RESOURCES FOR PRIVATE EQUITY & INVESTMENT FIRMS
Learn more about our experience in the Private Equity industry
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The advantages of automation, AI, and machine learning have caused a shift toward smart factories and data-driven manufacturers. We help you to become competitive, innovative, and resilient.
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How to navigate intense competition, stay in compliance with ever-changing regulations and leverage commercial opportunities. We help you create an IT landscape that enables efficient operations and connects processes and data.
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People-centered, client-focused and project-driven: that’s professional services in a nutshell. We design and implement technology solutions that enable better decision-making and effective working.
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We modernize the retail workplace, bringing previously unseen insights to the business, implementing intelligent order management and get you closer to your customer.
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HSO helps public and government organizations to meet and leverage increasing expectations for digital service, responsiveness and transparency.
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We support Non-Profits by modernizing applications, automating processes, and providing insight. Through technology, we nourish successful relationship management and enable greater impact.
What we do
HSO is one of the world’s top business solution and implementation partners, large enough to serve, small enough to care. Through our services, we help companies transform the way they work and improve business performance.
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Applications for ERP and CRM are leading in the industry. But their real strength is in the integration. Combined, they deliver even more value.
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HSO has a proven track record in supporting our customers in their cloud journey. With your business in mind, we offer a comprehensive suite of services to help you gain value from the cloud.
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We help customers build an operational and future-proof data platform, ready to realize business value from AI and machine learning technologies.
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HSO develops industry-specific solutions that leverage the latest cloud and AI technologies from Microsoft, accelerating our customers' digital transformation.
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Our workforce is a growing dynamic, unique, and diverse global community that is quality and performance-driven. For every stage in your career, we offer challenging opportunities. We look forward to meeting you!
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We are a global community of people with an entrepreneurial spirit, in an environment where you can really make a difference and have your voice heard. We constantly challenge ourselves to be better. Come join the journey with us!
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Skyrocket your career with our graduate programs and accredited certification opportunities at HSO around the world!
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From technical skills, soft skills, mentorships, leadership coaching, masterclasses, informal knowledge sharing and globally recognised certifications - HSO Academy is your personal and professional knowledge accelerator.
Vacancies
Find opportunities in Consultancy & Technology, Project Management, Leadership, Sales and Business Development, Marketing, Legal and HR.
Join HSO
Our workforce is a growing dynamic, unique, and diverse global community that is quality and performance-driven. For every stage in your career, we offer challenging opportunities. We look forward to meeting you!
Life at HSO
We are a global community of people with an entrepreneurial spirit, in an environment where you can really make a difference and have your voice heard. We constantly challenge ourselves to be better. Come join the journey with us!
Graduate Programs
Skyrocket your career with our graduate programs and accredited certification opportunities at HSO around the world!
HSO Academy
From technical skills, soft skills, mentorships, leadership coaching, masterclasses, informal knowledge sharing and globally recognised certifications - HSO Academy is your personal and professional knowledge accelerator.
Vacancies
Find opportunities in Consultancy & Technology, Project Management, Leadership, Sales and Business Development, Marketing, Legal and HR.
A digital transformation story, told by the technology expert who drove it
HSO’s smart, technical consultants’ main goal is to deliver client solutions that make it easier and more pleasant to do business. They possess energy and enthusiasm to take on technical, business challenges that metamorphize the customers’ organization.
In this Challenge Accepted blog post and interview, you’ll hear directly from an HSO functional solution architect, Matthew Case, who shares his story of a business challenge accepted and conquered.
"I care about people. Really. If I ever decided to tattoo something on my chest, it might be that. When I help design or build a software system for somebody, I’m thinking about the end users, their customers, and the management."
Matthew Case, Functional Solution Architect, talks about modernizing investor relations
For a global private equity firm with $70Bn AUM using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Service, the Power Platform and Microsoft Teams.
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Every once in a while, you get a project where you realize, wow, we’re going to change their lives with this one
The project I’m talking about here was one of those. While there were very antiquated processes, those processes were indeed working. However, there were a lot of manual steps involved. Those steps were not going to translate well to modern technology as we proceeded to automate and improve those processes.
As we went through the discovery process, we realized this was going to be one of those life-changing projects.
It feels good to deliver that kind of project because you truly know you’re doing more than a “lift and shift”—or a linear move. It’s going to be transformational. It’s going to make their processes better and their reporting more accurate. It’s going to give time back to people who are working hard and smart.
Everybody knows what technology can do because everybody has a smartphone nowadays. So, it’s understandable that businesses want tools that are as easy to use as a smartphone. While that’s not exactly “easy,” it certainly is possible. When you can do that, you kick off a true transformation.
The Business Challenge: Investor Relations using antiquated, manual processes
With $70B+ in assets across credit, private equity, and real estate strategies, this financial services firm has clearly been doing things right. But, there was still room for improvement. As I mentioned above, while their processes were manual and antiquated, those processes were getting the job done.
The question was, could they do an even better job with the right technology? Surely, there were improvements that could be made across the firm. Changes that would improve the client experience and positively impact the bottom line.
Investor Relations using Excel spreadsheets
One area of particular concern was investor relations. Manual processes only recorded requests—or requests from custodians on behalf of investors—which were tracked in an Excel spreadsheet. With multiple divisions, not everyone in the firm would be speaking directly to the custodian or investor. So, investor relations depended on this spreadsheet to track those communications and get them to the right places within the organization.
It might seem hard to believe that a firm with billions in assets under management would be using Excel. Any Excel user will tell you that it’s very dependable and gets the job done. The issue is that it was clearly not the most efficient way to do the job. There was a lot of potential to simply make things better.
To me, this was akin to introducing someone from the stone age to an airplane. We had an opportunity to blow their minds. In my mind, one of the most exciting things about this project was the opportunity to transform the person who manages the spreadsheet into a data steward—complete with the tools she needs to support her position—because, in essence, she was already managing billions of dollars’ worth of requests. She just needed better tools that would improve the process.
Challenge Accepted: Dynamics 365 Service (Case Management) integrated with Microsoft Teams
The firm had a sophisticated data structure in place, so the pieces were already in place to get to a solution; we just needed to help link them all together. This was important because we could not assume they actually knew what they wanted.
Because they were making a huge transformational leap from Excel, we could not ask them about metrics and what they wanted on their dashboard. That would be like asking a person who has never seen an airplane if they want a first-class seat.
We had to make sure our consultant hats were on to guide them through the process, but they are very savvy when it comes to their business. They had seen some of what Microsoft Dynamics and the Microsoft Power Platform can do, so it didn’t take long for them to run with it.
The business outcome: adoption and ownership
Reporting transparency and data accessibility were big gains from this project. These improvements translated into the investor relations team gaining a mastery of data; enabling them to continuously raise the bar of white glove service they deliver to their super-investors.
But the story doesn’t end there. By being so engaged in the transformation process, the client’s team became more and more involved in the overall vision for the project.
After seeing what could be done with Microsoft tools, they decided that other departments could have more involvement. This was something they had never considered before, but realized it would be very advantageous. Their team is brainstorming the creation of a self-service investor portal to provide even faster service to their clients. In short, they realize from one, specific project that the possibilities are virtually limitless.
RESOURCES FOR PRIVATE EQUITY & INVESTMENT FIRMS
Learn more about our experience in the Private Equity industry
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