Olmstead Blog

When was the last time you thought about service provider oversight? If you’ve experienced a significant error event, noticed a decline in service quality, anticipated a cost-benefit that hasn’t materialized, or have existing SLAs and KPIs that could be more clearly defined, then you’re probably thinking about oversight, and you’re not alone. 

Andy Ziegler has joined Olmstead as Director of Client Communications Solutions, responsible for defining and delivering sales enablement and client communications solutions to our asset management clients. 

Olmstead and Seismic Collaboration Poised to Consistently Accelerate Client ROI

Olmstead Associates is pleased to announce its data and consulting partnership with Seismic, the market leader for sales enablement platforms. In support of Seismic implementations and growth for asset management clients, Olmstead has developed tools and an approach that optimizes implementation, resulting in increased ROI and scalability. Refined from over 10 years of managing client communication solution evaluations and implementations, Olmstead has created best practices around implementation playbooks, distribution data models, APIs, and Data Readiness assessments.

Agility is a critical characteristic for asset management operations teams and is defined by their ability to adapt and flex their operating model to absorb change resulting from the following:

In continuation of the Digital & Data-Driven Asset Manager Insight Series and in response to inquiries from our our clients on “how do we become data-driven?” we address the critical success factors at both the executive and the execution level.

Asset managers see the potential for data science to generate alpha and increase sales but many struggle to achieve results. Investment models, alternative datasets, predictive lead generation analysis, marketing campaigns, client content, and more will continuously evolve as asset managers search for the winning or differentiated formula. 

To become a data-driven asset manager, firms must attract a new data savvy workforce. Our industry has always enjoyed the success of being able to recruit top talent from colleges. Recent graduates have gained experience creating data solutions using Python, big data, statistics, and the cloud and are perfectly prepared to help us achieve our ambitious data strategies. However, there is one big problem – our data platforms are not ready.      

How does the asset management industry adapt and thrive in the age of digital disruption? In an upcoming series of Olmstead Insights focusing on Digital & Data-Driven Asset Management, we will explore the critical role data plays at the heart of the digital transformation.

If you are like me, you have solicited multiple bids for a home improvement project where cost has often started out as the leading driver for selecting a contractor. However, as the project progresses you quickly realize there is more to a project than simply the price. As construction delays pile up, phone calls go unreturned and your frustration grows, buyer’s remorse may set in. While cost is important, there are other required attributes such as reliability, responsiveness, quality, creative solutioning, and meeting agreed upon deadlines when selecting the right partner. The same is true in selecting a custody and fund accounting business partner. 

The multi-affiliate operating model is increasingly under review as asset managers seek synergies from their infrastructure to bolster their margins. Whether firms have intentionally structured a multi-affiliate business model or possibly find themselves running multiple platforms due to acquisitions, these redundant platforms are obvious targets to drive organizational agility while improving margins. Some of the initiatives intended to rationalize the models have been announced publicly and their stories highlight the need to have a clearly defined roadmap, buy-in across the impacted entities, and measurable goals defining success.