We’ve seen asset management executives fall into three main categories where their digital strategy is concerned: 1) There are the ones who have a plan, perhaps with some consultancy help, and are well on their way to executing their digital strategy. 2) Those who are muddling through on their own, and they have yet to see whether their strategy will work and lastly there are 3) those trying (perhaps frantically) to figure out how to get started on digital transformation.
If you fall into the third category, here are three tips on how to get started.
1. Get your STP house in order. Are we still talking about STP in 2019? It turns out that around 30% of asset management shops either never got around to automating all of their workflows or did a substandard job of it. This is a solid starting point for your digital transformation, and will mean your digital journeys, both internal and external, will be fuelled by timely and accurate information. Piles of tickets and break reports on operations desktops just won’t cut it in the digital age.
2. Find a way to get your Operations and IT teams working as one. Our good friends at McKinsey* tell us that “digitally advanced asset managers combine their operations and technology budgets and talent, and develop and execute joint strategies—such as client journeys—that span the two functions.” If you have ever seen how Ops and IT work together at the best investment banks, this won’t come as a surprise to you. How you do it, whether by combining the teams, merging their budgets or striping their seating is up to you, but find a way to get the synergies flowing between Ops and IT.
3. Go cloud-native with your digital transformation from the beginning. This is not a discussion about whether or not your customers’ position information belongs in a public cloud; we’ll leave that debate for another day. This is about whether your platform will be able to shrink and grow with changes in demand, and whether your IT team will be able to focus on adding business value instead of spending time fiddling with servers and tuning databases. Don’t worry if you aren’t clear on the difference between cloud-native technologies and legacy technologies; your CIO will know all about that
How you choose to position your firm in the digital marketplace is a weighty strategic decision. The three suggestions are going to apply no matter what you decide, so you may as well bake them into your plans from the outset
We’ve assisted our clients with all three of the above activities. If you’d like a tailored view from one of our consultants, please use the form to arrange a free mini-consultation.