In their transformation process from pure financial companies to hybrid technology & asset managers, investment firms are willing to increase awareness of their ‘new’ technology capabilities.
Technology & digital thought leadership is an emerging trend among asset managers particularly those who are engaged in a diversification of their business towards asset management technology services.
A thought leader is an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded.
Indeed, as this B2B buying process is laced with complexities, influencers and multiple decisions-makers, the clients of this type of service (asset managers,institutional investors, distributors) need “proof” of providers’ expertise and successful used cases. As a consultant from Forrester Research said, “Business buyers don’t buy your product; they buy into your approach to solving their problems.”
The three main variations of thought leadership namely expertise, industry & organization also applies to technology
We will use BlackRock’s initiatives as an illustration of the communication landscape for all three variations of thought leadership: product & expertise, industry, organization.
The provider of Aladdin full suite of asset management services has created a blog dedicated to technology thought leadership: BlackRock Engineering, http://rockthecode.io/
1. Technical expertise: from Python programming to big data software
Beyond traditional marketing, this area of thought leadership focus on how the company’s technical expertise can impact clients’ business or improve a challenge they face. This content provide “how-to’s”, best practices, and use cases.
BlackRock presents at IT events how and why it started using technology or softwares. BlackRock’s speakers highlight their experiences with the tools as well as the company’s plans to ensure optimal and efficient use of the technology across the firm. Use cases open events were organized by BlackRock on technology expertise such as Python a widely used general purpose programming language or big data analytics engine Spark.
In this area, BlackRock content goes as far as providing code to help IT developers. BlackRock is also exposing some of it score API datasets ranging from portfolio analytics & risk, security information, performance data.
What about Amundi?
Amundi has started to communicate about technology to the market, as illustrated by the publication made in Funds Europe to present Amundi commitment to innovation and latest work with machine learning and collaborative tools. See the article here.
In addition, Amundi IT division is working on the implementation of a technical standard for exchange through APIs. This project includes the availability for market participants as well as prospects and clients of Amundi Services ALTO product of code to facilitate exchange between their internal tools and our platform.
2. Market trends: BlackRock acts as a global technological & digital player with dedicated content within its thought leadership institute
This type of thought leadership offers market trends and ideas for new ways to achieve success.
To position itself as a thought leader in the broad technology space, BlackRock covers a large perimeter including blockchain applications, UX design or the use of cloud architecture.
In addition to its dedicated blog, BlackRock uses its Investment Institute to produce thought-provoking technology/digital-related content for clients and policymakers. The role of third party vendors or the rise of digital advice with robo-advisors are among the topics covered by its “ViewPoints” series of papers which examine public policy issues and assess their implications for investors.
3. Organisation: aligning BlackRock’s corporate culture with technology thought leadership for talent development and overall company reputation
BlackRock’s engineering blog is a way of sourcing IT talents and promoting its analyst programs across the world,from a summer internship to the two year global analyst program designed to develop recent university graduates.
BlackRock currently offers more than 100 jobs in the technology areas such as software engineers, visual designers, data scientists & quant engineers,information security specialists…
Around Aladdin, its corporate culture and its thought leadership initiatives, BlackRock has built a comprehensive and consistent framework around technology which is reinforcing client engagement and attractiveness for talented people who will build the asset manager of the future.
Author: Eddy Arnaud - June 2019
