THE FUTURE OF THE

ASSET MANAGEMENT
OPERATING MODEL
Creating an intelligent operating
model as a competitive advantage
Keys to transforming the asset
management operating model
In the asset management industry, customer focus is key.
That requires creating a middle and back office that can
seamlessly support the front office.

Current operating models are not agile enough to provide

a seamless, transformational customer experience.

A new operating model must be constantly responsive,

adapting quickly to emerging solutions and approaches
that may not yet be fully understood.

With so many options and paths open to them—and so

many competing priorities demanding capital spend—
asset managers must be selective and targeted in where
they invest to maximize ROI and achieve business goals.

One key element is to reconfigure back and middle

office functions using emerging technologies such
as artificial intelligence, machine learning, intelligent
automation and distributed ledger technologies.

At the same time, companies must

be attentive to foundational elements
such as workforce skill sets and
organization culture change.

2 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

The asset management industry is undergoing significant
disruption today and asset managers must respond in
creative ways, particularly regarding how they deliver an
effective customer experience. Which kinds of operating
model strategies are having an effect on experience,
and which are not?

To achieve and maintain market dominance today,

asset managers should assess and progress their
technological and operational strategies to align
with the current business and customer needs.
“ Three-quarters of businesses
report that the disruptive
Strategies must be holistic and balanced across impact of constantly shifting
the organization’s:
customer demands and new
• Technology and data foundation market entrants has increased
• Operating model design over the past three years.
• Programs focused on people and Yet their operating models
culture change aren’t changing at pace.
Asset managers understand that growing their
business puts operating model change in primary Most are too big, too slow and
focus. An operating model transformation creates too expensive to be effective
two key opportunities for asset managers:
in combating an onslaught
• Becoming cheaper and smarter—leveraging of creative destruction
data-driven operations and predictive rather
heralded by platforms,
than reactive analytical insights, and turning non-
value-added functions into value-added ones. ecosystems and an exponential
• Embracing new technologies to transform increase in complexity.
the operating model to support new revenue
streams and meet evolving client expectations. While slow movers won’t last,
it’s the fast movers who

”
will thrive. 1

3 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

What steps should asset managers
be taking to transform their
operating models?
A recent Accenture/Investment Company Institute (ICI)
operations study points to four categories of activities
that can potentially have the most impact on the
operating model—and, more generally, the company’s
long-term sustainability.2

1 Redesigning middle and back office

functions using emerging technologies

2 Establishing a strong data foundation

3 Addressing operational and skillset

gaps in the workforce

4 Evolving organizational culture to

align with the target operating model

4 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

1
REDESIGNING BACK AND MIDDLE
OFFICE FUNCTIONS USING
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Technology innovation will impact not only internal
asset management functions, but also the entirety
of the financial market infrastructure.

As components of their technology infrastructures technologies, deployed across multiple areas

have evolved, many asset managers have of the organization, may cause traditionally
prioritized quick, one-off, function-specific separated functional areas to consolidate and
responses to market pressures and regulatory thus become more effective.
requirements over enterprise-wide, sustainable
Although emerging technologies impact front
and scalable operational design.
office functions as well, we will focus here
Such an approach has only contributed to the in particular on how technology is affecting
inability of asset managers to realize increased operations across the back and middle offices,
economic profit margins as revenues grow. From and how asset managers should be harnessing
2014 to 2018, the assets under management the power of these technologies.
(AUM) of 25 publicly traded asset managers

55%
grew by 22 percent, while revenue edged up by
just 1 percent, according to the Accenture/ICI
operations study.

Now, emerging technologies have surfaced to

of asset management firms
offer asset managers the ability to unlock value
and realize top- and bottom-line growth through report having a formal
enterprise-wide scale and efficiency. initiative in place to evaluate
Accenture expects these technologies to have the business and operational
a broader transformational impact on the potential of new technologies.
organization and how it delivers an effective
Accenture/Investment Company Institute
customer experience, rather than the function- operations study 2019
specific innovations of the past. Single

5 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Back office technology: Driving
scalability and reducing costs
Back office functions are essential Widespread adoption of DLT depends on the
timing of adoption by market leaders and the
to ensuring the delivery of accurate
readiness of infrastructure. Those aspiring to
data, calculating net asset values and be market leaders should brace themselves
fulfilling regulatory requirements. for the impending disruption and push their
Yet, the asset management back strategic partners to share how their models are
office drives a large share of costs evolving towards a DLT market infrastructure.
Mature markets may have an advantage, but as
with a historically low amount of
developing markets strive to attract investment,
value-added activity. global adoption is likely to follow.

