Waters Rankings 2013: Winners' Circle — Talking Loud and Clear

Recently, Eze Software Group was formed by several businesses breaking away from ConvergEx Group. How is that progressing, and how are you finding independence so far?
We took Eze, RealTick and Tradar, and put the three of them together with private equity firm TPG providing the capital, and we formed Eze Software Group. That deal closed in early April. It’s nice that we’re now a focused technology and software company at this stage of the game.

We don’t have the broker-dealer assets any more, but at this stage, we’re really focused on asset management technology and driving it forward, making sure that we’re thinking ahead about how we’re going to build out the platform and pull all of the pieces together. It’s been going great, and it’s been nice to have access to all the front-, middle- and back-office components, and sorting out how we’re going to make it a value-added proposition to our clients.

Is the aim to provide your clients with a single, enterprise-wide offering, incorporating these three parts of the Eze Software Group?
Ultimately, our products run across the front-, middle- and back-office workflows. What we want to do in the short term, is make sure that we can interface all three pieces as seamlessly and as quickly as possible, which we’re working aggressively on. In that way, we can approach clients and prospects with all three components, or we can provide a mix and match of the three, depending on what their needs are. We’re aiming to make it as clean as possible for the clients to utilize any of the systems, no matter which combination they take. The longer-term vision is to get a singular, software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based delivery platform in place that will allow clients to plug and play any component. 

All three platforms have a good track record and pedigree in the industry, but what else differentiates you from the competition?
The products themselves are all award-winning, so we have a best-of-breed reputation for each of the components, which is great. But ultimately, what we’re wrapping around all three is an evolved client-service model, driving a partnership-based relationship with the client. Sometimes good support can sound like a cliché, but we are unique in that we have truly delivered a great support model, as opposed to just selling a product and giving the client a 1-800 number to call.

As well as this further integration between your products, are you looking at more acquisitions, and what are the next steps for Eze Software Group in the short term?
There are a couple of different fronts. From a company perspective, we’re looking to ensure that we utilize all of the talent we have in terms of people, given the three different teams we’re integrating. It’s an ongoing process, but it’s been going well. At a product level, we’re spending a lot of time making sure that all of the software components are talking to each other as soon as possible. At a strategy level, we’re certainly always looking out there, in this front-middle-back-office space, for things that could help us if we bought them, instead of taking multiple years to build them ourselves. If the right assets happen to come along at the right price, then we’d entertain that. Having a private equity backer is always nice in that respect, in that as long as there’s a good strategic vision and a good financial rationale behind any acquisition, they’re always there to help facilitate that. So if the right opportunities come up, we can add adjacent parts to the company if we need to, although there’s nothing imminent at this stage.

“Ultimately, our products run across the front-, middle- and back-office workflows. What we want to do in the short term, is make sure that we can interface all three pieces as seamlessly and as quickly as possible, which we’re working aggressively on.” —David Quinlan, Eze Software Group