Facilitator: Chris Shaw Expert: Mark Trousdale
Headlines:
- We still expect too much change to happen too quickly and firms don’t like taking key people off the front line to interface with tech advisers
- There is an expectation that “techies” know (or should know) what the business wants and often this dilemma isn’t being clearly resolved before a project goes live. Consequently, firms often invest in solutions which haven’t received buy-in from advisers
- Current market conditions mean that firms are (even more) conscious of keeping key advisers in front of clients and revenue uncertainty makes significant spend in IT more challenging
Context:
The question “is there good on-boarding out there” was asked - a very clear answer “yes” came back from the floor but that these excellent solutions tend to be damaged by the firms’ approach to risk.
More talking and more listening from firms and tech consultants was advocated. It was suggested that the process we are trying to automate could, and should, be re-engineered as it has been built (layer upon layer) over time, to support a paper record system and to respond to regulatory changes.
The rhetorical question was asked: “ With a clean sheet of paper, would you start from here?”
Key takeaways:
- Start with Data Strategy - once this is accounted for and you are confident in your data the rest is always achievable - without it nothing will really work
- After Data Strategy build in flexibility (for reporting, for amendments to process and changes in Regulation to list a few instances)
- Create a clear data strategy, always invest time and resource to clearly specify the objectives, keep L&R involved and with dual responsibility for the efficient implementation and always keep in mind that the solution you invest in will be operated by people and so it needs to work for them