To inject a level of scale into operations, asset The custody network and settlement structure will
managers should be working toward a higher-tech likely be the first to be disrupted by DLT, though
and less costly back office. Advanced technology mainstream usage may not occur before 2025.
can revolutionize end-to-end processes, not just a
portion of them. For example let’s look at several
Reconciliations: Faster identification
critical functions across the back office and assess
the impact of emerging technologies on:
and resolution are essential

• Custody Reconciliations are occurring on a more frequent

• Reconciliations basis—from daily to intraday—for select
• Valuations processes such as cash and positions.

The criticality of closing exceptions and the time

Custody: Distributed ledger technology to complete are driving the need for faster, more
(DLT) is driving innovation accurate identification and resolution. The long-
term objective of the reconciliation function
Innovation is extremely pronounced in the should be to reduce the number of required
custody world—and DLT is a primary player. components.

DLT could disrupt numerous aspects of the trade • Leveraging intelligent automation and analytics
lifecycle, starting with the potential for real-time allows resources to focus their time on reviewing
trade settlements. and resolving breaks with the highest risk, or
front-running transactions that have the highest
• DLT is making the industry goal of real-time,
likelihood of errors based on predictive modeling.
trade date settlement an attainable reality
Our operations study found that 52 percent of
by creating a direct, transparent and secure
firms are using robotic process automation in their
transaction model between custodians and
operations and 82 percent of those companies
counterparties.
say it has delivered the desired results. Currently,
• This model minimizes the need for confirmation established guidelines can categorize issues with
across multiple entities and transaction standard commentary that bots, as well as more
channels, as is generally required today. advanced forms of intelligent automation, can
perform with an additional layer of analysis.

6 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

• With reconciliations, advancements To improve their risk profile and control
in DLT will be key. Where custody goes, the framework, companies have opportunities to
reconciliations function is due to follow. As deploy new technologies such as analytics to
seen with custody, using DLT solutions enables supplement their core infrastructure.
the creation of a single version of a transaction
• Using analytics. As an operational tool,
which is published to all transacting parties. The
advanced analytics enables firms to validate and
technology assures counterparties of record
identify errors or anomalies that may be missed
accuracy, thereby eliminating the requirement
by an individual, or that could delay the overall
for reconciliations. To boost the speed of DLT
valuation process, causing missed service levels.
adoption, IT managers in asset management
should consider which reconciliations will be • Injecting confidence. Introducing analytics into
eliminated by the implementation of DLT and the valuations process can inject confidence into
what remaining controls need to be in place. a function that is currently high-risk and difficult
to control.
As yet, the market is moving quite slowly when it
comes to automation and analytics. However, as • Consuming data in real time. The focus of
industry proofs of concept validate the benefits, deployment should be on the firm’s ability
industry participants are likely to move quickly to to consume large sets of market data in real
adopt because the benefits and cost savings can be time and compare it to industry benchmarks
substantial. Unfortunately, the market is not there to provide a level of forensic analysis in an
yet. Until the market more generally adopts DLT, expedited timeframe that cannot be performed
asset managers can realize value in the immediate by individuals.
term through the deployment of intelligent
Advanced analytics for operations is being
automation into their reconciliation process.
deployed within firms today and will continue
to gain momentum. Within the next two to three
Valuations: Reducing risk with security years, analytics is likely to become a foundational
and portfolio valuations component of an asset manager’s operational
toolkit. Focused, functional deployment of
Security and portfolio valuations can be the analytics for areas such as valuations can be
most time-sensitive and critical back office addressed even sooner, making this a near-term
daily deliverables. opportunity for the industry.
Errors can be extremely costly, and the resulting
reputational damage could be severe. The valuation
process requires visibility across numerous data
sources and, at times, secondary calculations.
Functionally specific technologies that support
valuation processing continue to evolve into faster,
more accurate and customizable solutions that
strive to address the complexity of this function.

