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NEWS Digital is the word
Objectway hosted clients and press during November at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam as it rang in its second-ever customer conference
Senior Reporter Alex Hamilton
approach the company is taking with its logo and business practices. It aims to flow like water, allowing users to plug- in and play with whatever modules they wish to use. Luigi Marciano, CEO, outlined the company vision as being built on three key pillars: digital platforms, multiple segments and acquisitions.
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The firm is in a period of stability following a long road of acquisitions. Peter Schramme, Chief Business Development Officer at Objectway, outlined how it is launching a new strategy of “real impact for clients” by doubling down on four key markets: private banking, institutional investment, fund management and unit-linked insurance. To tackle those sectors, Objectway is rolling out a set of new products, too: portfolio construction tool Optimo, MiFID II suitability engine Sure and online-based advisory platform Hybrid Advisory. On top of the new tools, Objectway is combining its OPM and SMOT platforms and rolling the result out to international customers.
Unsurprisingly, digital was the watchword for the conference. The use of data analytics, Schramme argued, is something the entire wealth sector needs to get up to speed on. Analytics should be used to extract “life events” from clients, while social media usage should play a much greater role in how companies interact with their users. Objectway research revealed that among millionaires and mass affluent clients 40% prefer a video chat over meeting in person, 20% preferred email over the phone and 21% got their financial advice by watching videos on YouTube.
Stephen Wal, Senior Analyst at the AITE Group, spoke of how wealth management companies need to “deal with digital” or get out of the way of those who are. Just over
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t was a fitting location to reveal the new
three-quarters of the 36 wealth management firms surveyed by AITE reported that their first digitalisation project would be live by the end of 2018. Robo-advisors in particular have “spotted their chance” to attack the space, while incumbents are left behind tying to work out legacies, complexities and regulation. Wealth managers have a way of “sticking their heads in the sand” but ignoring the problem will not make it go away.
Away from the presentations, IBS Journal caught up with Marciano for a chat. On the subject of innovation, which Objectway claimed in 2015 it spends 10% of its revenue on, Marciano stated that the firm is looking to spend even more during 2017. “Our plan is to spend more or less $25 million on R&D in the next four years,” he said. Objectway is looking to unify the many platforms it has acquired over the years into a suite of modular systems. “The feedback from our clients has been very positive [on the new modular approach], they don’t want their technology to complicate their lives and have long projects and integrations. Our strategy is to address, segment by segment, the needs of our clients.”
One of the most important challenges over the last year has been clients opting to take on multiple products at once. “Demands for additional products and models to be integrated both in the context of one solution but also in the context of a specific engine” have increased. Larger clients like banks are much more digital- orientated, and are looking for ways to build onto their existing core systems, creating a hybrid system that Objectway is happy to mould for them. He pointed to the vendor’s work with CheBanca! which went live in
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