Caplin Systems has launched a brand new user experience (UX) design service that is set to up the game of many single dealer platforms.
The new UX service focuses not only on the look of the platform but also studies how clients use it.
Duncan Brown, head of UX design at Caplin, says: “Getting the UX right can make a single-dealer platform indispensable and create competitive differentiation.
“Implementing a single-dealer platform creates a way to win and retain business. It must deliver the products and pricing that users want. But for them to use an SDP and keep coming back they also demand ease-of-use and a workflow that matches and accelerates their own process, delivered through an intuitive, easily navigable interface.”
Some of the best single-bank platforms simply do not have the look that can engage or excite customers, although some providers are starting to recognise this, including Citigroup’s Velocity and Morgan Stanley’s Matrix who employed a host of top designers to work on their products.
Caplin’s new service levels out the playing field so that any bank can have access to a team of expert graphic and UX designers.
Caplin’s managing director, Paul Caplin, says: “UX is the area that banks need the most help in because they’ve never had to do it before.
“They’re good at building trading systems and good at programming but the fact is, most UX for banks is done by programmers who don’t have the skills of a graphic designer or UX designer. This is the gap we are trying to fill.”
Caplin told us they have a host of clients who have already signed up for the UX service but were keeping the list close to their chest. If their previous back-end clients are anything to go by (think Nomura, Crédit Agricole, BarCap, RBS and UBS), then expect to see a radical redesign of some of the best single-bank platforms out there.