7 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Middle office technology: Digitally
powered investment insights
Middle office functions related IBOR: Leveraging analytics for
to investment management have competitive advantage
traditionally supported the front office
The past decade has been focused on building
within their silos, providing points of a middle office infrastructure around the
contact across several teams. In the IBOR, continually striving toward more
future, the aggregation of data, coupled global, holistic views and real-time, fluid
information. However, this is still mostly
with digital intelligence, will introduce
an aspiration for many asset managers.
new methods of support in the middle
office. Consider how reimagining the IBOR should be thought of in two components:
investment management support 1. Generation of portfolio data
model and marrying data strategy to 2. Management and presentation
digital capabilities can affect middle of portfolio data
office functions such as:
These two components should be reflected
• Investment Book of Record (IBOR) in the platforms used to generate the IBOR and
the people tasked with ensuring its accuracy.
• Trade support There are difficulties to overcome in both activities
• Collateral management but, when they are brought together in a timely
manner, they can provide the front office with a
• Corporate actions
powerful investment decision-making tool.
• Investment management
Firms can interact with IBOR information through
Reimagining the investment management digital interfaces enabled by analytics and other
support model will include middle office data digital capabilities. Additionally, the interfaces can
and a digital strategy that enables the access alert consumers of market value, cash ladders
of trade-date and near real-time information and positions across portfolios as well as markets,
across middle office systems. Marrying data products and global trading desks.
strategy to digital capabilities will enhance the
level of investment support provided through Accenture research estimates that by 2022,
real-time, cross-functional insights that present advanced digital interfaces will appear much
superior day-over-day portfolio intelligence. more prominently in operational tools alongside
analytics, including how to effectively incorporate
IBOR and support a view of the enterprise.

8 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Trade support: Eliminating the need Collateral management: Supporting more
for matching trades to brokers and informed and efficient margin movements
counterparties
When considering the future of collateral
The trade support function within the middle management and its purpose within the middle
office is focused on trade matching and office, firms must consider the impacts of DLT,
settlement monitoring. Currently, technology analytics and intelligent automation.
platforms, industry utilities and manual processes
As DLT affects the trade lifecycle for transactions,
are required to complete the function. Operating
collateral management will be impacted by
models can vary based on global investment
the speed at which listed and over-the-counter
models, activity in the settlement lifecycle, the
derivatives are confirmed, and the need to
instrument type, the counterparty, custodian or
calculate and post initial and variation margins.
even the exchange.
Further, the evolving collateral management
Asset managers should keep a pulse on the function is enabling more automated processing
direction and promise of DLT continuously over along with value-added analytics.
the next five to ten years and its long-term impact
• DLT: DLT should enable the automation of margin
on trade support. While custody is forecasted to
payments for both initial and variation margins,
be impacted first, the trade support function will
as the technology enables the distributed ledger
likely follow in phases as global players adopt the
and payment capabilities to confirm contract
technology at varying rates:
terms and payment amounts. With DLT being
• To have sweeping impact across the a longer-term solution, asset managers should
traditional trade management model, the address their collateral management process
infrastructure and markets must adopt and today with advanced capabilities offered by
implement DLT solutions. technology vendors.

• The introduction of DLT into the industry will • Automation: Ahead of DLT’s potential ability
significantly disrupt the settlement process to automate margin payments, intelligent
and potentially eliminate the need to match automation assists with the verification,
trades to brokers and/or counterparties; calculation and reconciliation of margin
instead the activity will be completed upon movements. Once the operational burden
execution of the trade. of collateral management is lessened, firms
can better focus on its associated analytics.
• Asset managers should plan the future design
Supplemented by functionally-specific technology,
of their trade support operating model to
asset managers can also deploy intelligent
focus on how to unlock value-added activities
automation to support strengthening the
and insights that support the investment
foundation of the function in the immediate term.
management process.
• Analytics: Analytics can allow firms to trade the
• Trade management is projected to experience
ideal instrument type to gain market exposure
various phases of transformation as the function
or help choose the most opportune securities
moves from its current industrialized model
to post as collateral, taking into consideration
towards a disintermediated model focused on
factors such as what is cheapest to finance. As
the front office.
asset managers address immediate opportunities
within collateral management, the functional
model to introduce and utilize analytics can be
designed alongside the new model. Accenture is
seeing these features turn collateral management
into a value-added function rather than a means
to an end to enable trading derivatives.

