7 Signs of a Decaying Financial Portfolio Management System
One of the biggest threats that most Portfolio Managers face is the prevalence of legacy systems.Over the past three decades, investment advisors have been empowered by the advent of technology from simple spreadsheets to complex home-grown systems. From that time to the present, the industry has seen exponential growth and with it, enormous complexity. Challenges include round-the-clock trading in markets from New York to Sydney, varying accounting standards, shortened settlement cycles, and of course, increased regulation and security issues to name a few. As if that were not enough, technology seems to change every day leaving many legacy systems struggling to keep up with customer demands. Cheaper, faster, smarter, and more efficient norms are expected – they cannot be the exception. Failing systems can sharply undermine your company’s ability to service its customers and maintain its market share, much less grow the business.In this age of big data, business intelligence, and data analytics, legacy systems can represent a massive risk to your business. If day-to-day operations require the ability to manage process, distribute, and accurately report financial data, being behind the curve is not an option. If this sounds familiar, it is time to ask, “How did we get here?” and more importantly “How do we get out?”Here are the seven signs that will tell you if you have a decaying system and how it must ideally operate:1. Facing difficulties while managing data due to disparate systems?Maintaining data in different systems or manually moving move data from one system to another will lead to inconsistency and errors. Is your data quickly identifiable, consistent across multiple systems, complete, accurate, and reconciled among different systems? If your answer is a NO to these questions, you must reevaluate your platform. Your system must be able to eliminate manual data flow, update all the data with a single change, deliver timely and accurate reporting including intra-day, and make data easily traceable.2. Are your client communications professional?Investors expect your reporting to be clear, concise, and highly customized to their needs. This statement holds especially true for institutional investors. Organizations that can meet these expectations will have an immense competitive advantage over those that cannot. If your current system does not deliver the level of reporting your clients expect, you will run the risk of falling behind.Your client expectations are not limited to the form and content of reporting, but also to how you deliver information. They expect instant access to real-time information, be it through a web portal or a mobile platform to stay relevant and highly competitive, your systems must be flexible enough to send and receive communications via any channel of your client’s choosing.3. Struggling to cope with complex global investments?Dealing with multiple regional and global investment regulations such as UCITS V and VI, Solvency II, AIFMD, and EMIR is a daunting task. All these regulations require you to maintain reliable, accurate, and transparent data. To comply with these regulations, you need Workflow Management, Data Management, and accurate reporting. Data, managing risk, and maintaining accuracy is critical to comply with regulatory reporting requirements.With the increase in data sources and data complexities, your organizations need solution providers who can help you manage your data. Your system must not only be scalable but also provide actionable business intelligence in a format that is easily understood.4. Finding it hard to achieve Integration of disparate systems?Real integration is not a matter of simply connecting systems – your systems must be able to talk to each other seamlessly. Manually moving data from one system to another affects your efficiency, thereby, increasing the risk of errors. Integrating disparate systems not only reduces these risks but also improves efficiency by ensuring that back office and front office personnel can view transactions, cash positions, and holdings identically. This ensures that the entries are recorded accurately in your Investment Book of Records (IBOR).Many organizations use multiple systems for accounting, reporting, reconciliation and managing client information. If different vendors have provided these systems, making them talk to each other could be a challenging process. If you have workarounds or portfolios that reside outside of your legacy system, it is time to rethink its usability. Your system must allow centralized and standardized portfolio management activity. In an end-to-end portfolio management solution that is built on open architecture, the work of multiple systems is consolidated into a single platform. Such a solution will allow easy access to third-party systems or any other system that is built in-house, thereby enabling you to reduce technology footprint while driving greater efficiency.5. Escalating legal and compliance costs?A 2013 survey of Chief Technology Officers suggests that one of the biggest operations and technology challenges that asset managers face is to comply with the current and future regulatory requirements. The complex regulations make outdated reporting systems more of a liability than an asset. The compliance costs of regulations such as AIFMD, UCITS V, and VI, or FATCA-are overtaking many budgets. Additionally, aggregating data from different systems for compliance reporting is a risky and resource-consuming process. To reduce these risks and costs simultaneously, your system must be prepared to deliver consolidated reporting, by leveraging automation, integration, and standardization of data from various sources. Your systems must also eliminate the manual compilation of data for