Recent research from Clearwater Analytics (Clearwater) has found that cost control through improved operational efficiency is the budget priority for 80 per cent of institutional asset owners heading into 2023.
The following priority was outright cost, with 60 per cent citing this as their focus. Front-office client support sat at the bottom of the agenda, with the middle and back offices gaining importance for those surveyed.
In terms of where budgets will be allocated in 2023, risk analytics, performance and attribution, reporting and portfolio management systems were the most frequently mentioned areas. The report suggests that this is due to respondents’ ‘lacklustre feelings’ towards their current investment stacks.
Technology stacks are dominated by cloud platforms, Clearwater found, with 40 per cent of investors claiming that they constitute more than three quarters of their stacks.
Outlining a three-year outlook, reporting and portfolio management were considered the areas that will receive the most funding.
Gayatri Raman, president for Europe and Asia at Clearwater, says: “Our research has found that investors want technology to help improve their efficiency, attract and retain employees in the face of ‘The Great Resignation’, and ultimately increase bottom-line profitability. They also want to get to their solution faster and control cost. These are all advantages of cloud-based technology, the top choice for the investors we polled.”