9 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Corporate actions: Delivering more • Artificial intelligence (AI): AI and analytics will
accurate information and faster elections continue to enhance the investment decision
process by acting within parameters designed
Corporate actions are traditionally a high-risk to identify buy/sell opportunities and populate
function within the organization due to timing, trade orders within order management systems
coordination of information among multiple based on criteria that align with the investment
parties, and potential impacts to front office strategy of the portfolio.
transparency and back office reporting.
Even though AI streamlines and expedites the
Initial assessments are looking to both identification of investment opportunities,
DLT and intelligent automation to better portfolio managers’ primary responsibilities
streamline the proxy voting process, providing will continue to focus around portfolio analysis.
more timely insights into the voting process The introduction of intelligent analytics enables
and analytics capabilities. portfolio managers to access more accurate data
faster to execute investment decisions.
The introduction of DLT into the corporate actions
process can allow for a faster, more accurate The pace of investment decision execution
flow of information to investment managers reinforces the importance of the middle office
upon corporate action event announcements. to maintain the same pace and effectively
Currently, firms are considering the reality of provide support.
using DLT to communicate elections across
custodians, investment managers and issuers.

“
Firms are looking toward the benefits of
implementing intelligent automation to process The combination of human
calculations through event notifications and
positions held by the asset manager; deploying
and machine investment
pilot tests within certain operational processes. decision-making can result
in reduced timeframes from
Investment management: Middle office
moving in lockstep with the front office
hours to minutes.
”
As the front office enhances its processes and
technology, the middle office should be moving
in lockstep to ensure minimal disruption to
investment management strategies and decisions.

The following trends are especially important:

• The rise of algorithms: Investment strategy

development has historically been driven
through analysis based on a wide array of market
data through various third-party data providers.
In the last decade, we have seen the rise of
algorithms supporting the portfolio management
process and supplementing the investment
decisions of asset managers, even with more
passive strategies.

10 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Revolutionizing the user experience
across all functional areas: an
opportunity to transform the way
operations are overseen and analyzed

A digital user interface that connects systems and data

into a single viewpoint will provide functional teams
with the ability to bring together, process and analyze
data that previously resided in silos across their firm’s
operational infrastructure.

Accenture believes that, as early as 2025, we will begin to see front-to-back

office digital capabilities implemented that focus on workflow, insights and
systems consolidation.
It is not too early for asset managers to define their digital strategy and design
an operating model around such emerging capabilities.

11 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Emerging front-to-back office digital
capabilities for operations transformation.

Workflow
Tracking operational and systematic
handoffs through a single, digital interface
enables process oversight, as well as
the ability to track metrics through the
lifecycle of the process. The benefit
here is greater efficiency and controls—for
example, tracking investor subscription and
redemption activity from receipt through
processing across various functions within
the transfer agent and back office.

Dashboards to gain insights

Gaining a view into the operational health
of the organization by understanding daily
metrics across functional areas and systems.
Benefits can include greater insights and
proactive oversight—for example, trade
lifecycle status from execution through
to settlement, including IBOR posting,
monitored in one dashboard that connects
separate systems and data sources.

Systems consolidation
Consolidating applications into a single
interface to allow multiple data sources to
talk to each other in ways not previously
possible. Benefits can include better
analytics-based decision making and
insights along with accelerated time to
action for investment analysis and decisions.
These can be attained by consolidating
analytics, applications and data sources
into a single, scalable digital platform.

12 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

2
ESTABLISHING A STRONG
DATA FOUNDATION
To more effectively design an operating model that can support
disruption, asset managers should ensure an effective data
foundation is in place—one that promotes trustworthy, clean
data and a strong governance structure.

A strong data foundation drives the effectiveness

of emerging technologies and is a critical factor
in unlocking scalability. Without an effective
data strategy or data foundation in place, a
lack of innovation and automation will reign,
prohibiting firms from unlocking scalability within
their operating model. Our recent operations
study found that 55 percent of firms have a data
management initiative that aims to enhance
data governance and quality, while 66 percent
of operations leaders have identified data
management as a top function to be completely
disrupted. To gain that assurance, firms should
perform a critical assessment of where they fall
along the transformational journey, and whether
the foundational elements are in place to support
the revolutionized operating model.

A critical component to enabling the optimal

future operating model is an effective enterprise
data management strategy.

13 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Accenture’s five-step model
Accenture employs a five-step model to help companies
move from a siloed, “single-use” approach, in which data
is tightly coupled to certain schemes and formats, to an
ultimate stage of concentrating a single source of trusted
data in a centralized solution.3
In this way, asset managers can leverage the same data source to enable the
systems infrastructure and emerging technologies that work to share, consume,
aggregate and report information to operational users across the firm.

