For the past decade or more, we have been discussing problems with legacy technology and questioning whether the industry would ever make strides in technology innovation. There have been many false starts, roadblocks, and missed opportunities to move asset management onto modern applications and architectures—so much so that efforts at innovation could sometimes feel futile. This year felt different. In 2022, we worked on an unprecedented number of change programs and followed along as the software and services market entered what could be viewed as a modern renaissance.
We feel optimistic about what lays ahead, especially when we look at the resounding theme in this year's blog readership. From strategy to toolsets to talent, the theme of data topped the blog charts. We've long preached that asset managers need to "get their data house in order" before making any holistic change to operating models or technology. We're excited the the topic of data is resonating because this may well be linchpin for the evolution of asset management.
Please enjoy a recap of our top blog posts by readership below. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, engage, or contribute in 2022!
5. Building Blocks for a Holistic Data Strategy
Given everyone's limited bandwidth for reading thought leadership, it's always valuable when a blog can connect the dots and offer easy-to-understand, actionable advice. Citisoft's Paul Ananth boils the complex subject of building a data strategy into three tenets and three steps. While we acknowledge that volumes could be written about data strategy, Paul's simple distillation offers guiding principles that can be easily understood and implemented.
4. The Next Generation of Data Governance
Citisoft's Paul McInnis made his blog debut this year with a truly standout contribution on data governance. His discussion of data governance frameworks is essential reading for any asset manager undergoing a change program. With a detailed graphic showing an example framework for a global data organization and a data domain case study, this piece is rich with insights.
3. Building a Next Generation Data Architecture
This blog first appeared in Citisoft's Outlook 2022 and offers a unique perspective on where asset management data architectures are headed. Citisoft's David Bates introduces the concept of Darwin's theory of data maturity to explain this evolution and explain his view on how the industry will change over the next several years. If you take one thing away from this blog, it might be this: organizations that have not yet defined and started to execute on a strategic cloud vision for data are already behind the curve.
2. Data Analytics and Investment Operations: Where is the Value?
As long time blog contributor, Citisoft's Ben Keeler can always be counted on to offer perspectives that dive deep and challenge the status quo. This chart-topping blog from Ben covers why data science is still a walled garden and where opportunities are ripest to empower operations with data. His driving question summarizes it best: "Unfortunately, the adoption of advanced analytics and non-developer coding platforms remains relatively low in investment operations. Which begs the questions: why does operations remain on the outside looking in?"
1. Solutions Market Perspective Series
For the second year in a row, our Solutions Market Perspective Series tops the list of most-read blogs. This year, we were fortunate to have insightful conversations with leadership from State Street, BlackRock, FundGuard, and SimCorp. One of the reasons that we love this series—and why we think our readers do too—is our commitment to having candid conversations about trends, technology, and business strategy that you won't read elsewhere. We conduct these interviews in person so you can get a pulse on what's really on the mind of industry leaders beyond what's published in annual reports or press releases. We've got some great interviews coming up in 2023 so we hope to see you back here in the new year!
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 2023 as well as good health and good cheer to you and your loved ones!
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