CTRM in the Cloud
Integrating to cloud solutions is an issue that does need to be carefully considered by software buyers in this
space. Given the nature of the trading business (one marked by rapid and frequent changes in business
requirements) and the needs of trading companies to quickly react to new opportunities or challenges via the
deployment of new systems or data feeds, tight programmatic integration with a core E/CTRM could certainly
be a critical requirement. For many trading firms, these integration issues could be a showstopper to adoption,
and concerns related to integration should be fully explored with any prospective cloud product supplier that
may be under consideration.
Security access and data protection should also be carefully reviewed as part of the due diligence process during
product selection, and experienced legal and technical advice should be obtained when reviewing the service
level agreements (SLAs) that govern the commercial relationship with prospective vendors. Unfortunately, the
industry doesn’t have a long track record of experience in negotiating SLAs for cloud solutions; therefore, at
least in the near term, greater effort and attention (than might be otherwise expected) is warranted in
negotiating these critical agreements.
The research did confirm the presence of some widely held concerns related to web delivery of E/CTRM
products,