1 Breaking down silos. Historically, enterprises

often lacked a product mindset and treated
4 Designing the model. Asset managers
design well-defined and automated
data as a secondary focus. Data had been methods for developing data products,
tightly coupled with applications, with limited establishing a well-structured data product
capacity for internal sharing due to a lack catalogue and providing self-service
of data strategy, architecture, delivery or capabilities across the organization. Data
risk management. Now data has become is transformed into an independent, digital
a top priority for asset managers, from asset for the business and expands its
the top-down, to break down the barriers use out into the connected ecosystem.
and unlock enterprise data strategy.

2 Developing a strategy. Asset managers

have started to recognize the value of
5 Industrializing data production. Data is
treated as a primary function and drives
its data as an asset and have started to optimal outcomes. The competitive
decouple data from applications and positioning of the enterprise is differentiated
develop a data-product mindset through by the quality of its data products in the
a business vision and data strategy. digital ecosystem.

3 Defining standards. Firms prove the value

of metrics and data-driven methods, then
standardize their tools, templates and
methods to create an essential foothold
as a data business.

14 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Shoring up initial data generation through tight integration
with unified sources and strong data governance can
decrease operational costs while making high-quality data
more available for value-added functions such as analytics,
risk management and benchmarking.

Today, a large percentage of asset managers’

operational cost is being directed toward the
reconciliation or analysis of multiple data
sources to confirm which are accurate and
“ A robust data model can
permit firms to leverage
able to be used for multiple downstream analytics engines within

”
purposes. Typically, the low-value-add processes
accounting operations.
reconcile and produce the data, while the value-
added processes are consumers of data.

Asset managers increasingly need new

As with valuations, data can be injected into
methods of analyzing large components of
analytics platforms and analyzed as part of the
data across multiple platforms such as front
accounting review process to more effectively
office trading platforms, market data vendors
identify errors and inconsistencies in need of
and various accounting systems. Gaining
attention. Perhaps of greatest importance is the
access to that data creates opportunities to
need for a robust data model that will permit
enhance the production environment.
firms to leverage analytics engines within their
accounting operations. These engines will
consume trade and cash movements, corporate
actions, external third-party data, etc. and
compare it against the accounting books and
expected results. Roles will continue to shift from
processing to oversight activities that require data
analytics skills and deep subject-matter expertise.
The end goal is to enable a more proactive, rather
than reactive, back office which is capable of an
increased number of value-added activities.

15 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

3
ADDRESSING OPERATIONAL AND
SKILLSET GAPS IN THE WORKFORCE
One reality that cannot be overstated is the impact
operational transformation has on a company’s people—
from cultural implications to the more concrete impact
on skillset availability.

As the asset management operating model The maturing of emerging technology will
shifts, the resource strategy within the allow for current operational roles to be elevated
organization should urgently be assessed. —47 percent of jobs have the potential to be
This shift is coming at a time when the industry automated in the next 15 years.4
is facing substantial pressures with talent
This shift to a hybrid human and machine
scarcity and fierce competition.
environment introduces new jobs and skills,
especially among data analysis and oversight
roles. Asset managers will be required to balance
current resource needs with the demands of the
future, which will require an active and flexible
workforce strategy.

16 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

The introduction of machines, alongside the

75%
maturing of functional platforms, has led to the
need for a higher skilled workforce, which typically
leads to the acquisition of new talent, or retraining
the existing workforce. As technology replaces
of operations leaders say
more mundane activities and functional areas are
consolidated, high demand skillsets will become investment operations knowledge
more analytical, cross-functional and focused on and problem-solving skills
enabling change. Skillsets needed to enable the
are the qualifications most
new operating model include:
needed at their firms today.
• Change leaders: Business and team leadership

65%
will be required to embrace and promote
changes within the organization. These
individuals are ultimately responsible for
bringing the organization’s culture along on the however, believe that, in five
transformational journey. Usually found within
a program or project, change leaders should years’ time, data science and
also be incorporated within “business as usual” technology development skills
functional areas.
will be most in demand.
• Data scientists: Analysts will now be challenged
Accenture/Investment Company Institute
to deliver business insights from data sources operations study 2019
across the organization. The purpose of this
is to strategize, build and assess information
from multiple sources to identify opportunities
and transform them into meaningful data that
unlocks competitive advantage across the firm.
• Operational analysts: The introduction of new
and emerging technology does not eliminate
the need for deep subject matter expertise, but
rather increases the need for people who can
deliver value-added context and service to the
organization. This is where we see the shift from
operational duties to analysis—intelligence and
insights that inform the investment lifecycle.

