Today’s investors expect slick interfaces, on-demand analytics, and sophisticated digital apps. Many wealth managers, however, have struggled to integrate their offerings with modern technology.

And for good reason. Firms are locked into systems they’ve used for decades. Migrating data and workflows onto new platforms costs millions and presents a range of operational risks, a daunting prospect for any transformation manager or CTO.

That’s where cloud architecture comes in. Tech transformation no longer has to be a Big Bang. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions offer flexibility and scalability, allowing firms to modernize incrementally and iteratively over time, reducing risk and still delivering quick improvements to user experience.

Here are five practical shifts to take your legacy architecture to a modern system without the risks associated with a comprehensive lift and shift.

Diagnose the issues
Start by identifying where inefficiencies lie. Does your firm have outdated tools, manual processes or siloed client data? All of the above?

Once you’ve mapped the issues, prioritize. An overhaul is overwhelming, and not everything needs to be fixed at once. Consider what will most directly improve clients’ experience (a platform that speeds up customer onboarding, for example).

Or you could map dependencies, considering where improvements in one area could unlock improvements elsewhere. Will integrating client data make customer relationship management smoother, for example?

This is also time to think about reducing manual work for investment managers. What simple tasks could be automated? Freeing up time for staff means they can spend more time on building relationships and delivering products.

Consider SaaS solutions
While artificial intelligence tends to grab the headlines, cloud has driven the real revolution in financial services. SaaS platforms have become a popular way for firms to access the elasticity of the cloud while removing the cost and hassle of maintaining on-premise hardware and rolling out software upgrades and patches.

SaaS solutions can deliver change through frequent, incremental updates. Phased rollouts allow tech teams to collect feedback from users, and improve continuously without too much disruption.

Choose a solution that provides a single log-in to access the multi-asset portfolios today’s investors want. It should also be configurable, and offer robust data analytics capabilities and 24/7 support.

Design the operating model around what you want the future to look like
Technology alone won’t modernize your firm. The operating model must also evolve in alignment. SaaS tools may alter workflows, shift responsibilities, or even remove the need for certain roles. Before you begin implementation, rethink how teams should work with the new tech.

This is also the time to involve compliance and risk teams, and to find transformation champions: people who will evangelize about the tech within their departments.

Iterative implementation
Implementation can start with one function or product or client segment and build out in stages.

Each phase should deliver visible progress, such as improvements in workflows, faster turnaround times, or better client experience. Apart from other benefits, this motivates staff to embrace further change and avoids overwhelming them with too many tools to learn.

Upskill the front office
No matter how brilliant your tech, it’s humans who drive creativity within organizations. Front-office teams are the face of the firm, and they should be able to turn platform capabilities into stronger client relationships. Plus, in our experience, the agility that front office teams gain from implementing a platform to streamline complex operations often enables them to become champions for other initiatives within their firm.

Upskilling front-office teams should go beyond training them to click the right buttons to focus on how the tech enables better service. That could include:

• Enhanced client experience with real-time data, consolidated portfolio views, and integrated reporting.
• Multi-asset class expertise, with equities, fixed income, alternatives etc in one unified view.
• Executing and tracking complex orders faster and with fewer errors.
• Built-in analytics for identifying opportunities and risks earlier.

Modernizing wealth management isn’t about one massive transformation. It’s about steady, meaningful progress, building capabilities to keep clients engaged. With the right SaaS platform, modernization is about steadily unlocking new capabilities, helping wealth managers adapt to the flexibility and data analytics capabilities that cloud computing offers.

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