Will anyone deliver a “true” single platform?
Duration: Approx. 50 minutes.
There’s been a wave of strategic acquisitions of front office investment management platform providers.
It started many years ago with numerous front and middle office acquisitions by SunGard, followed by State Street announcing the acquisition of Charles River Development, SS&C acquiring EZE, and potentially others on the horizon.
What do these vendor acquisitions and platform consolidations mean for your firm, and can any of these newly acquired point solutions deliver on their front to back strategy? In this panel discussion we go beyond the obvious headlines and explore what really happens when several vendors merge, including the unforeseeable implications for you as an end user.
You’ll discover:
- The hidden costs of overlapping technologies and personnel
- The crucial business processes in a portfolio management system
- The growing importance of real-time data and analytics for the front office
About the speakers

Michael McCaw
Editor bobsguide
Michael McCaw is the editor of bobsguide. Previously, he was commodities editor at Risk, editor of Energy Risk, managing editor of Petroleum Economist, and editor of World Finance. He has an MBA in risk management.

Neal Chansky
Managing Director, Olmstead Associates
Neal leads Olmstead’s Operational Agility consulting services, focusing on helping the investment management industry evolve its operations into an enabler of corporate strategy. He has extensive experience leading operations and technology transformation initiatives having delivered numerous solutions for complex global investment managers. Prior joining Olmstead, Neal was a Relationship Executive for State Street's largest and most strategic clients where he was responsible for global client strategy, thought leadership, and service delivery, supporting the U.S. Mutual Fund business for large global clients. Neal holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the Boston Security Analyst Society.

Bjorn Schumburg
Head of Solutions Consulting, North America, SimCorp
Björn leads a team responsible for investment management solutions for a wide-range of North American financial organizations and has played an instrumental role in the 65% top line revenue growth realized for his market unit since taking on his role. Björn’s career with SimCorp spans 12 years and three different countries as a home base. After completing his studies at Otto-Friedrich-Universität he joined the Customer Service team in Bad Hamburg, where he supported one of Germany’s largest mutual fund managers across front, middle and back office functions. He then moved to Helsinki to deliver trading, investment accounting and fund accounting solutions across Northern and Central Europe as a Professional Services Consultant. In 2010 he helped open the North American office in Toronto where he focused on client implementations for trade flow and settlement interface design and created the first North American solution for cleared swaps. Today Björn leads a team of solutions and sales engineers to provide investment management solutions for a wide-range of North American financial organizations.

Terry Flynn
Front Office Specialist, SimCorp
Terry is a senior member of the North American SimCorp sales team advising large investment managers in transforming their businesses from multiple disparate systems to an integrated front, middle and back office operating model. He has held a variety of senior sales roles with organizations such as Charles River, SunGard and Fidessa, and has extensive expertise is the front office. Terry has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
About bobsguide

About Olmstead Associates
