Client engagement now tops performance when it comes to investment flows. But asset managers, hedge funds, and wealth managers’ reliance on Excel and other outdated desktop tools may be hindering their ability to cater to clients effectively.
The findings are revealed in a survey conducted by Clearwater Analytics, in which 48% of 136 buy-side market participants selected client engagement as the primary driver of investment flows, with just 30% picking performance. The survey also found 44% are still overly reliant on Microsoft desktop tools, such as Excel, for the aggregation and management of their investment data for client reporting, rather than modern data management systems.
Given that it has been a bumper year for elections – more than half the world’s population will be making their way to the polls this year, and client reporting teams receive more requests during electioneering periods – the findings may suggest that teams could be falling short in their levels of client servicing due to their reliance on Excel, particularly during times of market turbulence.
Sam Idle, solutions consultant at Clearwater Analytics, said: “The formula for effective client reporting simply isn’t going to be found in Microsoft Excel, not with the amount of data that asset managers now have to grapple with. That is on top of the fact that the depth and range of insights investors now demand from those managing their money has dramatically increased over recent years.
“To produce both regular and bespoke client reports that are going to differentiate an investment manager from their competitors, the tools they rely on to aggregate and manage the vast swathes of data being used have to be more advanced than archaic Excel spreadsheets scattered across an organisation’s IT infrastructure,” Idle added.
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