As the largest private firm in its space, this data-first manager sees immediate power in having a map of LP + Consultant + Manager relationships, plus longer-term opportunities to equip firm partners with actionable intelligence in their everyday workspace.
It starts with data integrity
Too often, the power of advanced data initiatives is slow to be realized
because they’re approached as technical challenges instead of business
imperatives. This firm, by contrast, is accelerating time-to-value in its API
implementation by building on a solid understanding of Market Lens data –
how it’s sourced, how it’s structured, and how it’s connected.
“We already have third-party APIs in place for market sizing and other
applications, so the technicalities of implementing an API are not a big lift for
us. The driver for us has always been the integrity of Market Lens data. And
frankly, we’ve just not seen better data on the US public plan market, which
is an important focus area for us. So starting with confidence in the data,
we’re looking for innovative ways to mine it more effectively and distribute the
resulting insights more efficiently.”
Building on strengths: A mature CRM
One reason this firm has been able to move fast with concept
designs for data integration is the maturity of its Salesforce
environment. Investor Relations has built out a CRM fully
adopted by the fundraising team, resulting in an “everyday
workspace” that can be enriched with deeper data from
multiple sources. When firms don’t have the strong foundation
of a well adopted CRM or BI platform, they struggle with the
typical problems stemming from decentralized competitive
intelligence, such as competing sources of the truth and
separate information silos that restrict access to data that could
be valuable more broadly.
The firm’s Salesforce environment is mature in another sense
too. It’s already been enriched with an API from a data-room
provider, giving end-users the experience of consulting
intelligence from multiple sources in one workspace.
In future phases, the team plans to leverage the bi-directionality
of Market Lens relationship data: Not just starting with LPs to
see who they’re currently invested with, but also starting with
competing managers to back into their client lists.
The team additionally envisions a self-service future that
eliminates the need for meeting memos prepared in advance
for partners. Instead, partners will log onto Salesforce and see,
in their dashboard, critical intelligence on the LP or consultant
they’re meeting. And in the case of consultant meetings,
the team even foresees pulling in manager ratings and
recommendations, so partners have direct line-of-sight into the
consultant’s house view on private equity and credit.
Stable, dependable partners
”Our in-house team is very confident with data and experienced
in API implementations, but it’s been helpful to have a capable
team of engineers on the eVestment side. They share best
practices that are helping us hone our fundraising edge.”