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It’s no secret that the fund management industry is burdened by legacy technology, much of it more than 30 years old, that simply can’t do what is needed today.
John Lehner, President, FundGuard | 3.24.2022
Data volumes have grown beyond our wildest expectations, regulatory changes have been far-reaching and hugely impactful, new asset classes have come (and are coming) to market and client expectations have evolved. Legacy systems are not fit for purpose, but change is slow and, too often, not nearly innovative or far-reaching enough.
That digitalization, and accompanying wholesale transformation, is inherently necessary is largely undisputed. But our industry is struggling with understanding what this really looks like, and what’s needed to achieve this. This is complicated by the industry’s staggered acceptance of cloud technologies and the application of AI and Machine Learning. As a result, I have yet to meet a single client or industry insider who is genuinely satisfied, never mind happy, with their current digitalization strategy.
While some industry players have invested heavily in front office technology in an attempt to digitize it, this misses the real truth about digitalization – it must encompass an entire organization to allow your data, and the processes and decisions that come from that, to flow and move seamlessly in multiple directions and ways.
True digitalization removes barriers, it doesn’t add new ones. A front office with sophisticated digitalization solutions but old-fashioned manual processes in the middle and back office is just smoke and mirrors – it might look good to the customer, but it doesn’t really add any genuine value.
Instead, we should be focusing on how digitalization can drive fundamental change – helping to generate increased alpha, reduce risk and enhance customer experience. We can only do this by creating an entirely new ecosystem, one in which workflow processes, data and decision-making are improved as a result of integrated digital strategies. We have to start from scratch and build systems that are data-native, cloud-native and future proofed.
The future is now.
The good news is that we can. The technology exists today in a way that it didn’t even 10 years ago.
The trick is not to think like we always have, but rather to center technology and data, and reconsider everything we thought we knew. It is time to redesign and build from the ground up to create scale and operational optimization in support of current and future needs of the industry.
Imagine a single operating model that stretches across multiple dimensions – asset classes, regions, front/middle/back office to enable unparalleled scale and efficiency and significantly reduced costs of ownership. The capabilities of a cloud-native accounting system may still be relatively new, but the concept is already changing the way our clients think, and the long term value can only grow exponentially.
Benefits we can all see.
This ground-up transformation and digitalization process will deliver a multitude of benefits including:
At FundGuard, we believe that the industry is stuck in a cul-de-sac, with very little room to turn. We believe the answer is to disrupt the entire system and create a global utility that will drive a new era of investment management operations for asset managers, asset owners, custodian banks and fund administrators.
FundGuard is a proud sponsor of IMpower Incorporating FundForum.
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Originally published on Informa Connect
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