Kurtosys’ mid-year update: standardisation, industry trends and client experience

Lee Godfrey

August 10, 2023

As we pass the midpoint of the year, it’s time to reflect on our progress and plan for the future. Internally, the first half of this year marked a move away from services and more efficiently towards SaaS. This shift is positioning Kurtosys prominently in the SaaS market, creating opportunities for future growth and expansion.

A prominent player in the SAAS market

The company’s long-term objective remains to become a world class SaaS platform, catering directly to our clients in the investment management industry and collaborating effectively with partners. This approach requires a careful balance between addressing immediate challenges and maintaining focus on the longer-term vision.

A foreseeable goal for Kurtosys is to offer our clients a standardised product. With this we can offer our clients a better user experience by ensuring faster production, simplicity, and consistency.

To support our position in the SaaS landscape, we have actively engaged in strategic partnerships. Collaboration with industry-leading partners has allowed us to leverage expertise to further enhance our product offerings. Additionally, we’ve strengthened relationships with existing partners and explored opportunities with other agencies to expand our partner ecosystem.

Our product roadmap holds exciting developments for the coming months

Lee Godfrey

CEO at Kurtosys

Training and enablement

Recognising the need for a robust training and support function to support scalable SaaS products, we have established a head of product training and a dedicated team to handle training needs. A well-organised training function ensures that our clients can efficiently self-serve, leading to increased satisfaction.

Client support services

Our commitment to data-driven decision-making extends to our support operations. We have been meticulously analysing support tickets, enabling us to gain a comprehensive understanding of client pain points and frequently occurring issues. This approach has allowed us to target and address root causes, ultimately reducing inbound support traffic and enhancing the overall client experience. The success of this is closely monitored and analysed by our head of client services and the team, enabling us to identify root causes and address them proactively.

To streamline our data analysis process, we have onboarded a business operations analyst, enabling us to record and transform data into meaningful information. Armed with these insights, our executive team can make informed decisions that improve client services and enhance the employee experience.

Highlights: Going live with fund administrators and an award-winning investment manager in the sustainability space

One of the most significant highlights of the last six months was the successful launch of a prominent North American fund administrator, which demonstrated the company’s ability to execute its strategic approach of working through partners. Another notable highlight was the successful launch of an award-winning investment manager’s website. Achieving client satisfaction is vital, and it exemplifies the company’s commitment to delivering quality products and services. However, it also brings to light the importance of addressing long-standing promises to ensure ongoing success with other clients.

Managing expectations through transparency and streamlined processes

While we celebrate this significant progress, we are also grappling with some lingering frustrations. One prominent issue is the backlog of client requests that have yet to be addressed. It’s a crucial undertaking for Kurtosys to manage client expectations with transparency and to separate and prioritise confirmed road map items from a broader “client wish list” to prevent misunderstandings and unnecessary disappointments.

Building our brand

Throughout 2023, Kurtosys has invested significant effort in attending carefully selected events that align with our strategy of building brand awareness and engaging with clients, prospects, and industry experts. By participating in these events, Kurtosys aims to increase awareness and, through leadership, develop initiatives to benefit the industry.

Kurtosys attended, sponsored and organised a number of events during the first half of this year: notably our attendance at the Funds Congress, our fundraising efforts at the Great Potato Bake Off, hosting the in-person London Client Day, and prominently sponsoring and moderating at the TSAM London conference. It’s evident that our targeted approach to networking and branding is successful as we have had multiple engagements and demo requests from prospects that were met at these events. Looking forward, these event-driven efforts are likely to further strengthen Kurtosys’ position in the market and solidify our brand recognition among our desired clientele.

In addition to raising awareness at various events, we have successfully launched our brand-new website, which offers clarity about our mission, vision and the services we offer. As clients and prospects discover our identity, their immediate call to action is to connect with us, get to know us a bit better and explore more about Kurtosys. Our website serves as a hub where clients and prospects can gain a comprehensive understanding of our offerings, solutions and product portfolio.

Kurtosys at TSAM London

Economic headwinds

The foremost trend dominating conversations is the state of the global economy. Currently, the world is witnessing a multitude of economic struggles, affecting not only businesses but also their clients. As companies face challenges due to reduced budgets from their clients, they must devise innovative solutions to not only remain competitive but to keep supporting their client base. One prominent approach to tackling this issue is by offering right-sized solutions to clients and providing them with vital support during challenging economic times.

Effective communication becomes paramount in times of economic uncertainty. Helping clients communicate more actively and nimbly with their investors can be a game-changer in maintaining investor confidence and loyalty. Increased engagement can pave the way for further consolidation within the industry, as companies might seek mergers and acquisitions to strengthen their positions in the market.

Generative AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has existed for decades, but it is now emerging as a transformative force in the business landscape. AI’s application has been propelled to the forefront of the corporate world, thanks to tools such as ChatGPT, that showcase their potential in a multitude of diverse scenarios. Many businesses can now harness the immense benefits of AI adoption, particularly in terms of streamlining processes, enhancing decision-making, and unlocking new revenue streams.

Regulation

Recent regulatory developments, such as the Consumer Duty in the UK, are pushing companies to prioritise the well-being of their underlying clients. The obligation to demonstrate a duty of care towards consumers challenges asset management firms to develop more client-centric strategies.

In an age where personalised consumer knowledge is readily available, investment management organisations have a great opportunity to leverage technology to improve engagement and communication with their clients. Investing in innovative technological solutions enables a deeper understanding of clients’ needs, preferences and goals, fostering stronger relationships and trust.

Grant Swart – Associate Head of Product and Hanri Calitz – Senior Product Manager, hosting the Kurtosys Q2 product insights workshop on 27 June 2023

If you would like to find out more, please reach out to our Client Relationship Marketer, Maxine Narramore.

Kurtosys’ vision for the next 6 months: moving towards a consumer-grade platform

The primary focus for the next six months is the transition of solutions still running on legacy platforms to the most recent and advanced technology. This strategic move holds significant promise for both the company and our clients. For some of our long-standing clients it means gaining access to cutting-edge solutions, a leap forward in terms of efficiency, and better user experience. It is one of those typical ‘short-term pain, long-term gain’ scenarios for all, and we are in contact with all clients who are affected by this move.

From an internal perspective, this transition has multiple positive implications. Firstly, our teams will be relieved of the burden of supporting multiple platforms, allowing for more breathing space to focus on innovation and enhancements. This, in turn, will pave the way for eliminating technical debt, a crucial step towards ensuring a robust and future-proof infrastructure.

Looking beyond the immediate benefits, we are working towards realising our vision of a solid platform that will serve as a springboard for the company’s growth and expansion in 2024. With a modernised infrastructure and streamlined operations, the company will be well-positioned to take on new challenges and capitalise on emerging opportunities in the market.

Product roadmap

Kurtosys’ product roadmap also holds exciting developments for the coming months. A series of sizable releases are planned, featuring product enhancements that promise to captivate both existing and potential clients. Among the notable developments is the integration with Snowflake and other cloud-based data solutions, which will further elevate our data management capabilities.

Transparency and well-documented consumer-grade software are emphasised, not only for external stakeholders but also for the internal team. The continuous discipline and improvements made will keep positively impacting on overall productivity and efficiency.

With a solid foundation and a clear roadmap, Kurtosys is poised for success and a solid foundation to keep serving our clients with an unwavering focus on the future.

Improving our client experience

As we move forward in the year, our focus remains on enhancing the client experience, streamlining our processes, and strengthening our internal organisation. We are set up to Our long-term objective to become a successful SaaS platform, catering directly to our clients in the investment management industry and collaborating effectively with partners.

About the author