A trading system refers to a set of rules and procedures based on technical indicators and fundamental analytics. In other words, it is a trading blueprint that tells a trader how and when to trade.
In the computer-world, Cloud is an internet-based processing and storage space. Cloud or Cloud Computing as it is widely known, as a technology trend involves moving computing functionalities over the Internet as opposed to traditional on-premise computing.
A cloud-hosted trading system taps into these two technologies to present a reliable, real-time trading system that can be accessed from anywhere through the Internet.
At least 90 percent of companies are on the cloud according to a Gartner report. Additionally, according to a report by Cisco, 94 percent of workloads will be processed on cloud data centers in 2021. This is incredible. Isn’t it?
But one may ask, what is this that attracts these businesses to the cloud? Well, in the following paragraphs we dig into the benefits of a cloud-hosted trading system and why it matters for every trader.
So, first things first,
Ease of Access
Cloud-hosted trading systems allow traders to have real-time access to data anytime, from anywhere, across multiple devices via the internet. This comes handy with the trendy Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) system of working. While BYOD systems allow employees to use their own computing devices for working, cloud computing brings more flexibility to it. At least 42 percent of companies ascribe the access factor as the main driver for adopting cloud. This ability to work from anywhere makes companies global, more connected thus more profitable.
Increased Reliability
Going “cloud” means joining your computer to a pool of networked computers and resources. The pool provides high computing power than a local network can give. With these, you don’t have to own a supercomputer or worry about hardware specifications. Also, distributing work across many servers leads to increased reliability and efficiency for web-based systems. If one server fails, another picks up the job automatically. Most cloud service providers also offer great support with a maximum uptime assurance.
Data Security
According to Kensington, a technology research firm, a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. Besides, research by Dell found that 800000 laptops are lost each year. That in airports alone. That’s a big monetary loss! But even of much importance is the data lost and the time required to catch up with a new machine. With maximum security features, however, cloud storage protects data from such mishaps hence ensuring a continuous flow of trade. There is also a guaranteed quick data restoration mechanism for backed-up data.
Content Sharing and Collaboration
Cloud computing enhances the sharing of files while discouraging the creation of multiple copies. Users of a cloud-hosted trading system can easily share a file and work at it cooperatively on the same page over the internet. A geographically dispersed group of users can meet virtually and in real-time. This makes trading fast and allows the sharing of ideas between the traders. In this way, travel-time is substituted for product improvement and customer service.
Flexible Costing
Traditional system hosting requires that you buy computing capacity that will handle work to the peak. What it doesn’t figure out is that the computing operations are rarely at the peak and hence the machine remains idle most of the time. This idle time is not subtracted on cost. You’ve got to pay for unused resources. Other times it is the other way round, that is, the workload may randomly need more computing capacity than can be provided by the system. To reduce the idle-cost and workload influx, cloud-based systems allow that you commission- and thus pay for computing capacity as and when needed. You can provision more capacity during peaks and de-provision them when not needed. You pay only what you use.
Frequent and Automatic System Upgrades
While it may take some years for a traditional system to have a major system upgrade, cloud-hosted systems usually have several improvements around the year. With a team of dedicated system experts, the cloud service providers ensure that functionalities required by consumers are made available and up to date. These improvements involve the addition of features and functionalities that are tailored to increase workers’ productivity. More so, these upgrades occur automatically with less or no involvement of the user.
Achieve More with Less
Adopting a cloud-hosted trading system will see a company reduce IT staff and facilities costs. A recent report by IDC shows that average companies are spending a third of their IT budget on cloud services. The reasons for settling on this is quite clear. With a cloud-hosted system, you can do much with less. Your computing requirements are handled by the service provider thus no need for complex hardware purchases, large data centers and the high number of IT staff. All these are there for you to connect with.
Industry Customization
A cloud-based trading system can be customized and tailored-fit as per business-specific requirements without much hassle on your side. It can be configured in such a way to capture the policies, roles and business strategy of a company. This, in turn, makes it possible and easier in case of a merger with another company. This is contrary to traditional systems that require such cumbersome activities like application migration and data centers decommissioning to make two systems run on one information Avenue.
Business Intelligence Advantage
Business Intelligence leverages systems, and services and transforms data into helpful insights that management use to make tactical and relevant trading decisions. Cloud technology makes it possible for the organization to access real-time data remotely without complex systems installation. Cloud-hosted trading systems have many intelligence advantages over on-premise trading systems. The scalability aspect of the cloud creates more space for storing large data amounts while enhancing the integration of the trading system with IoT data-gathering systems. Most cloud service providers also give in-built reporting and analytics tools.
Saving on the Environment
According to a report by GeSI, if the rate of adoption of clouds remains constant, then the world will realize a 16.5 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emission by 2020. This will be accompanied by a whopping $1.9 trillion saving. Furthermore, on his part, Peter Thomond, a lead environmental research, points that for every metric ton generated by the cloud vendor, 20 tons are halted from being released by clients.
That brings us to the bottomline:
As data centers become fewer, and operations becoming more efficient, humanity is collectively saving the environment thanks to cloud capabilities. If you are looking to build cloud enablement solutions or are considering data migration to the cloud, get in touch with Ionixx today