A Recent survey looking specifically at productivity stated only 18% of clients were very satisfied with their automation programs and went further still 71% of respondents cited poor implementation and 59% noted a lack of coordinated strategy as a reason for not achieving success. What needs to happen to change this situation? Clearly, the respondents of the survey would have benefitted from building an automation CoE to coordinate and implement the various automation projects in the pipeline ensuring standards, best practices and governance are adhered to and avoid building automation silos across the different business functions.

The beginning of the journey starts with the identification of opportunities across an asset manager’s value chain, this could be in Investment Operations, Finance, Compliance, Risk or Front-office including Client Services. Broadly speaking there will be tactical opportunities or quick wins as well as more strategic initiatives which will be more complex in nature. At this stage, we would recommend that automation projects are carefully aligned to the target operating model of the business. @psKINETIC, we start with the end in mind by clearly defining the desired outcomes for each project and discussing the opportunities and identifying the priorities of the business.

An automation assessment is then carried out with careful consideration given to articulating the business objectives of the project be it a cost reduction exercise and a net increase in operational efficiency, risk mitigation and increasing accuracy and processing capabilities as well as the impact on client experience.

The data collection phase includes a detailed review of existing processes and systems, technology architecture, documents and data, external benchmarks. It is also important to complete a people and culture review which is typically carried out by a series of interviews and shadowing.

A comprehensive analysis is then carried out using a qualitative and quantitative framework to look at risk and opportunity, capability and define what options are available which is linked to success definition.

psKINETIC will then deliver a report based on the findings of the assessment with a series of actionable outputs including, opportunity assessment, business value, tools & program plan and recommend next steps.

For further details contact
David Landi – Head of Asset Management
E: David.landi@pskinetic.com
www.linkedin.com/in/david-landi/