BLOG. 6 min read
A data management platform (DMP) is an invaluable tool to help collect, interpret, organize and action data from different data sources. For wealth and asset management firms, this translates to better insights to make more strategic decisions for their client’s investments.
However, many firms still struggle to have a comprehensive data management solution that collects, connects and delivers distributed data for them to use. There are several reasons for this, but we believe it mainly comes down to their chosen data management strategy and business awareness of key challenges.
In this blog, we’ll explore the primary challenges encountered by wealth management firms regarding data, accompanied by insightful data management platform use cases demonstrating how the right data management platform, such as SS&C Everywhere, can effectively address these issues.
Current Challenges and DMP Use Cases for Wealth Firms
1—Overcoming Data Gravity
You’re undoubtedly familiar with the unprecedented scale of data we’re witnessing today, surpassing what we’ve managed in previous years. This data is on a trajectory of continual expansion in both volume and complexity, extending various dimensions due to the emergence of advanced technologies like generative AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain in wealth operations. And much like the laws of physics, the more extensive this data becomes, the greater its gravitational pull. This means that as your data continues to accumulate, it becomes more costly and intricate to move.
Global data creation is projected to grow to more than 180 zettabytes up to 2025.
What does this mean for your firm? Generally, this means that there’s significant investment (both financial and technical expertise) in inflexible infrastructure to support the increased amounts of investment and customer data. However, this doesn’t always guarantee seamless accessibility or integration; data sources may remain disparate and require additional effort to unify and analyze. You want to ensure that the data collected is comprehensive enough, as well as effectively utilized across all your sources.
Use Case: Access to Deep Datasets
- A data management platform is the optimal tool to answer large data volumes. It is a centralized repository, consolidating data from diverse sources and formats through automation. By bringing all your data to one unified platform, it reduces the need for extensive movement across platforms to gather information.
- Data management platforms like SS&C Everywhere are designed to scale with the growing complexity and variety of data. This ensures that you can continue to process data at high quantities while maintaining your data quality and diminishing the gravitational pull that restricts your movement.
- SS&C Everywhere can consolidate information such as client information (personal details, risk appetite, investment records), investment portfolios (metrics, historical return, asset classes), market data (economic indicators, interest rates, trends), etc., into one cohesive space.
2—Breaking Down Data Silos
Another significant challenge involves the existence of data silos. Data that are segregated across different departments and systems obstruct the cohesive analysis and utilization of information. This fragmentation leads to wealth managers either investing excessive manual time synching disparate information or making decisions based on a semi-developed picture.
These silos are also significantly escalating operational costs by requiring additional resources to manage multiple, often duplicated datasets. Hence, breaking down these silos is imperative to have a more integrated and holistic view of your data, enabling informed decision-making. Integrating data sources also facilitates a unified, coherent understanding of your information so that your data remains consistent and accurate.
Use Case: Unify Datasets
- SS&C Everywhere ensures that data from various sources can be directly connected or persisted locally and kept up to date in real- This includes client data in your customer relationship management (CRM) system, trade data in your integrated management system (IMS) and third-party market data.
- There’s no need to disrupt existing processes; you can quickly and easily unify data across silos in hours vs. days. For instance, in one view, wealth managers can easily see investment portfolios, market analysis reports, market trends and client financial history—data points that used to be dispersed across separate databases.
3—Getting Ahead of the Data Sprawl
Data is sourced from diverse locations, systems and formats, posing a challenge due to the absence of comprehensive management and oversight across these disparate information sources. This typically happens as an organization grows, adopts new technology and expands its operations.
Without a scalable management system in place, this means that there’s a lack of oversight across sources, which makes it hard to effectively handle and control information. Furthermore, it restricts a firm’s ability to fully utilize and derive insights and could lead to missed opportunities. It’s also incredibly difficult to ensure accuracy, consistency and compliance.
Use Case: Real-Time and Personal Reporting
- Unifying data from this sprawl can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With a data management platform, users can write a single SQL query to span different databases—across physical locations and underlying technologies.
- For example, consider a scenario where your client expresses interest in exploring a new market. Leveraging SS&C Everywhere, financial professionals can effortlessly generate personalized user profile reports using specific investment preferences, historical data and performance metrics which it can pull from different sources, such as your customer data platform—much quicker than manually unifying and analyzing individual user data points.
4—Putting Your Data to Work
Getting your data organized is half the battle; the other half includes putting it to work—which is where the real value emerges. Right now, leveraging calculations, analytics, insights, user interfaces and reporting platforms to make use of your data is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. This is due to many of the factors we’ve mentioned above: spread data sources, information silos and the sheer volume of data.
Use Case: Fast, Consistent and Accurate Insights
- From months to days, SS&C Everywhere consolidates and translates all data from various sources with different formats into a single representative datasheet. The process no longer becomes resource-intensive or difficult to get accurate and timely data that you can action immediately.
- Data management platforms can also have artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities to enhance insights. SS&C Everywhere helps business analysts identify patterns and trends to support more informed decision-making with the latest AI algorithms, collecting all SS&C data and non-SS&C data to drive AI and allow clients to drive new insights.
- Using SS&C Everywhere Data Mesh enables business users to access critical data from their laptops via a simple self-service user interface. SS&C Everywhere gives business users greater autonomy and streamlines data-driven processes such as analysis, reporting and decision-making.
5—Data Sensitivity
Do you know where your data is? Most of the challenges we’ve discussed pertain to internal factors, data protection and governance standards as a critical concern with added external pressures. But with evolving competitive landscapes and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, there's a heightened need for swift, non-disruptive responses to new regulations. In this context, maintaining a robust approach to data governance and compliance becomes non-negotiable.
Use Case: Maintaining Reports as Regulatory Requirements Change
- SS&C Everywhere helps firms quickly adjust to new data needs so firms can be confident in their data accuracy and consistency for new required processes such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) Form PF (18D-4) and Liquidity Rules (22e-4).
- Regulatory reporting also becomes seamless. Digital agents can automatically provide the data necessary to maintain regulatory reports, even as they change.
Key Takeaways
Data is becoming a key investment currency. If you want to maximize the decision-making process with your clients, leveraging investment data is critical.
Deploying a data management platform like SS&C Everywhere will significantly help you overcome common data challenges: data gravity, data silos, data sprawl, data use and data sensitivity. They empower wealth and asset managers to wave goodbye to unnecessary complexities and instead harness the full potential of their data to deliver tailored, value-driven services to clients.
SS&C Everywhere is more than a regular data management platform. It’s the only platform with infinite scale, on-demand access to experts, systems and data analytics that’s underpinned by a digital workforce to maximize success.
Don’t let data hurdles hold you back. Learn how SS&C Everywhere can accelerate your financial operations with unparalleled speed and control—unleash the power of your data today.
