In the asset management sector, technology has become the unequivocal foundation for operational efficiency, organizational agility and sustainable growth. The contemporary discourse centers on how best to align and integrate technological investments across the ecosystem and not just in the back office. Firms are increasingly moving beyond traditional cost-containment approaches, positioning technology as the principal vehicle for business transformation, scalable infrastructure and enhanced decision-making precision.
In partnership with Ignites, SS&C surveyed leading global asset managers to learn how they view technology’s role, and where they expect to use it to accelerate and maximize their strategic priorities.
Technology as a Strategic Growth Engine
The industry landscape demonstrates a clear, global consensus: technology is not merely a support function, but an indispensable enabler of business outcomes. Survey respondents articulated three primary objectives from their deployments:
- Drive structural cost efficiency without compromising core capabilities,
- Accelerate time-to-market for new products and services,
- Enhance organizational flexibility to respond to evolving client demands and regulatory expectations.
This orientation signifies a marked shift toward embracing technology as an engine of competitive differentiation. The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and capabilities like robotics is seen as providing valuable leverage to achieve those three objectives. But AI-based tools can also accelerate growth by helping refine product and portfolio construction, support risk assessment and enable sophisticated, data-driven client communications.
Insource or Outsource?
Although AI and automation are recognized as necessary components of future success, many firms realize they might not have the expertise in-house. As such, outsourcing is seen as a vital strategy to gain faster and more targeted results. Data reveals seven in ten managers expect to outsource at least one technology challenge.
But the challenges they want to solve and the outcomes they expect to gain show a fair degree of variability. For example, survey data shows that a healthy majority of managers are looking to build internal capabilities to increase market speed. Responses around other competencies like 24/7 servicing and tokenization have a more equitable balance between building internally and outsourcing. There was also an interesting reveal as to which technological areas were considered a low priority, regardless of whether those areas would be developed internally or outsourced.
Conclusion
The ability to integrate intelligent automation and other strategically aligned technologies will determine which firms achieve true scalability and resilience in an increasingly complex marketplace. A competitive edge is no longer achieved through incremental changes or ad hoc initiatives. And tapping outside providers to drive efficiency and gain speed to market shows that outsourcing to best-of-breed partners is a critical success factor.
For a comprehensive exploration of how the industry’s front runners are redefining their technology strategies to support growth, download the full "Expansion Under Pressure" report.