reporting, thereby increasing efficiency and cutting associated compliance labor costs while ensuring integrity, consistency, and reducing your operating risk.6. Being scrutinized by Investors’ due diligence?After surviving the global economic crisis of 2008, institutional investors have become extremely wary of due diligence, leading to immense scrutiny of operations. The 2008 crisis exposed operational risks – the risk of failure that not only involved market forces but also the lack of infrastructure and controls. Investors have also become increasingly tech-savvy; they are asking the right questions and know what to find. To remain competitive in this vital market, your system must stand up to the intense investor scrutiny. You must show that you have the controls in place to manage the risks efficiently and that you are already adhering to well-organized processes. If Investors sense any gaps in your workflow and find that you are dependent on manual processes and workarounds, they will take their money elsewhere.7. Legacy systems are not supported, serviced, or enhanced in the way you expect?A product is only as good as its provider. Is you provider paying enough attention to you after the sale with 24/7 support? Does your provider have a track record of continuous product updates? Do they provide product training? Are they attentive to your suggestions or new ideas? Your provider must provide long-term support if you want your new system to last. Your product must be scalable, flexible, and must be built on open source technologies. In addition, your provider must not only help you set up but also ensure that your systems perform optimally without any disruptions. A relationship is a two-way street; as such, providers must be able to respond to your issues quickly, and also help your business adopt new functionality as and when it is needed.Invest in your growthA portfolio management system is the heart of your business. With a weak system, your business can be at serious risk, and you may not have the time to address it before it fails completely. Investing in technology will give you greater efficiency, reduced risks, and help you make informed decisions. Your provider, therefore, must have a proven track record of being committed to long-standing services, continuous improvement, and support you as you grow.
What To Focus On When You Want Make Money Online
For some, working online can earn them enough money to support themselves as well as their families. While there are lots of benefits to working online and making it as your full time job, there are some risks as well. One of these is that you are your own boss. You are the one responsible to find work, to pay expenses, to earn money, etc. This puts more uncertainty on you economically compared to a normal job would.For those with a regular job, but still want to earn additional income, there are various options available. One of the best ways to make money online involves writing. Spending few hours a day writing an article for other sites can earn you a few hundred dollars per month. You can also submit original content to websites that distribute ad profits or start your own blog to generate ad proceeds. The main benefit of choosing to make money online blog or submitting original content is that they give you an easy way to earn extra income that does not take a lot of your time.Working as a freelance writer is also one of the best ways to make extra money online. Websites require content to attract visitors. The truth is that a lot of website owners do not have the ability or time to regularly write quality content. This presents an opportunity to those with some free time and writing skills. By providing quality content for these websites, you can be paid for every article letting you make money online legit.Writing original content for websites that share advertising profits is another great way to earn money through the web. Although you will not make much money at first, over the long term, what you can build is passive income. Essentially, any article you post online will be there until it is removed and it will continue to earn you money over time. While this will not make you rich, given enough time, you’ll be able to see some profits from this way.What to Consider When You Choose to Make Money Online?When thinking of the best way to earn extra income online, it is important to consider 2 factors. How much cash do you want to make? How much time are you eager to spend? Writing articles for one payment is most likely the easiest way to make extra income. Most sites will post the amount you’re going to earn from the job along with other information about the things the article should include. If you’re willing to wait longer to see profits, you can begin writing and posting articles and realize some income eventually. Online marketing is another way to make money on the web and if you’re interested to pursue this, here are some things you need to keep in mind.Make Money Online Now – Important Tools You NeedYou have to consider a lot of things when you first take part in the world of online marketing. Creating or choosing the right products or services, monitoring its performance and bringing traffic to the products to make sales are enough to keep you busy. However, before you start to concern yourself with those things, a starting point is needed. Here are the most important tools you should have in order to earn additional income online.• Website. You need to have your own site in order to establish a presence on the web. Separating yourself from other marketers out there is important. Your site not just provides you with a place to market your services or products, but also establishes an awareness of your brand, the individuality that you bring to the market.