The Dolan School of Business introduced 12 Bloomberg Terminals at the beginning of the semester, a powerful Wall Street tool that will forever transform the way students and faculty of DSB have access to financial news and information.
At the core of each Bloomberg Terminal is the Bloomberg Professional service, which integrates financial news, data and analytics into a single platform. Prior to the introduction of the Bloomberg Professional service, Thomson Reuters has been the predominant provider of financial news and information available to students through the Business Education Simulation and Trading (BEST) Classroom within the business school.
Before signing a multi-year contract with Thomson Reuters several years ago, DSB expressed strong interest in the Bloomberg Professional service, according to Michael Tucker, a finance professor and the director of the BEST Classroom.
“While there was strong interest at that time, Bloomberg L.P. did not offer academic discounts. Therefore, the Dolan School of Business could only offer the Bloomberg Professional service on three workstations, whereas Reuters would be available on 34 workstations, and thus better serve the needs of the students,” said Tucker.
Leading up to the recent expiration of the multi-year contract with Thomson Reuters, students in the Dolan School of Business, especially finance majors, communicated to several faculty members, including Tucker, that they were encountering the Bloomberg Professional service during their internship experiences and noted its ease of use.
According to Tucker, the Dolan School of Business then felt it was important to make another inquiry into Bloomberg L.P. in regards to the Bloomberg Professional service.
“In January 2009, as director of the BEST Classroom, I initiated contact with Bloomberg L.P., and this time, the company sent several representatives from a newly formed academic group to the Dolan School of Business to discuss terms and pricing,” said Tucker.
“During contract negotiations, Bloomberg L.P. offered an academic deal in which the Dolan School of Business could purchase 12 Bloomberg Terminals, which include 17-inch dual flat panel monitors, for the price of three,” he continued.
While Thomson Reuters was able to match Bloomberg L.P. in terms of price, the company could not offer the same level of service that Bloomberg L.P. promised to the School of Business. Access to Bloomberg L.P.’s 24/7 help desk and off-campus seminars was something unique and could not be matched by Reuters. The decision was made by Dean of the Dolan School of Business Norman A. Solomon, as well as the finance department, to sign a contract with Bloomberg L.P.
Now that the Bloomberg Professional service has arrived, it is important to note the value-added benefit it will bring to students of the School of Business. Students will be able to access financial news and data analytics in a more complete, efficient manner than previously offered. Not only does the Bloomberg Professional service provide reported data, it also provides data that has been manipulated and analyzed. If a business major would like to easily view the percent in which a company historically beats or misses its earnings estimate, and the resulting impact on its stock price, then the Bloomberg Professional service is the right product. As is the case if one would like to find out the impact NBC Universal has on General Electric’s overall quarterly revenue.
In addition, the licensing agreement between Bloomberg L.P. and the Dolan School of Business enables each user of Bloomberg Professional service to create his or her own account, which can be accessed on any of the 12 Bloomberg Terminals. This allows users to save not only preferences, but also research and data analytic functions, such as custom charts, stock screens, and news searches, which is something very helpful when doing research for a particular class assignment.
Arguably, the most important benefit of the Bloomberg Professional service is its ability to familiarize students with a product that is a staple on trading floors of financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, UBS and Barclays Capital. Students, especially finance majors, using the Bloomberg Professional service for research and financial data analysis, will be able to attain a high comfort level with the software that is known as the industry standard.
Coady Lawes ‘10, a double major in both finance and mathematics, said in regards to the importance of having prior experience with the Bloomberg Professional service, “I think it gives Fairfield University students an upper hand when applying for internships and full-time job positions, due to the Bloomberg Professional service’s reputation and market penetration.”
Caitlin Carroll ‘10, a major in finance, reinforced Lawes’ statement as she added, “When I interned on the floor of the NYSE as a sophomore, I was overwhelmed by the floor trading process. As a result of having experience with the Bloomberg Professional service, I will be able to better understand what the traders are doing and how they are executing their orders.”
“Such an experience will place me in a more suitable position to make a contributable effort from an earlier standpoint,” Carroll continued.
Tucker agrees with Lawes and Carroll and hopes that as a result of using the Bloomberg Professional service, students will become more desirable job candidates.
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