Asset managers are rapidly implementing dedicated research management platforms as the push to automate investment team workflows expands across the front-office, according to results from the 2020 Investor Survey: Modernizing Research Management report, published by MackeyRMS.

Of the larger asset managers that participated in this survey, 39 percent said that their firm implemented a third-party research management platform to enable their team to work from anywhere. Only improved workflow efficiency (50%) and better data security (44%) ranked higher. Similarly, 32 percent of respondents from funds managing $20 billion or more said the need for full-featured mobile usability was a major trigger for implementing a third-party platform.

The 2020 Investor Survey was commissioned by MackeyRMS, the leading provider of research management technology for actively managed investment portfolios; and conducted by Market Measurement, an independent market research and consulting firm. A total of 100 interviews were conducted with investing, technology, operations and compliance professionals in the asset management industry to assess their views and plans for improving internal research management processes.

The majority of survey respondents (74%) reported that their firm uses a dedicated research management application today. That group was divided between asset managers who have implemented a third-party solution (57%) and those who have built one in-house (17%).

Among the asset managers that don’t use a dedicated platform today, 96 percent said their firm was likely to extremely likely to evaluate adopting a third-party system in the next 24 months. All respondents from asset managers who built an in-house system said the same.

“Our commissioned survey makes it clear that the asset management industry is serious about modernizing the research management process,” said Chris Mackey, founder and CEO of MackeyRMS. “The drivers for this change — the need for accessibility, transparency and work-from-anywhere usability — are consistent with other front office modernization initiatives undertaken across the investment enterprise in recent years.”

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