Jerry Starr is CEO and Co-Founder at Cloud9 Technologies.

What were the key themes for your business in 2019?

A key theme for Cloud9 in 2019 was to help facilitate the voice trading industry’s move away from legacy hardware and inefficient practices. By digitizing voice data in the cloud, trader workflows can be streamlined and communications technologies can be enhanced through full interoperability of third party systems.

Another key theme has been to address the continuing demands for information around trading from regulators. Regulatory initiatives such as MiFID II have required trade records to not only be retrieved within a reasonable timeframe but also to be electronic, online and readily available when requested. Because of this, we have focused on making sure institutional traders have access to the technology they need to stay compliant.

What were your highlights of 2019?

One of the highlights in 2019 was our partnership with IPC Systems to offer an advanced, open voice trading and collaboration platform of choice for institutional traders. Our partnership has enabled institutional traders to streamline their voice data capture capabilities, while addressing their regulatory and compliance needs in an increasingly fast-paced, digital environment.

We were also delighted to secure a number of notable industry accolades and awards in 2019. Cloud9 was named winner of the Sell-Side Technology Awards for Best Sell-Side Trading Communications; Best Front Office Data Management Tool in the Fund Intelligence Fund Technology & WSL Awards; and Most Innovative Saas-/Cloud-Based Technology Application in the TradingTech Insight Awards North America.

What industry trends do you expect in 2020?

Despite the increasing adoption of alternatives to voice trading, voice will always be a crucial part of the trading workflow. Voice trading remains essential in key markets such as fixed income and is still necessary when trades are large or complex. We therefore expect to see growing numbers of market participants coming together to create a community of partners and leveraging voice data solutions in the cloud over the next twelve months, especially among institutional traders who are looking to digitize their front-office functions and boost their trading performance.