our customers securely share live data with their networks regardless of the apps they use to consume it. We call it ‘real-time data interoperability’.

Explosive Growth of Chat apps and Collaboration Platforms – Chat replaces email

While the rise of consumer mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp has been hogging the headlines, an almighty battle has been brewing for dominance of the enterprise messaging and collaboration market. In the years since Slack’s launch in 2013 it’s been joined by a range of heavyweight competitors including Symphony, Microsoft Teams, Facebook Workplace and, most recently, Atlassian’s Stride. While each company has differing ambitions for their platforms, they all aim to reduce the amount of email sent internally and between businesses.

Symphony’s CEO David Gurle has said:

“People want much richer communication than email and there’s really no secure, compliant alternative in the market today. That’s the reason Symphony exists. If there’s anything we’re going to disrupt it’s going to be the different messaging tools across enterprises.”

More succinctly, Stewart Butterfield of Slack predicted at Slack’s inaugural ‘Frontiers’ conference last week:

“Chat channels will replace email by 2025.”

Sharing Data, not Files

So in this post-email, post-attachment future, how can people securely share their information across applications and ensure that it’s always up-to-date? ipushpull is tackling this problem, with the launch of our Symphony app in June, and the release of the new version of our Slack app in September. Both apps enable our customers to access their latest business data regardless of source, and securely share it with their networks.

No more Walled Gardens

We quickly realised that targeting every chat app with the same ‘lowest common denominator’ integration would be wrong. Each platform has its own technical strengths and weaknesses, and each is used by different user communities with different requirements and concerns.

On the technical side, Symphony allows its partners to integrate HTML5 applications within its platform, enabling us to build a rich user experience that facilitates collaboration and minimises context switching.

Slack doesn’t support such integrations (yet) but we’ve managed to stretch its capabilities and are the only application in their app directory that supports real time updates.

Most of Symphony’s customers are based in the financial markets where time is critical and security and compliance are just as important. ipushpull’s integration with Symphony enables users to stream live updating data to their network from applications like Microsoft Excel, and collaborate in real time without leaving the application and without compromising their security.

Real time Data Interoperability

The move to messaging and collaboration platforms only solves half the problem of email overload. The real gains are made when you replace attachments with something real-time and much more interactive. By going beyond files and connecting data, ipushpull allows end users to reduce application context switching and streamline workflow, enabling true collaboration.

The ultimate result is improvement in productivity and efficiency, accessing live data securely regardless of application. We call it real-time data interoperability.