Hedge fund CRM- keeping the pipeline flowing
The investor pipeline is what defines the prospects for a hedge fund. Without it, whatever the skill and daring of the fund manager, and however stellar their individual performance, the fund is doomed to wither and die. So the managing all aspects of the fund's relationship with its investors is critical, to a successful fund. This is why having the right CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software solution is an absolute prerequisite for fund managers, irrespective of size or point in the fund's life cycle.
CRM software for the hedge fund industry has moved forward a long way from when it was primarily a matter of stringing together investor directories, and trying to hold dispersed Outlook contact details in a rough synchronicity. With major developments in CRM across client-facing industries, out-of-the-box solutions for investor relations quickly took hold in the alternative investment industry too.
What has changed in the recent past, however, is the pace of technological innovation in investor-slanted CRM software - and in particular the very concept of how that software is deployed. The realization of cloud computing technologies, and the paradigm-shift of treating software as a service (SaaS), as opposed to a product, have left hedge fund CRM vendors with radically different offerings.
The old guard, led by such stalwarts as ProTrak, Goldmine and ACT, are based around a client-server model. Whilst radical in their time, this model can be seen as a cost-heavy solution these days. That said, there is still much to be gained from the total ownership of resources and software, that comes with such a model. Investor relationship information is highly prized, and of the greatest sensitivity - on both sides of the customer-fund equation. So a more restrictive ownership and control of such information is still seen as an important asset by many in the hedge fund industry.
But it can't be denied that, for many hedge funds, the ease of use and low cost of subscribing to CRM SaaS solutions, outweigh any concerns over entrusting their data and operations to third parties. Nimble new products, such as BackStop and Navatar (in conjunction with Salesforce) have made big inroads into the market - particularly for those funds at the initial fund-raising stage of development. Here, there is no legacy investment in CRM systems holding them back.
The future of hedge fund CRM may well lie with these products, especially as more funds make more generalized use of distributed cloud services, such as those provided by Google and Amazon. These already entail the placing of confidence in third party data and operational solutions. So the leap of faith is no longer such an issue, when it comes to taking up SaaS CRM deployment.
Whatever the future may hold, those vendors able to deliver tailored hedge fund CRM functionality, that meet the demanding needs of the alternative investment community, will be the ones that thrive. That means software that need to drives forward the sales pipeline; that effectively manages the information dispersal needed to grab, and keep, investors on board the fund; and that keeps essential data available, 24/7, for the lowest operational costs.