While around 30% of respondents felt their overall levels of satisfaction with outsourcing decisions to date were as expected, nearly 45% of survey participants reported better-than-expected results. “We’ve seen a shift where local staff are being able to use their knowledge to push other projects further now that simple tasks and scripts are handled elsewhere,” noted one respondent.
Of the more than 250 responses registered, over 20% were from hedge funds, with the majority of the remainder comprising traditional asset management firms. The bulk of responses were from UK and US- based firms, with a handful from other European markets.
When considering the outsourcing of middle- and back-office functions, operational expertise, greater efficiency, cost and technology were cited as key drivers for outsourcing by over 60% of respondents. Some 45% of respondents say they have increased the number of functions they have outsourced since their initial foray into outsourcing, while only 13% say they have brought certain functions back in house.
Participants were also asked to list the key factors determining their decisions when considering the purchase of technology. Ease of integration with existing systems and the ability to access data on a self-serve basis were considered top priorities. Conversely, cutting-edge functionality and ease-of-use were each considered less of a deciding factor.