The workforce of the future must support a more

dynamic, digital operating model. This means asset
managers will need their people to be flexible,
deeply knowledgeable and service oriented.

17 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

4
EVOLVING ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE TO ALIGN WITH THE
TARGET OPERATING MODEL

Full organizational acceptance of change starts with leadership

vision and direction. The key to achieving the new asset
management operating model is to enable a culture that
welcomes ongoing transformation and innovation.

Without the adoption of transformation into

the organizational culture, asset managers
will face resistance and, ultimately, a delay
in realizing competitive gains.

People are the key to achieving success and the

catalyst to gaining acceptance for monumental
change within the organization. It is imperative
for the organization to promote a culture of
innovation and encourage an organization that
combines human and machine capabilities.
The journey through defining a vision, aligning the
organization, and creating a roadmap is referred
to as the “transformational change strategy.”

18 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Asset managers should take a proactive approach to defining
organizational culture changes to avoid having the culture defined
reactively. Operational leaders should define their transformational
change strategy in alignment with their target operating model.
Accenture’s approach for transformational change strategy
includes the follow critical steps:

1 See: Define the path: Based on the transformational impacts,

asset managers need to define not only how their operating
model is changing but how their organizational culture needs
to evolve to ensure its success. Defining the transformational
change strategy starts with fully understanding the
operational structure today, and the vision for the target
operating model in the future.

2 Think: Align the organization:

Based on the path defined, asset
managers then need to understand
how the culture and behavior
of the organization should be
accommodated to shift the direction
towards this new operational,
innovative journey. In tandem with
the operational roadmap, asset
managers also need to define how
the organization’s vision,
culture and values align with the
transformational state.

3 Do: Accelerate the team: For the transformational change to be

successful, asset managers need to bring their people along on the
journey. Asset managers need to define an effective roadmap to
accelerate their current team to meet the vision of the organization.
This roadmap includes how to engage the workforce on why the
organization is changing, how individuals are impacted and what
types of opportunities lie ahead.

19 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Taking steps forward
The following practical steps should be top of mind
for asset managers as they consider their current and
target operating model.

1 Understand and challenge the

operating model 4 Define your transformational
change strategy

Asset managers should perform an Success hinges on the engagement of

in-depth assessment of the operational employees and their willingness to embrace
and technological infrastructure to understand the shifts required to achieve a new way of
how flexible their current environment is and operating. Asset managers must define their
identify where there may be opportunities vision for the future organizational culture
to achieve scale through strengthening alongside the future operating model in order
their foundation and deploying emerging to realize success.
technologies. This is the first and most critical
step in redesigning the operating model.

2 Assess your data foundation

Asset managers must accept data as the key

5 Employ an effective change
management strategy

foundation for all future-proof technology It is paramount for asset managers

solutions. Clean, fit-for-purpose data is required to plan and deploy effective change
not only to clean up current operational management programs during the age
issues, but also to enable the conversion of disruption. Such programs should be
to an operating model promoting value- woven into the approach for implementing
added activities across the organization. the target transformational model.
Its importance cannot be overstated.

3 Overhaul the talent roadmap

The way firms recruit needs to be aligned

with how the organization will operationally
transform. Operational leaders need
to partner more closely with human
resources to align on how the current role
definitions evolve toward the requirements
of the future operational design.

20 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

Designing future success

What will the characteristics of a successful asset manager

be in five years? In 20? Competing asset managers are still
adjusting their models to today’s standard solutions and
may not be able to truly design around future disruptions.
But what will cause the next great disruption—and what
change will it force?

Driving toward a stable, long-term target operating model may no longer be

realistic, as future operational strategy will require asset managers to take an
iterative, flexible approach. The asset manager is in a period of change that
cannot be predicted and, thus, the longer-term target operating model may
not be fully definable today.

No one can be certain about what the future will look like, but one thing we
know for sure is that the key to surviving, and thriving, will depend above all
else on flexibility. Addressing, and nailing, these five practical steps are essential
to enabling an operating model that can continuously adapt. Asset managers
that design their operating models to have differentiating flexibility are likely
to thrive as we enter a new age of transformation.

21 THE FUTURE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT OPERATING MODEL

REFERENCES ABOUT ACCENTURE
1
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strategy/move-fast-thrive services company, providing a broad range of
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