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  • 1.  What are your - hypothetical - innovation priorities?

    Posted 04-04-2025 12:11

    Hi all, after the meet up Im curious to get your personal thoughts on this. 

    In nearly every interview I conduct I'm being told that 'this software is mission critical, migration/upgrades etc. will be front of mind for management'. And it's true we have a lot of change in the market today, from ERP with SAP S/4 Hana migrations, to AI development - both for internal use and external products, right the way through to industry specific technology such as Dassault Systems' 3DExperience.

    Budgets are only so large - what is your take on this?

    If there was one initiative you can implement what would it be and why?



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    Philip Atkinson
    Sector Analyst
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  • 2.  RE: What are your - hypothetical - innovation priorities?

    Posted 07-04-2025 11:01

    Every organization has its own priorities when it comes to tech initiatives, budgets, and timelines. From a front office investment perspective, I'd start by clearly defining the desired outcomes - for example, increasing the productivity of equity research analysts. To achieve that, a well-planned tech stack is essential. This might include upfront investment in AI tools, paired with proper training to ensure they're used effectively. Ongoing monitoring is also key to track progress and make adjustments as needed.

    Curious to hear how others are approaching this across different parts of the investment organization.






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    Carlos Salas
    Portfolio Manager & Freelance Investment Research Consultant
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: What are your - hypothetical - innovation priorities?

    Posted 08-04-2025 07:15

    It's a great question. As a consultant who select systems for private asset managers, owners and fund admin, I'd say the budget is tighter than everyone is expecting. A lot of them tend to take these types of project in-house until they acknowledge the complexity of them.

    Best solutions are the ones that fit into a well-defined target operating model. If I'm the manager of a small alternative fund I would outsource my fund administration function and focus on investor communication where investor portal will come into play, then on deal sourcing. I'd love to know what others priorities are as well



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    Chi Leung Mak
    Business Consultant
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: What are your - hypothetical - innovation priorities?

    Posted 08-04-2025 13:55
    Edited by Todor Kostov 08-04-2025 22:24

    Hi Philip,

    Great question and thanks for posting.

    In my mind, it all depends on 3 basic things - size of the organisation, long-term strategy (while having in mind short-term tactical decisions) and budget availability.

    Tech stack is paramount (especially if not outsourced) and combined with the human capital is the lifeblood of the company. One problem which arises is that most of the time companies have their hands tied in locked-in contracts with global ERP providers (as an example) without too many alternative choices and (probably) ending up with slightly inferior product verticals as an outcome.

    My advice in this instance is to always try to optimise for each individual situation you have to deal with in terms of costs, time and productivity. It's always fiddly and it involves compromises as well (the less the better).

    Going forward, due to the increase of the AI tools available, I think the process will become more streamlined, on one hand, but will affect the human workforce, on another. I suggest revisiting the recent internal memo by Tobi Lütke at Shopify mandating AI proficiency across the whole organisation and declaring that teams must prove AI can't do the job before seeking additional resources and making AI a "baseline expectation." 

    I am keen to see other people's feedback on the topic.

    Best,

    Todor



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    Todor Kostov
    Director
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    Original Message


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