In capital markets, technology has evolved from an operational enabler to a strategic force shaping the industry's future.
With rising client expectations, regulatory scrutiny and the demand for agility, firms are re-evaluating how their tech stacks drive performance, resilience and competitive edge.
Rather than relying on monolithic systems, firms are embracing modular, interoperable platforms that bring together the best tools for each function while maintaining a unified workflow.
This approach is at the heart of the ‘Best of Breed’ strategy, which is rapidly gaining momentum.
The big shift
The more traditional single vendor suites offered simplicity, but integration was costly, customisation was limited, and vendor lock-in was the norm. Security was also a concern, with data privileges and governance rules often complex and error-prone under legacy systems.
Fast forward to today, and the landscape has changed dramatically.
Firms now expect their technology partners to offer open APIs, plug-and-play compatibility and the freedom to tailor solutions to their unique needs. This shift is driven by several factors:
- The rise of cloud-native platforms that make integration faster and more scalable.
- A growing appetite for innovation, with firms wanting to experiment with AI, advanced analytics, and alternative trading models.
- Regulatory pressure to improve transparency, auditability, and risk controls across systems.
In short, firms want choice, control, and agility and they’re no longer willing to compromise.
Best of Breed means choosing the right tool for the right job, whether it’s trading, connectivity, risk management, data or analytics. But, rather than relying on a single vendor for everything, firms can build a tailored ecosystem that reflects their business priorities. So, a tech stack is assembled using the most effective solution for each component.
The advantages are obvious:
- It enables faster innovation by allowing firms to adopt new technologies without overhauling their entire infrastructure.
- It reduces stagnant components and gives firms more control over their workflows.
- It allows for targeted problem-solving, especially in complex areas where specialised tools outperform generalist platforms.
We’ve seen this play out across the industry. Traditional single-vendor suites are slower to innovate due to their design. Updating one component often requires changes across the entire system, which is a costly and time-consuming process. In contrast, modular platforms enable firms to isolate and upgrade specific components without disrupting the entire system.
At Iress, we’ve embraced this shift by building a product stack that’s open, interoperable, and modular.
At the heart of our interoperability strategy is MyIress, a fully interoperable web-based application, built with a modular design to connect seamlessly with your workflows. We’ve also extended these capabilities to our trusted desktop application Iress Pro, ensuring a consistent experience across environments. The Iress FIX Hub (IFH) serves as a global connectivity network enabling seamless integration with complementary applications and data sources. And, by leveraging industry standards such as FDC3, FIX and Open APIs, we empower clients to build unified, scalable trading and market data solutions, tailored to their specific needs.
We focus on our strengths, and we partner with others to complement our capabilities. That’s the essence of Best of Breed. Whether it’s data analytics, compliance tools, or messaging services, our clients can plug in the components they need and leave out the ones they don’t.
This flexibility is especially valuable in today’s market, where firms face increasingly complex challenges. The ability to tailor solutions is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity.
The integration challenge
Of course, integrating multiple systems isn’t always easy; the challenges and pain points are well known across the industry. Traditional integration models often involve a time-consuming back-and-forth between vendors, with smaller players bearing the brunt of the effort and cost.
Point-to-point integrations can be expensive to build and maintain, especially when you’re dealing with multiple unique systems. And there’s a real risk of falling into the sunk cost fallacy by keeping legacy integrations in place long after they’ve outlived their usefulness, simply because they were expensive to build.
That’s why open standards, such as APIs, FIX messaging protocols and Model Context Protocol (MCP) are essential. They reduce the friction of integration and make it easier for systems to communicate. At Iress, we’ve made these standards a cornerstone of our architecture, helping clients avoid the pitfalls of legacy integration and build solutions that are fit for purpose.
Open standards allow systems to communicate in real time, share data securely, and trigger workflows across platforms. Combined, they create a common language for trading and connectivity.
Iress is positioned to champion this approach by embedding open standards into its new and existing Products. This means clients can begin automating workflows across trading, compliance, and reporting while scaling operations by adding new modules or partners as needed, without costly custom development.
In essence, these open standards enable a tech stack to become a dynamic ecosystem that adapts to the evolving needs of a business.
More control
One of the most significant advantages of an interoperable, widget-based platform is the extensive control it provides for customising workflows to create unique propositions.
No two firms operate the same way. Whether it’s a boutique asset manager or a global trading desk, the freedom to tailor their systems to match their business processes is critical.
For example, a firm might:
- create custom dashboards for portfolio managers
- automate risk alerts based on proprietary thresholds
- integrate ESG data into trading decisions.
By supporting these kinds of adaptations, Iress helps firms turn technology into a strategic asset.
From our perspective, workflow customisation is arguably the most important aspect of a firm’s product strategy. It’s how firms differentiate their services, optimise operations, and meet compliance needs. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in making our product stack configurable.
The shift to cloud-native infrastructure has also transformed onboarding and deployment. What used to take weeks or months can now be done in less than a day. This agility and pace is crucial for firms looking to expand into new asset classes or regions without being burdened by manual processes or infrastructure constraints.
What’s ahead
In a world where change is constant and complexity is increasing, interoperability will be the defining feature of trading infrastructure. The rise of AI, alternative data, and real-time analytics will require platforms that can integrate, interpret, and act on diverse inputs.
Modular systems won’t just offer flexibility, they’ll enable intelligence. They’ll allow firms to orchestrate smart workflows, leverage data-driven insights, and adapt quickly to regulatory and market changes.
At Iress, we’re committed to supporting this future. Our product strategy is built around openness, modularity, and client-led innovation. We’re not just responding to market trends, we’re shaping the infrastructure that defines them.
We’re not just responding to the future of trading technology. We’re building it.
This article was originally published in SIAA Monthly September 2025.
