For many of us in the asset management industry, 2021 has been an unprecedented year in terms of technology and operations change. Our consultants have been working on numerous, industry-leading programs to modernize technology infrastructures, think strategically about harnessing the power of data, and meet the evolving demands of the front office. With so much going on, it can be hard to make time to chat industry trends with our clients and peers, but as always, our blog offered us an avenue to keep the dialogue going this year.
As we wrap up the year, we’re counting down our top blog posts by readership. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, engage, or contribute in 2021!
Remember when your investment accounting system was running off a mainframe taking up a whole floor somewhere? If not, allow Citisoft’s Alex Marangoni to refresh your memory with his great blog on how industry technology has changed over time. He takes us through a decade-by-decade glimpse of the systems that dominated asset management and how infrastructures ended up so…messy. If you’re finding difficulty balancing innovation with standardization—as most managers are—Alex offers some great insight on how to think about technology strategy.
Whether you’re an Apple fanatic, SpaceX admirer, or simply find Steve and Elon as fascinating as we do, this blog gives us a little of everything—from investment management technology to the underpinnings of business celebrity. Citisoft’s Patrick Kirchner offers his take on two different approaches to innovation and how he believes the industry will evolve its technology.
Most large asset managers have utilized middle office outsourcing services at some point over the past decade, but many firms have not evolved their services along with changes in their business. Stale outsourcing solutions cause inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and can throttle growth. Citisoft’s David Quirk discusses these challenges and offers a handful of litmus tests to determine whether it’s time to consider benchmarking your outsourcing relationship.
Over the years, we’ve opined on IBOR extensively, from definition to deployment. But when exactly did we begin using the term? And where is IBOR headed next? Citisoft’s Colleen Devine discusses IBOR’s evolution—and whether it is time to retire everyone’s favorite -BOR acronym.
On day-to-day consulting engagements, our teams are fortunate to work with nearly all the industry’s leading software and solutions providers. We get to know their solutions in-depth and often get a glimpse of roadmaps, new features, and interesting perspectives on trends that are shaping the asset management landscape. This year, we introduced a new Q&A series where we chat with solutions providers to discuss these kinds of insights and more. It turns out, our readers are as interested in these perspectives as we are, and the series takes our top spot this year! Thank you to all who participated and keep an eye out for new Q&As in 2022.
As always, we’d love to hear from you on topics of interest welcome your feedback in the comments below. We hope for more insightful discussion in 2022 as well as good health and good cheer to you and your loved ones!