In changing winds, nimble sailors adjust their sails to keep moving in the right direction. While the sailor's agility is crucial to staying on course, the true test lies in whether the boat is built to withstand changing conditions.
Using today's investment management technology is a lot like sailing a boat. The front-office team must leverage the tools available to adapt quickly to market headwinds and tailwinds. What these users often overlook, however, is the crucial role technology's underlying architecture plays in delivering the seamless, scalable infrastructure they need to implement new strategies and enjoy continued advancement.
In this post, we examine the technology underlying SS&C's OEMS. By diving deep into its infrastructure, you’ll learn how a solid technical foundation helps firms navigate the winds of changing markets and come out ahead.
In changing markets, many firms set a new course by expanding asset classes.
Back-end OEMS developments have led to the expansion of electronification, allowing firms to more easily diversify across asset classes like derivatives, real estate, and commodities. This digital transformation simplifies the adoption and management of diverse portfolios.
Additional enhancements across compliance have enhanced firms’ abilities to identify and manage risks associated with these diverse portfolios, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements.
Furthermore, standardization advancements provide consistency in data formats and processes across assets, giving firms a holistic understanding of their varied investments.
Together, these features enable sophisticated multi-asset workflows without adding complexity to the users' experience.
In this post-pandemic world, employees have become accustomed to having a choice of where they work – remote, hybrid, or in the office.
This shift toward remote work has significant implications for investment firms. To operate effectively, firms need an investment platform that seamlessly connects their distributed workforce.
The back-end capabilities of SS&C’s OEMS technology ensure traders, portfolio managers, and compliance professionals have the resources they need to stay connected to their firm's operations wherever they are.
The underlying technology enabling this mobile connectivity includes:
On-demand access to investment technology from anywhere not only keeps the investment firm connected but also allows teams to execute crucial investment activities, gain insight into portfolios, and maintain a high level of efficiency and compliance.
Today, investment firms have access to a wide array of next-generation tools, services, and data to help capture opportunities.
However, accessing these tools can sometimes be overly complicated.
With powerful APIs, SS&C’s OEMS’ technical architecture empowers firms to more easily access the systems and information they need to be successful and onboard new technologies, some with the simple click of a button, plus seamlessly integrate them into their existing investment technology ecosystem.
For example, trade and allocation APIs play a crucial role in opening access to and interaction with various trading and allocation systems. On the other hand, reference data APIs provide firms with essential data used in financial transactions, including securities, market data, and corporate actions.
APIs also enable firms to access a range of specialized third-party vendors through an app store like Eze Marketplace. Here, firms can choose the advanced tools they need to meet their firm's specific needs while streamlining their operational framework and decreasing technical risks.
The interoperability created by APIs enables firms to better compete as markets evolve, rapidly scaling and growing with the tools and data they need. At the same time, the customization they enable lets firms create strategies that differentiate them from the competition and keep their firm moving forward.
Never have investment firms had access to the amount of data they do today. When used wisely, data helps firms to make better investment decisions and improves outcomes.
However, many firms experience limitations that make it difficult to consistently leverage data in the investment process, putting them at risk of falling behind.
The OEMS's back-end functionality transforms this dynamic by consolidating data into a unified set and presenting it in a clear, actionable format.
This includes synchronizing data across the front-to-back office and connecting with downstream systems and next-generation data platforms, like SS&C’s Data Lens.
The backend also enables smoother visual ergonomics that make data easier to interpret and visualize, increasing data confidence and productivity.
To stay competitive, investment firms must leverage the latest in investment technology. However, as the pace of technological development increases, firms often struggle to ensure they’re operating with the latest advancements.
Solutions operating behind the scenes of the OEMS can help firms manage their technology more effectively and access the new features and solutions needed to drive their firm forward.
With managed applications, firms delegate infrastructure management to their vendor’s managed services team. Provider domain and technical expertise ensure firms’ infrastructures are supported by the latest and greatest in technology and best practices.
Another example of how SS&C managed services keep users current is with zero-lift upgrades. This service gets firms on the latest version of their software without any manual effort for the firm.
By leveraging behind-the-scenes services from their vendor to manage back-end infrastructure and technology, firms can decrease overhead and reallocate resources to higher-impact tasks.
Investment firms are increasingly eager to launch new investment products and strategies, such as Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) and carveouts. These investment vehicles enable firms to meet their goals by tailoring portions of their portfolios to specific investor interests.
SS&C’s OEMS provides the flexibility and scalability required to support the growing demand for these types of investments. The key to this capability lies in the system's throughput, a crucial component of its back-end technology.
Throughput refers to a system's ability to process a high volume of transactions or data within a given period. For investment firms, high throughput is essential as it impacts the speed and accuracy of trade execution, order processing, and overall transaction handling.
As firms roll out new investment products and strategies, they can rely on the system’s ability to handle the increased volume and complexity of these offerings.
This capability is particularly valuable for strategies requiring rapid execution, such as those targeting timely market opportunities, frequent rebalancing, or detailed reporting.
A strong technical foundation enables SS&C to offer users modern front-office technology that keeps pace with changing market trends, investor preferences, and shifts in operations today – and well into the future.
At SS&C, our technology—from the backend to front-office features—is developed and serviced by hundreds of experts with knowledge of the industry, investment firm operations, and front-office needs. These professionals listen and respond to the experiences of our users, and that user perspective is embedded deep in the technology and each client interaction.
This combination of people, technology, and commitment to client success sets SS&C technology apart and gives firms the resources they need to navigate the winds of changing markets.
To learn more about the value our technical foundation can bring to your front-office operations, download our overview.