Seamless Trader Floor Support at a Global Investment Bank

Case Study: Providing IT Support That Keeps Pace With The Markets

The Challenge

Our client is a leading global investment bank, trading a wide range of financial instruments across several major European hubs. With 300 users in a highly regulated, time-sensitive environment, the demands on IT support are intense.

To meet these demands, the client needs a technology partner that can provide deep technical expertise combined with the ability to perform under pressure, delivering fast, reliable, and user-centric support on the trading floor. The environment requires seamless handling of complex infrastructure, market-facing systems, and regulatory controls, all with zero tolerance for delay or disruption.

Our Solution

Strategic Consulting Ltd (SCL) provides embedded, on-site, and remote Front Office IT Support services tailored to institutional trading environments.

We operate across key European financial centres - including Amsterdam, Stockholm, Milan, Frankfurt, and Paris - delivering resilient, business-aligned support for trading and control functions. Our teams are deeply integrated with the business and work in close alignment with traders, sales, treasury, risk, and operations to provide:

1. Trader Desk & Environment Support

We deliver deskside and floor-wide support for high-performance trading desktops and physical workstations, thin clients, multi-screen environments, dealer voice systems (e.g. IPC, BT), and specialist peripherals (e.g. Bloomberg and Eikon terminals). We are fluent in third-party platforms’ operational usage and support requirements.

2. Front Office Trading Support & Application Stack

We support a wide range of Front Office and banking functions, including rates and government bond trading, repo and securities financing, listed derivatives, FX trading, treasury and liquidity management. Our teams are closely aligned with desk activity and fully embedded in day-to-day operations, ensuring deep business understanding and responsive IT service.

Our service covers all required Front Office applications, whether homegrown or third-party, and adapt our approach to each client’s specific environment, including Execution Management Systems (EMS), Order Management Systems (OMS), pricing and risk engines, treasury platforms, and a broad mix of homegrown and third-party solutions. We understand the operational role of these systems and ensure their stability, integration, and performance within the trading environment.

3. Incident Management

We manage Front Office incidents in line with ITIL and ITO standards, including priority-based escalation, major incident handling, and post-incident follow-up. Our teams are proficient in leading enterprise service management platforms and integrate with monitoring and change management systems to ensure proactive response and minimal disruption to trading.

4. Operational Readiness & Morning Checks

We perform structured pre-market readiness procedures to ensure all critical systems and services are fully operational before trading begins. This includes automated start-of-day checks, application login validation, connectivity testing, and performance baselining. Our approach is aligned with Front Office expectations and control frameworks.

5. Network & Connectivity Oversight

We provide support for direct market access (DMA), voice/data routing, colocation setups, and real-time collaboration with infrastructure teams to maintain bandwidth and failover resilience.

6. Hybrid Work & Secure Access

We support fully compliant, secure remote trading environments - ensuring that hybrid users experience the same low-latency, high-reliability access as on-site users, without compromising on performance or control standards.

7. Program Execution & Infrastructure Projects

Beyond daily support, our teams lead and deliver a wide range of infrastructure initiatives, including the rollout of technology infrastructure in new offices, trading floor setups, and technology refresh programs. Our scope also includes enterprise-wide Windows environment upgrades and cross-site infrastructure coordination, ensuring consistency, minimal disruption, and alignment with global IT standards.

8. Seamless Integration

Our team operates as an extension of the client’s internal IT organisation - fully embedded within daily operations and positioned to deliver real-time, on-site support. We work in close coordination with infrastructure, application, and control teams to ensure responsiveness, alignment, and transparency across all touchpoints.

Support is delivered in accordance with jointly defined SLAs and KPIs, tailored to front-office priorities. We focus on minimising resolution times, accelerating request handling, and prioritising trader-impacting issues to protect execution flow. For hybrid and remote users, we provide secure, low-latency setups that mirror on-site performance, without compromising stability or compliance.

The Results

✅ Uninterrupted service continuity, including during remote work transitions and high-volatility trading periods

✅ High client satisfaction, reflected in strong relationships with senior stakeholders and continued project engagement

✅ Automation-driven efficiency, reducing manual effort in pre-market checks and system readiness procedures

✅ Trusted on-site presence, frequently consulted by global IT teams for real-time, desk-level insight and escalation support

✅ Strong compliance posture, maintained through secure access controls and audit-aligned processes

✅ Seamless cultural fit, with a flexible working model and communication style aligned to front-office expectations and pace

Why It Works

Our support model is purpose-built for complex, high-pressure trading environments. We operate fully embedded within the Front Office, bringing not only technical precision but the ability to act decisively under pressure, in direct alignment with the demands of traders, bank operations, and control teams.

Several factors make this model effective:

• Proximity and integration: We’re physically present and fully aligned with business operations, enabling real-time support and trusted working relationships.
  

• Deep understanding of the trading lifecycle and regulated environment: From infrastructure to front-office platforms, from trader desktops to post-trade controls—we understand the systems, workflows, and regulatory standards that shape the environment.
  

• Technical expertise under pressure: Our team combines high-level engineering skills with the ability to operate confidently in fast-moving, user-facing scenarios.
  

• Discipline with flexibility: We work within clear SLAs and KPIs, automate repeatable tasks, and maintain readiness procedures, while staying agile across geographies, desks, and evolving priorities.
  

• Cross-team collaboration: We don’t operate in isolation—we coordinate with infrastructure, application, and governance teams to ensure consistency and strategic alignment.
  

This combination of proximity, expertise, regulatory awareness, and adaptability is what transforms our support from a service into a critical part of the client’s trading operation.

Client Feedback

“Working closely with our in-house teams, SCL’s highly-skilled professionals provide excellent support for our day-to-day business-critical operations, quickly resolving problems and rectifying hardware faults with minimum downtime and disruption to our business.”

Rene Blom, NatWest Markets, Amsterdam, NL

Looking Ahead

Our support model continues to evolve—integrating AI-driven diagnostics, expanding our cloud-readiness playbook, and streamlining compliance reporting. As markets accelerate, so does our commitment to keeping traders ahead of the curve.

Need a Support Team That Keeps Pace with the Market?

Partner with Strategic Consulting Ltd to gain a proactive`, embedded IT support team that understands the pressure, precision, and pace of financial markets. Whether you're optimising your current infrastructure or navigating complex regulatory demands, we’re here to help keep your traders online, confident, and competitive.

👉 Contact us today to explore how we can support your trading operations.