Read article and learn about:
- Why globalization presents similar challenges for investment managers and IMS vendors
- Why globalization demands strong integration from a system and people perspective alike
- Why you need to think local and act global
- Why the future will take much more individualized offerings
About the Interviewee:
Klaus Holse is CEO at SimCorp
Before joining SimCorp in 2012, Klaus Holse has held a number of executive positions at global software companies, most recently as Corporate Vice President in Microsoft, responsible for its activities in Western Europe. Before joining Microsoft, Klaus Holse was 12 years with Oracle, including five years as Corporate Senior Vice President of Oracle Education.
The global investment management industry faces many challenges. In this recurrent CXO Corner relay column, we ask top executives to point the way ahead, sharing their views and best practices for meeting the challenges.
Journal: Thank you for taking over the CXO Corner relay from Michel Bois, Chief Information Officer and member of the Executive Committee at CNP Assurances in Paris. To begin, could you tell us a little about your background before joining SimCorp as CEO in 2012?
Klaus Holse: Before joining SimCorp, I have held a number of executive positions at global software companies, most recently as Corporate Vice President in Microsoft, responsible for its activities in Western Europe.
Journal: And now as the CEO of SimCorp, you must be happy to see positive analyst projections for both investment management industry AUM and IMS spend. In this environment, what do you see as the key challenges facing the investment management industry?
Klaus Holse: If we look at the large institutional buy-side firms, our client universe, we have for a while seen a market increasingly faced with regulations, cost pressures, and demands for higher profits. What is also becoming evident is that it is more and more clearly developing into a global industry. At the same time, we see companies pursuing new avenues of growth and for many that brings them to new geographies. This means that they will be looking to extend their capabilities to handle the new requirements that come with global expansion. So yes, the investment management industry faces a number of different challenges, and it is our job as an IMS vendor to support asset managers overcome these hurdles – from an IT perspective at least.
...the investment management industry faces a number of different challenges, and it is our job as an IMS vendor to support asset managers overcome these hurdles – from an IT perspective at least.
Journal: In your own role as CEO of a global company and serving an increasingly global investment management industry, you must also experience the challenges of globalization – within the organization as well as with regard to competition and client demands. What do you see as the best way to meet these challenges?
Klaus Holse: On the internal side, a global company can be many things, from a loosely coupled network to a tightly integrated organization. Most investment managers will find there is a need to be well integrated, which means that it is vital to ensure that you are all on the same page across the global organization despite serving different local markets with special local demands. This puts emphasis on aligning the organization around common goals and common processes. At SimCorp, we share this need for alignment and use many different approaches in our communication to ensure this. Just recently, we held our annual corporate kickoff, where we gather management from the entire global organization to set the direction and get everybody aligned on our overall strategic goals.