OpenFin announced the launch of OpenFin Cloud Services, providing every bank, asset manager, hedge fund and wealth management firm with its own FDC3-standard private app store and workspace management solution out of the box.
The FDC3 standards initiative was launched in 2017 for standardized discovery and interoperability between desktop applications. OpenFin describes itself as the “operating system of finance”.
Across the industry, banks and buy-side firms today are focused on digital transformation and working to integrate internal and vendor apps so they can provide end-users with a common desktop experience. Driving digital strategy at many firms is the “app store” concept: once functionality has been unbundled into discrete apps, there needs to be a place where organizations can curate and make discovery an intuitive experience for their employees.
In explaining the approach, Nick Kolba, chief product officer at OpenFin, said in a statement that “we don’t mix being a platform provider with being a content creator”. The OpenFin App Store cloud service will offer firms the ability to provide their own private, white-labeled app store that can be used firm-wide, allowing users to choose from internal and third-party apps curated for their organization.