The pan-European asset management industry spends more than $9 billion every year managing and distributing product information, according to research by independent consulting firm SPB Marketing. Software company Activiti has created a product that it believes can help large fund managers to cut costs by up to $5 million by increasing the efficiency of the flow of information between firms and consultants and within the asset management firm itself.
Asset managers have seen a 70% increase in the number of data requests over the past three years. There are calls for client analyses, manager holdings analyses and performance-related data, to name a few. There has also been a 150% growth in invitations to tender for institutional business (requests for proposals) over the same period. One in four managers are unable to meet these information demands, according to the SPB survey of consultants and asset managers.
Activiti, which was created in April 2002, has developed a system to help asset managers and consultants communicate in a more standardized way. Joe Morant, co-founder and vice-president of business development at Activiti, says: "We're trying to connect what consultants need with what asset managers have got."
Activiti has developed a software system to aid the fund management industry in product management and distribution of information.