Wealth Management Technologies in Russia

In a report published by US financial management and advisory firm, Merrill Lynch, half of Europe’s millionaires are Russian and their number is growing twice as fast as the global rate. So with all this money is the Russian financial sector geared up for wealth management? Sergey Shelyagin, director at EPAM Systems, observes that although the Russian banks are quite keen to offer such services, overall, they noticeably yield to the longstanding experience, knowledge and efficiency of European banks in this sector (such as UBS and Credit Suisse).

Shelyagin, whose employer, EPAM Systems, assists banks and various financial institutions with the development of wealth management technologies, observes that the interest in wealth management in Russia manifests itself in a host of dedicated conferences and forums. The neighboring countries of Kazakhstan and Ukraine are also promising markets, as well as Belarus. Product development, software maintenance and support, and application testing are up to the word’s highest quality standards at these countries due to a well-established education system. ‘Unfortunately, it is hard to gauge this type of market, as it is quite closed and understandably reluctant to go public,’ says Shelyagin. ‘So, there is more speculation than fact.’

In terms of IT, Shelyagin observes that more and more wealth management organizations turn to the CRM systems that enable a holistic view of the customer’s capital structure and allow operating these funds more efficiently. The tendency with the CRM solutions is to acquire a third party system and then customize it under the entity’s own steam or outsource the customization to a specialist firm.

EPAM has experience in the field although the company is under obligation not to disclose the names of its wealth management customers. EPAM customized Pivotal CRM – a CRM product suite from a Canadian provider, CDC Software. ‘We changed about 50 per cent of the software, leaving the main engine – document flow – intact,’ says Shelyagin. ‘We also developed a portal application so that a client has access to his/her portfolio via a personalized window.’

Source: IBS Publishing

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Financial Recession and Outsourcing: Who is in the Saddle?

In one respect it has been a record couple of weeks for “outsourcing”. Around the world, governments and taxpayers have agreed to help ailing financial firms offload their toxic loans and resolve their liquidity worries. Banks are not the only ones hoping that this will help keep them afloat. The multi-billion-dollar outsourcing industry that runs computer systems and other things on companies’ behalf is keeping its fingers crossed, too. After all, financial giants have helped drive the industry’s stellar growth in the past few years. Now they threaten to undermine it.

But let’s look on the bright side as huge outsourcing deals involving banks are still being done, though the figures may be a bit lower compared to the previous year. Moreover, some outsourcing folk claim that the financial crisis could ultimately help their business, even though it threatens to harm it in the short term.

Furthermore, they say banking survivors that already use outside contractors will give them more to do as they cut costs. Banks that have hitherto shunned outsourcing will have to embrace it to protect their margins. And those with their own offshore activities will be more likely to turn them over to specialists.

Source:Economist.com

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Forewarned is Forearmed

“Forewarned is forearmed” is a golden rule of life. Outsourcing is no exception. If your outsourcing initiatives are successful or fail depends mostly on the way you perceive outsourcing and communicate with your outsourcing partner, In other words: set firm goals and keep your eyes wide open.

InfoWorld talked to industry experts to summarize their best advice, based on their own and their clients' experience. The interviewees were Larry Harding, founder and president of High Street Partners, a global consultancy that advises company on how to expand overseas; Steve Martin, a consultant and partner at Pace Harmon, half of whose business is focused on helping companies repair the damage from an outsourcing deal gone bad; Peter Geisheker, CEO of the Geisheker Group marketing firm; and Patrick Dolan, CEO of BPO Management Services.

Here are some of the pieces of advice shared by the experts:

1. Clear objectives. It's not that the best-laid plans often go astray; it's that they often aren't the best-laid plans in the first place.
There is a lack of experience in what outsourcing entails. Going global with a sales and marketing initiative, for example, has implications in finance as well as most of the company's other departments.

2. Compatibility. As the provider is going to become a part of your team be sure it’s compatible with your company’s culture, communication skills and working style.

3. Communication. Be very precise and detailed when explaining the project specifications. And as you are distributing IT functions outside the organization, be ready to coordinate and communicate with the customer all the time. You may even need to have an “ambassador” onsite just to see what is happening.

4. Expect to get what you pay for. If you put the outsourcer under too much cost pressure, it will cut corners too, such as using junior resources. Furthermore, never think of IT as a cost center; instead, consider it a value center. This will clarify what can be a candidate for outsourcing in the first place.

And never consider outsourcing as a means of saving corporate money and getting quality just for nothing - good execution flies out the window.

Source: InfoWorld

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