Client Reporting Services

Client services and reporting teams are overwhelmed with requests for more data, more often, in more formats than ever before. Couple this with budget squeezes and talent retention pressures, and you’ve got the perfect storm for firms to start disappointing clients, missing deadlines and increasing error rates. Not a great look for a financial services organization.

Size Doesn’t Matter – the challenge is universal

Many consider convoluted and costly reporting processes the domain of larger firms, but this is no longer the case. Smaller firms, especially those going through a period of growth – whether that be number of clients, volume of reports or general increase in data feeds – are feeling the problem. Typically, technology and teams have not had the breathing room or budgets in place to catch up with the demand for stakeholders to be kept informed.

Organizations of varied sizes are reliant on outdated processes, limited automation, and disjointed data sources. Their technology teams are small and just don’t have the appetite to take on a behemoth enterprise system without significant headcount increases.

The risk of handling reporting in-house has reached a tipping point

Operating under this amount of pressure with limited tech and people creates significant risk to the firm. It becomes far too easy for mistakes to be made: reporting errors, mismatching data across content and even giving clients someone else’s data. A major breach of trust, security and client experience.

Historically, firms have battled with these issues in-house, either through manual processes, throwing people at the problem or by buying technology appropriate to their business at that point in time. Their ability to pivot as client requests, reports and content change is challenging at best, and can often lead to missed opportunities as upscaling isn’t always possible.

Democratized top tier technology via services

But now we’re seeing a shift – more firms are assessing which processes are valuable to keep inhouse, and which can be outsourced to a service. In fact, a recent survey by Adox Research shows that sentiments are changing in how client reporting should be deployed, with almost 35% of firms considering managed services or complete outsourcing. The value of a service shouldn’t be overlooked – if you can push the bulk of your reporting to a service provider, there are plenty of positive outcomes to consider.

Firms that make the move to free up their teams by using a client reporting and content service can realize accelerated time to value for new types of reporting or content, with a zero-tech deployment. The key is to switch up how we view reporting and content creation. Consider who should be creating the content, and where team strengths can build value. Find a partner who gives you the same flexibility, value and exemplary service you offer your end clients.

If you’re curious to learn more about the market shift to services, and how SimCorp can help you, feel free to get in touch.