• Web Hosting Provider. This service provider simply offers a storage place for the files that comprise your website. Your domain name will be related to those files and that’s how visitors can access your site. There are lots of various hosting companies, so it’s important to do your research and remove the bad ones. Choose the one that offers 24-hour customer support and consistent reliable service.• Domain Name. Keep in mind that a good domain name will mirror what your site is all about. If possible, you’ll want a name that includes keywords related to your business. Keywords are a word or a combination of words that web users input in search engines to look for a certain site that matches the topic they’re seeking. If your domain name has keywords individuals use as their search term, it’s likely to bring your site many targeted visitors.• Content. At first, you might see just a small amount of visitors to your site. To bring more web users to your website, consider posting occasional articles to get attention from major search engines that will bring more visitors. Whether you hire a service provider or write your own article, make sure to keep the content fresh and linked with topics closely matching the services or products you have on your site.• Autoresponder. With your site up and running, it will be advantageous to have lists of email addresses gathered to keep visitors informed of the services or products you provide. This task can be hard unless you get an autoresponder service. Collecting the email addresses of your visitors allows you to include them in a list in the autoresponder. It’s then possible to email your whole list with information that’s valuable to them and will build a strong relationship that brings them back to your site as repeat clients. This is easier and faster than having to separately write every client, which is not a very favorable thing to do if you have hundreds or even thousands to communicate with.To earn extra money online, you’ll realize that having your own site, a reliable web hosting service, a good domain name, quality content to keep bringing visitors back and an autoresponder that helps you create a list of clients will be a winning method to your success on the web.
What Are The Legit Ways to Make Money Online?
There are countless ways to make money online. Millions of websites offer online money making tips to readers so that they can earn extra cash money. However, not all websites emphasize on the legitimate ways of earning cash money online. Therefore, instead of blindly following the tips cited on any and every website, you should put all your efforts on the rightful ways of making online money. In this article, we will run you through 5 legit ways to make extra cash. There are numerous legitimate ways to make money online; however, we will list the top five legitimate ways for your consideration here.
Take up freelancing jobs: Many content writers, graphic designers, programmers, translators, and internet marketers are earning extra cash money by taking up part-time jobs online. If you have a computer at home with internet connection, you too can take up part-time jobs right away. However, you should keep in mind that the world of freelancing is severely competitive. Therefore, as a beginner, you may have to work for a small amount of money until your work gets noticed by contractors and you develop few permanent clients who prefer your style of work.
Become an affiliate marketer: In order to make money online, it is not mandatory to sell your own exclusive product or service. You can become an affiliate marketer and earn huge amounts of money simply by promoting products and services launched by others. All you need to do is select a handful of quality products from various sites and promote them by pasting an affiliate link on your website. Though affiliate marketing is another competitive market, the best thing about it is that it helps you make money pretty quickly without much expertise.
Video Marketing: The trend of video marketing is catching up amongst internet marketers across the globe. Moreover, video marketing is also surpassing all forms of online publicity. Majority of internet marketers prefer making YouTube videos to earn a handsome amount of cash money. It can be a lucrative opportunity for you too if you choose a good niche for your YouTube channel. However, you can succeed as a video marketer only if you know how to add value to your videos and make them more informative so as to increase the number of your YouTube followers/ viewers, besides attracting online traffic.
Become a Blogger: If you are blessed with excellent writing skills, don’t let your talent go to waste. Millions of people around the world are taking up the job of a blogger to earn cash money. It is not only a legit way to make money, but also a form of relaxation for those who love to write. So find out a subject you are passionate about and start blogging right away. Compared to other legitimate ways of making money online, blogging is a slow process. You need to have loads of patience if you want to earn money through your blog.
Answering Questions: This is yet another effective way to make money online. Being one of the main and easy sources of making money, Q&A is highly preferred by internet marketers. There are lots of sites such as Quora, Yahoo Answers, Ask.com, WebAnswers.com, and lots more, where people post their questions on various topics ranging from education and property to fashion and relationships. If you are proficient enough in a specific field, you too can earn few extra bucks by answering questions on those sites.
These are the top 5 ways of making an income online. The list cited above will guide you in the right direction so that you can invest your time and energy on the legitimate ways of earning money instead of spinning around in circle going nowhere.