Determining what matters most when choosing a software vendor for your project is like asking what matters most when buying a new car. The answer is likely to be, “it depends.” It depends on whom you ask. It depends on budget, needs, goals and sensibilities. So, where do you begin and what are the most important considerations?
Family Office Challenges — Front and Center at FWR’s Fintech Summit
FundCount was pleased to be a sponsor of the Family Office Fintech Summit in New York for the second consecutive year. One of the few industry events specifically focused on technology solutions for family offices and HNW individuals, the Fintech Summit attracted over 100 attendees on a snowy March day — a clear indication of the substantial interest in the market for this type of event.
Making Essential Upgrades to Ensure You Aren’t Left Behind, a panel discussion including FundCount’s Mike Slemmer, was the first of many engaging sessions throughout the day. Rounding out the panel were Melissa Mattison, Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer, Athena Capital Advisors and Chris Martinez, Managing Director, Oakbrook Solutions. Stephen Harris, publisher of Family Wealth Report, served as moderator.
Discussion focused on the steps a family office can take to ensure they select the right provider. Although the panelists represented different players in the industry — a vendor, a practitioner and a consultant — all agreed that the up-front work starts internally. A family office needs to:
- Understand its current environment and workflows
- Determine what problem(s) it is trying to solve
- Be true to itself — know what the family office can handle and/or wants to handle
- Focus on core needs
Once internal priorities are in line, it’s a matter of assessing “fit” based on the vendor’s ability to meet a family office’s unique requirements. Use cases provide insight into how a solution can solve a real-world challenge and due diligence will shed light on critical factors such as security, business recovery and financial stability. However, an alignment of culture is equally important for the overall chance of success.
Download highlights from all conference sessions by FWR’s editor, Tom Burroughes.
New Clients
We welcome the following new clients to the FundCount family in 2018!
Platinum Fund Servicing is a new fund administrator, based in Orange, California, focusing on loan funds and loan servicing for institutional clients. Paget-Brown Trust Company is a fund administrator based in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, providing services to a wide range of institutional investment firms. And finally, a large and diversified family office, based in Vancouver BC, Canada will use FundCount for both investment and operating company entities.
Client Profile: Benefit Trust
Replacing a legacy accounting system that is closely integrated with other front and back-office systems is a complicated process that most firms try to delay as long as possible. But ultimately this becomes necessary in order to move the business forward.
Institutional Trustee and Custodian, Benefit Trust, approached FundCount when they reached that tipping point. They wanted a feature-rich, scalable system that would interface with existing applications and support a wide range of investment vehicles.
With FundCount, Benefit Trust can perform all core portfolio accounting functions and run financial reporting in a single system. Processes that were once manual are now automated, introducing efficiencies not previously possible with their legacy system. Client reports can be easily customized and automatically generated, saving time and reducing error. Even more important, FundCount’s reporting enables Benefit Trust to provide clients with the highest level of customer service.
Read the case study to learn more.
Client Quote of the Quarter
“FundCount is dynamic and can handle data in all formats, including Excel.”
— Vishal Shah
Director of Accounting and Valuations, Beacon Fund Services
Growth is in the Air!
FundCount is kicking off spring with the hiring of three new Java developers and one QA engineer. They’ll join a hard-working team of employees committed to enhancing FundCount software and making clients smile. At the same time, FundCount’s back-office operations is moving into larger offices to support current and future growth.
Awards and Accolades
FundCount continues to shine! In addition to being named Best Fund Accounting and Reporting Systems Firm in the HedgeWeek Global Awards, FundCount is honored to have won two categories in the WealthBriefing Swiss Awards: Best Client Accounting and Best Client Communications. And, we took the title of Fund Accounting Firm of the Year in the US, Asia and Switzerland in the ACQ5 Awards.
FundCount is also shortlisted for the following upcoming awards:
- WealthBriefing European Awards 2018
Client Accounting, Client Reporting, Client Communications - HFM European Hedge Fund Services Awards 2018
Fund accounting and reporting software
Winners will be announced in the coming months.
About Fundcount
Founded in 1999, FundCount provides integrated accounting and investment analysis software that improves operational efficiency and delivers immediate, actionable intelligence to clients around the globe. Today, over 120 hedge funds, single and multi-family offices, fund administrators and private equity firms worldwide with assets totaling more than US $125 billion rely on FundCount for accurate, timely information and flexible reporting. FundCount supports its growing client base from the company’s U.S. headquarters and three additional international locations.
