Data is King: What we found out at InvestOps EU

At InvestOps EU, we surveyed our audience of buy-side leaders to produce a groundbreaking research report uncovering unrivalled insights.

InvestOps is the only event that brings together senior executives from the world’s top investment banks and asset managers. On-site in London, they answered questions on their challenges and the innovative solutions being brought to the table.

In this blog, we delve into some of the results, concentrating on one of the key themes that came up time and time again…Data!

Data was the word on everybody’s lips at InvestOps EU. As we know, data is currency in this industry so that came as little surprise.

Asked to share a word or phrase that summarised their current operational and transformational priorities, ‘Data’ was the most popular word, while ‘Data Quality’ was also cited by a significant proportion of the audience. ‘Data Quality’ came up again and was the most popular answer for our audience when asked to describe their greatest cross-functional pain points.

To tackle data problems, firms are looking to build connected data platforms that support multiple data sources and formats. Encouragingly, 65% of respondents to our survey are either moderately advanced or very advanced on their journey.

Only 2% had fully implemented and optimised their connected platforms, while 33% are in the very early stages.

Data also appears to be a problem among staff. A significant 56% of respondents cited data literacy as an area in which core skill sets needed to be further developed. Also scoring high on that front were people skills (35%) and leading transformational change (35%).

Interestingly, just 6% believe staff need to be upskilled when it comes to understanding AI. However, this might be because AI implementation is still at a very early stage.

The full report will be available to download for free shortly. In the report, we also dive into digitised front-to-back office operating models and how asset managers are leveraging AI solutions.

Follow us on LinkedIn for updates about the report