Waters Rankings 2015: Best Buy-Side OMS Provider ─ Eze Software Group

But for the sixth-straight year, Waters' readers tapped the Eze OMS as being the best platform in the space. This is the third year in a row that the platform has won under the banner of Eze Software Group (ESG), adding to the accolades it received while under the Eze Castle Software moniker.

If one word describes Eze Software's efforts over the past year it would be "integration." Rob Keller, executive managing director of product management and development for the vendor, says that the team has worked to continuously combine various platforms for the front, middle and back offices by building ties between the OMS, its portfolio-management system, Tradar, and its noted RealTick execution management system. Keller says that the goal is to build an offering that allows ESG to go to an asset manager and offer a true front-to-back solution. Eze has also worked on improving the user experience, including new functionality for allocation processing.

"We already believe we are the industry leader in allocation processing as far as configurability and flexibility are concerned," Keller says. "We've taken that to the next level and are getting good feedback from our clients to grow that."

The Boston-based company has also been aggressive in moving some of its capabilities into the cloud, with Keller adding that, "you'll continue to hear more about that during the next 12-18 months."

To that end, ESG has increased research and development during the past two years by 40 percent, according to Keller. The vendor boasts more than 550 firms using its OMS.

It should also be noted that integration doesn't end at the OMS, PMS and EMS-Eze is also building "tight integration" between the OMS compliance engine and the position-management system, "so that clients can now leverage all the robust compliance functionality that's in the OMS from within the EMS," Keller explains. "Whether orders originate in the EMS or someplace else, they can leverage all of the trade compliance capabilities that the OMS is known for. We believe that we're unique in the industry for having all of the accounting capabilities, middle-office capabilities, order management, compliance, advanced execution as well as our commission management suite through a full front-to-back offering."