At some point, investment firms will need to move from legacy technology to a new portfolio accounting system. Although it has often been a difficult transition making the switch, it doesn’t have to be that way.
For many wealth and asset managers, the switch from one portfolio accounting system to another has been a poor experience.
The data migration process is time-consuming and clunky:
What’s worse, even if a better solution is out there, and despite the inefficiencies of the existing software, a previous bad experience with data migration has stopped many firms from making any changes.
Well, it doesn’t have to be that way.
In some cases, it’s a matter of having more time to prepare for the transition. And in other cases, it’s about finding the right platform and services provider. And in many cases, it’s a combination of both.
Even though it may be 6-12 months out before your contract expires, the time moves quickly. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
You will need enough time to speak with new portfolio accounting services providers. That includes introductory meetings, discovery calls, demos, speaking with client references, and proposal reviews.
Once you’ve selected the new platform, you’ll need time to transition. That could take a few months.
If you don’t have everything ready, it means you are locked in to another year of a contract you wish you weren’t in.
Migrating data is a pain, and it has been for a long time. 38% of data migration projects fail as a result.
At some point, a service provider will recognize this pain.
When moving to a new system, let the platform provider know about your concerns with data migration, and see how they can help:
At Empaxis, we understand that pain investment firms face with migrating data. We’ve helped relieve that burden on wealth and asset managers by developing the TAMP1 platform.
Our cloud-based portfolio accounting system was designed to address the very questions that should be asked. TAMP1 was built in a way to be compatible with the various data formats and fields, as well as to integrate with 1,600+ custodial feeds.
Our rapid onboarding approach, achieved in part by addressing data migration from legacy technology, helps move investment management companies move away from their existing system to a newer, state-of-the-art platform in TAMP1.
In addition to allowing time to explore options, there should be enough time to transition from the old system to the new one.
Once you’ve made the decision to switch, ideally you’d want to have a period where you can see both old and new systems running simultaneously.
This is a chance to make sure everything is working as intended:
While time and resources may limit the ability to run old and new in parallel, it’s still best to try.
Furthermore, when it’s not possible to run the two together, it only underscores the importance of choosing the right platform and services provider.
Moving to a new portfolio accounting system has its pain points, but as we have pointed out, it doesn't have to be that way.
With adequate time to research and evaluate your options, address issues of data migration, and even run systems in parallel to confirm everything works, wealth and asset managers can make was once a difficult process now a little bit easier.
With our TAMP1 platform, not only do investment managers get a new, cloud-based portfolio accounting system, but Empaxis will play an active role in the data migration.
Take the right measures, and enjoy a successful transition to a new portfolio accounting system.
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