Why Consultants Give Asset Servicing Firms a Competitive Edge

Aliter Investment Services, an F2 Strategy company, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of F2 Strategy dedicated to driving operational and technology transformation across the financial services industry. Dan Ahern, Founding Partner of Aliter, shared how the firm creates lasting value for clients and offered his perspective on what every organization should look for in a trusted consulting partner.

In today’s market, technology and streamlined operations are increasingly critical to an organization’s performance. The technology landscape is so broad that it’s nearly impossibl efor asset managers and asset servicing firms to have every bit of expertise they need in-house — to strategize, assess tools, implement, and integrate it all.  That’s where consultants can make areal difference. We help organizations bridge the gap between client expectations and the reality of their internal capabilities. At Aliter, we bring decades of hands-on experience and deep subject matter expertise to drive execution and deliver tangible results. After nine years of leading Aliter, I’ve seen firsthand how our clients achieve outcomes they simply couldn’t have reached on their own — results that transform not only their systems, but the way they operate as a whole.

Choosing the right consulting partner means more than technical skills. It’s about finding a team that understands your business, challenges your thinking, and guides you through change with trust and transparency.

Benefits of a Consultant

Consultants leverage their experience and flexibility to help organizations bridge gaps in operations and technology. A skilled consultant can tackle a variety of challenges over the course of a partnership, including:

• Develop Strategy—consultants combine deep knowledge of your business with real-world experience to create technology roadmaps that drive value across operations and enhance the client experience.
• Execute Recommendations—once a roadmap is established, consultants deploy the right practitioners to transform strategies from a document into actionable solutions in your organization.
• Manage Capacity Fluctuations—consultants help balance workload peaks and valleys, ensuring day-to-day operations continue smoothly while advancing key projects, scaling up or down as demand requires.
• Make the Business Case to Leadership—whether upgrading legacy platforms or redesigning processes, consultants guide decision-makers through the ROI and value of operational and technological improvements.
• Provide a Competitive Edge—consultants with deep knowledge across the investment-lifecycle from asset management and asset servicing to wealth management and bank trust to advisory firms to hedge funds, in digital, tech, and marketing can further assist asset managers on an enterprise-wide level.

Types of Projects

You’ll find that consultant scan generate results on many different types of projects. Here are a few examples of project work that fit well with the consulting model:

• Business Transformation & Redesign—consultants help organizations rethink and optimize their operations to drive efficiency, manage risk, and unlock value.From current state analysis and risk assessment to operating model design and process redesign, we deliver practical solutions that streamline workflows and improve performance.
• Outsourcing Strategy & Integration—consultants help organizations make informed decisions about what to keep in-house and what to outsource. We guide clients through insourcing/outsourcing strategy development, service provide revaluation and selection, and comprehensive due diligence and competitive global fee benchmarking.
• Technology Architecture and Implementation—consultants help organizations design, build, and optimize technology solutions that drive business value. We begin with defining business and functional requirements to ensure solutions meet strategic objectives. From there, we develop architecture designs and workflows, perform business system analysis, and manage testing to guarantee quality and alignment.
• Data Analysis and Migration—consultants help organizations harness the power of their data while ensuring smooth transitions across systems. We manage data capture and aggregation, mapping, integration, and conversion, and provide in-depth data analysis, measurement, and reporting to support informed decision-making.
• Mergers and Acquisitions—consultants possess the knowledge/ skills to engage on pre-M&A MarketAssessment/ Due Diligence and post-M&A Operations and TechnologyIntegration and Transformation.
• Webinars and Training—consultants are well-positioned to share their expertise across the organization or industry, helping teams understand and adopt available technology tools effectively.

Choosing the Right Consultant

Your consultant will be a trusted partner in your work. Often, you will engage in what will become along-term relationship so you want to pick someone that listens, understands the industry, your unique position, and goals, and sits on your side of the table as your champion. The consultant should have the ability and willingness to challenge leadership to break free from the status quo of business as usual.

We also value real-world experience over theoretical advice (we only hire practitioners with 10-12 years of work in non-consulting asset management and asset servicing roll)s. They’ve not only seen it done, but they’ve done it with their own hands. They’ve made mistakes and found solutions so you don’t have to.

Finding a strong consultant is a lifeline for surviving today’s onslaught of technology advancements.Having a trusted partner with a deep understanding of asset management and asset servicing will add significant value to your organization by reducing the time it takes to make decisions about the right technology tools and implement them.

Learn more how Aliter, an F2 Strategy company, can help you navigate your operational and technology transformation.

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