Episode 199: Working Through Covid-19

This week Marshall Saffer, vice president and head of Americas sales at Hazeltree, joins Tony on the podcast to talk about software development issues that have arisen since the start of coronavirus and controversies around Microsoft Excel. 2:30 – Wei-Shen and Tony discuss his recent article on the Stevens Institute of Technology, which is creating an artificial exchange aimed initially at the HFT crowd. https://www.waterstechnology.com/trading-tools/7556791/stevens-institute-capco-lay-out-commercialization-efforts-for-new-artificial-exchange 9:30 – Marshall talks about his role at Hazeltree, which includes building out the sales organization around treasury management for buy-side firms. He then discusses some of the challenges of working remotely. 18:00 – Looking at software development from a sales perspective, Marshall says that Covid-19 has been the reason many projects were put on hold or delayed. 22:30 – Then, they discuss working with Excel, both on a personal and company-wide level. Despite new tools being deployed frequently, the industry still relies on Excel. 28:30 – Marshall explains how hedge funds should shine during volatility. 31:00 – Hazeltree acquired ENSO Analytics from CME Group back in 2019. Marshall talks about how the integration has been going since October.