Better data management reveals the secret to happier clients

By Paul Bebber
18 May 2018

Your firm could have top quartile investment returns and an exemplary compliance record. But if your clients aren’t satisfied, the rest counts for little.

Clean, accurate and integrated data, allied to efficient data governance, is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only does it help maximize firms’ front-office performance, increase operating efficiencies and reduce operational risk, it can equip wealth and investment managers with the information and insights they need to respond to, and even pre-empt clients’ evolving demands. Which will go a long way towards creating happier clients and enhanced sales and profitability as a result.

 

Taking advantage of data analytics

The key lies in effectively tapping into the extensive, and often dormant, value to be found within your client and enterprise datasets.

That means efficiently collecting, collating and managing the mass of data available to create wide-ranging views across the business. From there, firms can employ intelligent analytics that will help them gain deeper insights into customers’ demands, and how best to meet them.

 

Personalized client service

Better understanding clients’ evolving risk profiles and financial goals enables firms to construct more customized portfolios and investment solutions.

CRM systems, properly used, can be a valuable tool here. By optimising and analysing the data stored in these systems, firms can better segment clients based on their characteristics, preferences and behaviors. They can then develop more targeted products and services for specific segments to get the client experience right and importantly follow the mandate.

With goals based investing on the rise, this is a powerful way for firms to embed themselves in the life plans of their clients, and promote further client engagement and loyalty.

By leveraging sophisticated performance attribution and analytics in reporting, wealth and investment managers can also tell clients a compelling story about the effectiveness of their investment strategy.

 

The source of performance

Of course, that assumes you have an effective investment strategy. Which, as we discussed in our recent blog on enhancing investment performance, depends on access to high value, reliable content from a broad range of sources. Firms will then be better positioned to make more informed decisions based on timely information, and to implement those decisions efficiently.

 

Improved communications through enhanced reporting

Producing frequent, accurate and detailed reports, replete with information clients actually want and need, is another must. Again, an efficient data management infrastructure is the key to high quality client reporting. The ability to source the necessary data, reconcile it where appropriate, populate the reporting engine, and distribute the information to clients in ever-tighter timeframes is more important than ever.

If you can access data that allows you to provide a complete, 360 ? view of clients and their holdings, including where assets are held by multiple custodians and demonstrate a holistic view, they will likely be all the happier.

 

Meeting clients’ digital demands

Having the information clients want is one thing. But in today’s marketplace, they also expect that data to be delivered how and when they want. Increasingly that is digitally and in real time (or close to it).

The big question is how can you deliver all these capabilities to keep your clients happy, and help foster healthy, long-term relationships?

An integrated and automated end-to-end infrastructure is vital. Essential components in that infrastructure include:

  • An interactive client portal that can help with the workflow of client onboarding and reporting distribution.
  • Centralised CRM systems that track and manage every client interaction.
  • Extensive counterparty/data provider connectivity to ensure ready access to the array of data flows needed to conduct your business.
  • A flexible data hub to act as a single data store.
  • An integrated portfolio management solution able to disseminate real-time portfolio information.
  • Sophisticated data analytics to provide relevant client and business insights.

This is what clients want, and increasingly expect. It’s up to you to be able to give it to them.