Financial Services Success Story: Global Investment Management Authority

The firm has maintained a stellar reputation in the bond market for 45 years. However, their on-premise CRM system, which was highly customized and outdated, was holding them back from capitalizing on new and expanding markets. The biggest opportunity centered around the growing population of retirees living longer and shifting investment strategies from equities to fixed income.

The firm was having difficulty making decisions around its global sales and investment strategy. Data was incomplete and inaccurate, reporting was poor, integrations with other tools weren’t working, and managers had no visibility, so the sales team was wasting time following the wrong opportunities. In addition, system performance had deteriorated due to over-customization, so employees were no longer using it. Not only was the firm ill-equipped to capitalize on this new opportunity; other areas of the business were suffering:

• The firm operates in locations around the globe that are very highly regulated, some much more than the US. The current system was not equipped to accommodate the varying regulatory and compliance requirements to which the firm was required to meet.
• In this industry, recruiting is critical but challenging. A firm must stay on the cutting edge of technology and processes to attract and retain aggressive, competitive professionals.
• With more than a thousand account managers selling the firm’s products around the world, it was vital to have the ability to work remotely.
• The IT team was overwhelmed with problems and demand created by poor performance and other issues. The firm needed to outsource its IT infrastructure.

The firm is now operating successfully with the Microsoft platform and is thrilled with the results:

• The global sales team has been unified, using consistent, efficient processes and integrated systems:
  • Instead of multiple phone calls attempting to communicate or attain vital stats, everything is available through a clean user interface and efficient reporting, empowering managers to make effective decisions for the entire sales operation, from New York to Singapore.
  • Sales people are armed with the data they need understand relationships and pursue the right opportunities, including the growing baby boomer market. That means more focused selling—which yields higher profits and better margins.
• With Azure as the foundation, performance is excellent and data is in sync, regardless of location:
  • Customizations and configurations conform to standards, so upgrades are seamless and keep the firm up to date with the latest Microsoft developments.
  • An additional advantage: With Microsoft as its Cloud provider, the firm has full, expert support across the globe.
• With a Cloud solution, the internal IT staff no longer carries the burden of performance, upgrades, and compliance responsibilities. In particular, it would be nearly impossible for a solution hosted out of the New York office to be effectively used on the other side of the world. With Microsoft’s global data center infrastructure and data replication the Cloud, the firm has a true, global solution that can be used by everyone.