My opinions and views are based on using Bloomberg and Reuters for more than 5 years in an EQUITIES or OFF BALANCE SHEET DERIVATIVES environment.
At my last employer (a broker) I was told: Listen, you can have a Bloomberg - no problem - but YOU need to make the bro to finance it. So from the start, I need to make USD 20-25'000 (depending on data-feeds subscribed and discount offered by Bloomberg) EXTRA just to pay for that. Considering most individual brokers make somewhere between USD 400'000-3'000'000 in bro from their clients I guess Bloomberg/Reuters are taking a 5% to 0.5-1% cut of earnings. 5% is totally unreasonable I think. (see post on cost of Reuters Eikon and Bloomberg)
Q: Why did I personally need Bloomberg or Reuters?
A: So that I can chat to my clients, show them prices in a more convenient way than calling them. (Always remember I don't use much analysis, risk management or anything like that. )
Q: Why couldn't I just tell my clients to install messenger (AOL, MSN, etc)?
A: They don't have a good reputation it seems, aren't secure etc....
That brings me to my point yesterday that someone powerful like Google needs to start an OpenSource standard for IM that is secure and attractive for banks and brokers to install on their trading floors.
I believe some banks/brokers offer their clients different messengers. But it's very fragmented. A standard would be great to have and promote OpenSource efforts. (I love OpenSource.)
Another very useful feature that I loved in Bloomberg:
When you send a message you can check to see if it has been read in real time. That is very nice when showing prices and being given executions.
In summary:
If you can have secure messages and secure instant messaging you really cover a lot more users needs than you may think. Especially in the mid and back-office sections of banks. Many banks use sub-licensed chat systems like MindAlign (which I loved but is expensive!) or similar.
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