The company attributes this considerable increase in its user community to a number of factors including a phenomenon of member-driven expansion, in which users become product evangelists within their existing financial network.

"The IMTRADER community itself is driving growth," explains Furqan Nazeeri, CEO Pivot Solutions. "As more members join the network they invite trusted colleagues to the IMTRADER community, who in turn invite other peers in the industry. This is a great example of the 'Network Effect' in action – the market itself is increasing the value and attractiveness of the product as more and more users join the community."

"We've recently started marketing the platform to money managers and hedge fund managers that don't have an order management system. That's a big opportunity for us," explains Steve Menendez, vp institutional trading, Flagstone.

An additional factor behind the growth has been increased investment in new features and client services. "New communications features are providing a competitive edge for our clients who are able to drive more order flow and target and service more clients with greater accuracy and efficiency," continues Nazeeri. Recent feature launches include Message Prioritizer, Blast Browser and IM alerts.

"This is an exciting time in the industry," concluded Nazeeri. "We are witnessing a fundamental change in the way in which business relationships can be managed and nurtured in financial services. Both management of relationships and the networks, such as IMTRADER, that support and enable real time connections and communications will be a key factor in delivering competitive differentiation."