Aside from its connectivity to the wider marketplace, an e-desk is only as good as its risk management tools. Consolidated counterparty risk controls, in particular, have almost inevitably become a critical consideration since they allow the firm to monitor client's exposure across multiple regions and different order flow types accurately. Firms are finding that risk checks can actually improve the customer offering and, if installed properly, need not have a negative impact on the efficiency of the system.

Automated order handling strategies remain complex, whether they are in a FIX engine or the OMS. Even at the simplest level, brokers should have the ability to automatically evaluate a customer's order flow based on the region and desired trading strategy. Meta algorithms can be incorporated into the desk to run decision-making processes that determine the best algorithm for the order, taking into account the customer, region, current market analytics and basic order attributes.

Automating order handling in this way also allows for customization of strategies based on counterparty. Firms that wish to distinguish themselves from other algorithm providers are focusing on customization of industry-standard models. Providing these customizations while maintaining a fully automated, co-mingled, direct strategy access platform benefits both the customer and the brokerage.

Flexibility is critical to these direct access arrangements and interaction with routing rules, as well as enrichment parameter settings, should be user-friendly and available on the fly. At the same time, comprehensive low-latency liquidity access can dictate the success of an algorithmic strategy so orders that are ultimately handled internally by the firm’s automated trading strategies should exploit the firm’s electronic execution management tools.

So it’s extremely clear that the technological capabilities of the e-desk go beyond just the algorithms in use. And, at the same time, these technology platforms are becoming more globalized as firms expand their international reach to offer trading opportunities on non-local markets and attract customers from overseas.

However, it’s not just the bigger players who will be able to benefit from full-service electronic trading desks. The ability to offer full-service functionality will also extend to other smaller firms. Increasingly, these firms will exploit the technological advancements that are continuing to level the playing field and which are enabling them to broaden their offerings.

And while customer service remains a priority in this post-financial crisis market, the ability to offer the necessary balance of automation and attentiveness to satisfy a specific customer base is becoming accessible to more and more market participants.