Portfolio management provider achieves 100% growth after outsourcing
A leading Australian portfolio management services provider engaged Sundaram Business Services to outsource repetitive and transactional activities in their provision of portfolio administration services. Clearing the business inefficiencies allowed the client to focus on more value-added work for business growth.
100%
Growth over 9 years
x4
Increase in number of advisers
x3
Investment in Sundaram staff
25%
Before engaging Sundaram, 25% of administration required manual processes
The challenge
Reducing manual processes
One of Australia’s leading providers of integrated administration systems for the financial services industry across Australia was finding that 25% of the investments it administered required manual processes. As the business was entirely driven by numbers, every manual step represented a risk of introduced errors, which would have a substantial financial impact. Besides the daily activities there was back-end work to be completed after business hours. Hiring and retaining professional staff with the right mix of skills, especially for surge load periods, delayed the roll-out of tax summaries and, inevitably, resulted in missed deadlines.
The approach
Seamless business processes
After carefully analysing the financial impact of errors made as a result of the manual process, Sundaram Business Services implemented streamlined processes, including business process models. Leveraging the time difference, we took on the same-day reporting and reconciliation tasks. At times, we deployed our experienced team to work onsite, alongside the client’s team, to roll out the tax summaries, ensuring the client met their deadlines.
To monitor effectiveness and identify key risks, we used Failure Mode Effective Analysis through a structured learning management system. We also set up streamlined documentation systems and standard operating procedures and revisited them frequently to maintain efficiencies and ensure regulation compliance. Through a robust incident management system driven by the best practices of Six Sigma, Sundaram drove operational rigour and reviewed the people practice at every stage of the engagement. We also conducted regular systems health checks on all portals, applications, workflows and e-mail functions – which became a daily feature that helped standardise operations.
The impact
Exponential multi-year growth
The partnership with Sundaram Business Services helped the client to grow their business exponentially: by more than 100% over nine years. With Sundaram handling back-office jobs and taking over all manual processes, the portfolio administration business was able to add more than 200 advisers to its workforce. Within Sundaram, the team members dedicated to this client increased threefold, as the number of advisers we served increased fourfold. Same-day reporting and reconciliation created efficiencies for the whole team. And the checks we put in place resulted in improved privacy and security.