Q&A with Gary Brackenridge, Global Head of Linedata Asset Management
Q&A with Gary Brackenridge, Global Head of Linedata Asset Management
Q: Linedata launched its Asset Management Platform – AMP in mid-2020. How have clients and the market responded?
A: With the profound transformation asset managers are facing from global regulation and digitization complicated by the pandemic, they must constantly tweak their business models to articulate their value proposition. Becoming nimbler and more adaptable to meet the changing needs of clients is the number one challenge – adjusting for new products, asset classes, regulations, fee compression. This what asset managers need to do to stay competitive and why AMP was envisioned.
Our strategy, and the driving force behind AMP, has been to completely refocus the way we interact with clients to deliver software, data and expertise as a knowledgeable partner in their efforts to drive, grow, and constantly reinvent their operations and transform how they do business.
Q: How does AMP reflect the evolution of Linedata’s asset management business?
A: Linedata grew up as a product company, operating in what I would call the “system search” view of the world. Eventually, we found that was limiting to where our clients needed to go. With the development of AMP over the last few years, we are integrating cloud-based data, analytics, and services with consultative expertise. Now we can take the big picture view of someone’s operations and provide solutions to, for example, launch products in Asia, integrate ESG data workflows, or whatever pivot, wherever on the cloud continuum their strategy is.
It’s a dramatically different way that we’re thinking of ourselves at Linedata. Becoming a cloud-based technology business has fundamentally transformed how we build software, and how we deliver benefits that in turn support our clients’ own business transformations. We’ve transformed from a product focused company – away from “product/systems searching” to “partner searching”, and cloud is central to this. Our clients aren’t looking to replace like with like – they want to transform and future-proof their businesses. Putting cloud at the center of AMP helps us stand out and deliver more of this value to clients.
Q: How exactly does AMP help clients reimagine their businesses?
A: AMP is cloud based and modular, which allows us to roll out new features on a time scale that is an order of magnitude improved from the standard of product providers in our space. CI/CD (continuous integration/deployment) allows for more frequent, granular updates and additions to the software; this reduces the time, cost, and risk associated with a full system overhaul like you had in the past, and it gives our clients the edge by staying nimble and adaptable. Additionally, the AMP modules are fully scalable and extensible. We don’t have a “one size fits all” approach; we can tailor our offerings to fit the needs of everyone from a family office to an institutional wealth manager. If our client is operating out of the public cloud, if they are hosting, if they have on-premises servers – we can work with it all.
Q: How can clients “futureproof” their businesses? What is the next evolution in asset manager operations?
A: From a business strategy perspective, AMP is not purely a technology evolution of our business. Services and expertise around data, analytics, and APIs are all part of the DNA of the platform. These together, in partnership with clients, enable us to deliver new business insights and intelligence, deriving true intel from the data around business processes which brings innovation from trading to investment decisioning and the entirety of the investment lifecycle.
We see embedded business intelligence (BI) as the next paradigm that successful asset managers will leverage to drive growth. Embedded BI is where asset management is going - creating insights that allow both Linedata and our clients to adapt quickly and flexibly.
This nexus of people and technology harmonizes with our stated goal to “humanize technology”. AMP tools and practices align: embedding analytics ensures that people can access the right data in the system at the right place and time; our cloud-based Data Management Service delivers ESG scores as part of our core software offering; robust dashboarding leverages BI to give insights in areas like portfolio compliance and client retention. Business Intelligence tools are a real point of pride with AMP.
About the author, Gary Brackenridge
Gary Brackenridge is the Global Head of Asset Management at Linedata. Previously he led Global R&D together with North American Asset Management. Gary’s passion is transformative solutions for investment managers and he directs a global team bringing innovative technology and service offerings to the market. His 20-year career in capital markets technology has focused on solutions for investment managers and their service providers.
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