Applying the Investment Ecosystem Model to Meet Today’s Market Challenges
As firms grapple with changing market conditions, rising client expectations, and tightening regulatory demands, many seek out more complex strategies with diversified assets or new vehicles for implementing investment strategies. The key to successfully managing these strategies lies in data accuracy and flexible, connected technology.
But all too often, a firm’s current technology comes with its own complexities: a patchwork of point-to-point integrated systems, tactical patches, and manual workarounds.
Firms are left wondering how to implement new technology without adding complexity or cost to their already stretched operations.
Instead of simply layering on more technology, forward-thinking firms are instead building investment ecosystems. These ecosystems offer interconnected technologies, tools, and services that work together to support and streamline an investment firm’s operations – with consistent, real-time data.
This post provides real-world examples of how firms are building investment ecosystems to tackle today’s challenges and prepare for the future.
Future-Proofing Your Technology
At SS&C, we have leveraged this model to build the Genesis platform ecosystem, covering all facets of the investment lifecycle – portfolio management, trading, analytics, accounting, and reporting.
Rather than distributing a firm's data, applications, and services across multiple locations or servers, the cloud-based Genesis platform enables teams to access their everyday solutions in one place with a single point of entry. Everyone – from the front to the back office – can trust that they are working with the same unified data source.
Eze Marketplace provides another way for users to capitalize on the value of an investment ecosystem. As the needs of their firm change, users can discover and add pre-qualified solutions directly within their SS&C platform and start using them almost instantly. By accessing this market of plug-and-play solutions, firms save time on vendor evaluation, implementations and integration, as well as due diligence, thus minimizing risk.
No matter how you configure it, leveraging an investment ecosystem ensures that your technology can keep pace with your firm's demands while future-proofing your operations no matter what lies ahead.
Onboarding and Utilizing Data
Although firms understand the importance of data in their investment operations and decisions, managing that data and effectively incorporating it into their processes can pose a challenge.
The investment ecosystem model, with its open and interconnected structure, facilitates the quick onboarding of data and the specialist tools firms need to make their data work for them. Firms can easily integrate new data sources and tools into their existing systems, reducing the time and effort required for implementation.
With SS&C Data Lens, for example, firms can access investment and alternative data sets on demand. This centralized data solution simplifies a historically arduous process and rationalizes costs by allowing firms to only pay for the data they need and removing the need for added data infrastructure and staff. Additionally, there is efficiency gained by allowing users to self-service their analytics needs, removing the time spent aggregating and generating reports.
Examples of specialist tools firms use to better manage their data include fixed-income solutions with built-in analytics and data specific to the bond market and AI data analytics tools for helping identify opportunities or risks.
At SS&C, Eze technology users can access such tools within their existing technology platforms through Eze Marketplace, allowing them to tap into new data and tools as their asset classes and strategies change.
Combatting Fee Pressure with the Use of Services
Technology and data aren’t the only ways to build an investment ecosystem.
As firms contend with fee pressure brought on by competition from low-cost, passive ETFs, many look to expand the footprint of their firms without adding headcount or overhead.
To meet those objectives, many firms are tapping into outsourced and co-sourced solutions to scale investment operations and data management.
Selecting a Partner You Can Trust: Open Technology, Risk, and Security
While the new era of investment technology brings exciting opportunities, it also introduces risks. As technology becomes more open, ensuring robust security and risk management is crucial.
When building your investment ecosystem, choose a provider that prioritizes cybersecurity, operational resilience, and has a proven track record of delivering trusted solutions.
The SS&C Ecosystem
At SS&C, we invest over $110 million annually in wealth and investment technology solutions to stay at the forefront of industry innovation. Our investment enhances platform interoperability, creating seamless experiences that unify tools, teams, data, and insights.
Learn more about Genesis and Eze Marketplace or reach out to speak to an ecosystem expert.
