Expert: George Koshy, Product Solutions Manager at SEI and Edward Blake, Chief Technology Officer at Waverton Investment Management Facilitator: Caroline Burkart, Director, Wealth Management Consulting at Alpha FMC
Overview:
The session examined how Waverton Investment Management has transformed its sources and manages data online via SEI’s data Cloud platform. The discussion focused on the need for control over data, bringing it to one central place and then deriving value from it – such as improving client experience with AI.
Discussion:
Waverton had been dealing with several legacy systems that were not very communicative with each other. After partnering with SEI, the firm kept the best bits of its existing technology stack but brought in SEI’s data Cloud, powered by Snowflake. This allowed the firm to perform its own data queries as required, as well as benefit from a change notification layer to identify changes to data in near real time and react to clients’ needs, or those of their internal colleagues.
The goal was to make the data more meaningful and manageable and reduce the complexity of tables used. Waverton has since improved efficiencies, and abstraction layers have also been built so that users only see the data relevant to them.
One of the biggest benefits was bringing data onto the Cloud, particularly given the large volumes involved. Indeed, doing so allowed for creating a data dashboard, which means that the same data is available to everyone – a sample use case is KYC, where maintaining one KYC record per customer becomes possible.
Security was also mentioned, with the importance of physical data segmentation by SEI being raised. However, it was thought that firms need to take responsibility for their data wherever it sits and ensure that any provider has the right level of protection, including encryption in transit and at rest.
Data quality was also discussed. It is everyone’s responsibility - frontline input is the starting point, and there needs to be a clear appreciation of the downstream effects of poor data. A business has to consider both data management and data quality in tandem. In that respect, building a culture of high-quality data management is important. Indeed, when managing complex client relationships, good data on the foundation and make-up of the boardroom, as it applies to technology, is key.
Key takeaways:
- The need to have control over data, an accessible data source, and balance the risks of dealing with all the data required needs an innovative data strategy
- There are significant benefits to bringing data onto the Cloud
- Data security has to be managed regardless of where it sits
- Quality of data is everyone’s responsibility - frontline input is the starting point
- Leveraging value from data must be a key goal
