A Pragmatic and Proven Approach to Major Systems Upgrades

Major system upgrades are often a challenge for investment management firms. The truth is, they need to be performed, if not for new features, then for contractual obligations. Working with the most up to date release of an investment management platform has many benefits, but major upgrades are often complex and becoming more frequent, bringing a constant strain on resources and delivery times.

In this insight article, we explain why  it is important to use the latest release and provide a framework to manage ongoing upgrades, delivering a business ready platform efficiently and effectively.

• New functionality to deal with current market trends and the latest regulatory requirements
• A focus on fixing system bugs and addressing nagging errors that require workarounds
• Improved system security which is becoming a top priority for investment management firms
• Enhanced performance from better navigation and processing efficiency
• Continued support from the vendor as some vendors may reduce or even stop support for firms that continue to use old versions of the software.

Invariably, a major system upgrade is a complex project that can affect many parts of the business. It needs to be properly planned and resourced so that the associated benefits of the upgrade are delivered to the firm in a timely, cost effective and secure manner.

Given these upgrades are recurrent in nature, it is important to develop a framework that ensures business continuity and is repeatable without any major changes to the plan.

The framework, which can be developed in collaboration with the vendor if required, should be wide ranging to  ensure that the project team understands the full implications of any upgrade across the business.

Initial discovery and scope definition, technical and business upgrade as well as testing and readiness for business go live should be covered by the framework:

This process will ensure there is a full understanding of how all areas of the business use the system which will ultimately lead to more efficient testing coverage, reduce unnecessary testing, and provide solid justifications for the implemented test cases.

Once the framework and associated workflows have been agreed upon and have gone through a full cycle, it should be adjusted where necessary based on the experience of the first project. Going forward, this approach should provide several benefits to the Investment Operations team:

• You have a proven formula for managing upgrades that is repeatable and secure.
• Staffing requirements are known beforehand and not a surprise when highly skilled business or technical skills are needed.
• Costs of the upgrade are well understood beforehand, reducing financial risk.
• Delivering the upgrade in an efficient and cost-effective manner enables a rapid time to market for clients, enabling full use of the new technology and functionality.

Some of the world’s leading investment managers have partnered with Alpha for large scale technology upgrades due to our strong reputation and experience in the market. We have a global team of highly skilled consultants with strong industry knowledge and exceptional understanding of the major technology platforms used by investment managers.