TOP 10 IT MISTAKES ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FIRMS MAKE
By Christopher Carter
Managing Director of Project Management at Agio
Superior Managed IT & Security Services
Alternative investment firms today have a lot to worry about. Your IT shouldn’t be one of them. In this White
Paper, we discuss the top 10 IT mistakes for you to avoid.
WORKING WITH GENERALISTS | Work with IT vendors that understand your industry. Make sure they appreciate
the urgency of your business and have relationships with the right market data, order management and compliance providers. Deep alternative investment industry knowledge and expertise means your IT team will understand the dynamics of your environment and provide the right services and partners for your fund.
UNDERESTIMATING LEAD TIMES | If you are just starting your firm or a new technology initiative, remember to
engage your technology team as early as possible. Often alternative investment firms underestimate the amount
of time it takes to implement new systems. The more time you give your technology team, the more time they
have to properly plan, test, and deploy your system. Lead times on equipment and services can ruin the timing
of projects and cost you in the long run.
NOT COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR IT TEAM | Meet with your IT team at least twice a year. Even though things
might look like they are running smoothly, make sure your technology team reviews your current systems,
security and processes. Their review should highlight mission critical systems, aging equipment, unsupported
software, and security risks that could affect your fund in the future.
CHOOSING VENDORS ON COST VS. SUBSTANCE | When outsourcing IT projects, don’t base your choice solely
on costs. Get references and talk to funds that have implemented similar systems successfully. Key things to ask
include: did the IT provider delivered on time, what issues did they encounter, and how did they respond when
things didn’t go according to plan?
NOT KNOWING THE TECHNOLOGY THAT MAKES YOUR BUSINESS RUN | Often firms can’t identify their mission critical systems and applications. They may know they need e-mail and access to their order management
system but rarely know their trader is using a locally saved spreadsheet that is critical for their day-to-day tasks.
Make sure you know your employees and understand the technology they are using. If it is important to their
work process, ensure it gets backed up and others know about it.
NOT UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BACKUP, BUSINESS CONTINUITY AND DISASTER
RECOVERY | A lot of people get these terms confused in the world of IT, which is costly when data is lost or
unavailable. Backup is the process of copying your data and having the ability to restore it in case data is lost or
becomes corrupt. Business Continuity refers to the plans, policies and procedures your fund has in place in case
a disaster happens. Disaster Recovery is a group of technologies and solutions that help perform these procedures. A well-prepared fund should have all three.
LACK OF PROCEDURE AND SYSTEMS DOCUMENTATION | Very few funds document their technology solutions.
This can be a critical mistake if you lose a key employee who understood the ins-and-outs of a particular system,
or if a relationship with a key vendor sours. Make sure every IT project is well documented and that you retain a
copy of the documentation for your records.
MAKING THE WRONG CALL AROUND WHEN TO OUTSOURCE OR USE IN-HOUSE STAFF | While there is no clear
answer to the question of what to outsource and when, rule of thumb says: keep in-house your core competencies and what differentiates you from your competition. Outsource the rest. For example, systems like e-mail and
compliance solutions have been commoditized. There are very few scenarios where it makes sense to keep these
in-house.
UNDER-TRAINING YOUR STAFF | You can spend a lot of money on quality technology solutions. If your people
don’t understand those systems, then they are worthless. When implementing a new solution, training is key to
user acceptance and project success.
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KEEPING OLD DESKTOP, WORKSTATIONS AND LAPTOPS | Best practice dictates replacing a third of your systems
every year. This allows you to have a planned budget for these systems and never get stuck with the cost of
replacing everything in one year.
About Agio (www.agio.com)
Agio is a progressive Managed IT & Security Services provider, offering technology hosting, monitoring,
management, disaster prevention and recovery, security, and other high-end technology services. With nearly
150 employees, Agio is headquartered in New York City with operational headquarters in Norman, OK.
agio.com
1.877.780.AGIO (2446) | [email protected]