The Business and Operational Benefits of Implementing a Single, Integrated Front-Office Platform

This webcast focuses on the single, integrated, front-office platform proposition facing buy-side firms. We all know that buy-side firms have different technology and operational needs, but there is little doubt that since the global financial crisis ─ and specifically over the last two years ─ asset managers of all shapes and sizes have sought to integrate and simplify their front-office platforms by looking to partner with fewer providers, or ideally with a single provider that can cater to all their front-office functionality requirements, while also possessing middle- and back-office platforms or tools to satisfy the front-office's data demands. It's a big ask, but what this webcast aims to establish is the extent to which all those boxes can be checked by a single provider.

Panelists: 

• Todd Healy, executive director, UBS Asset Management
• Samer Ojjeh, principal, financial services, asset management, Ernst & Young
• Terry Flynn, front-office specialist & team lead, SimCorp
• Moderator: Victor Anderson, Editor in Chief, Waters and WatersTechnology

 Questions addressd during this webcast include:

• To what extent are buy-side firms hamstrung by legacy, fragmented front-office platforms? Why is this the case? Typically, what are the shortcomings associated with fragmented front-office platforms?

• What options are available to buy-side firms looking to remedy the situation?

• How do buy-side firms make the business case for implementing single, front-to-back-office platforms that have the ability to support every aspect of their day-to-day operations?

• To what extent does data impact portfolio managers' and traders' abilities to make the most judicious investment decisions?

• What functionality (ingredients) does a single, integrated front-office system need to offer its users? In other words, what bases does it need to check in order to be considered a practical, competent, integrated front-office platform?

• What factors do buy-side firms tend to underestimate in terms of importance of complexity when implementing a single, front-office platform?

• What should buy-side firms be on the lookout for when it comes to partnering with a front-office technology provider?