Technology Solutions That Elevate the Investor Experience.

Subscription technology and investor portals benefit investors (and fund managers, too!)

Oct 26, 2021

| Uncategorized

Technology as a Differentiator

From 2008 through today, the percentage of U.S. wealth held by Baby Boomers has been relatively constant, hovering between 50% and 55%. Over the same period, the wealth share of Gen X, the post-Baby Boomer generation, has risen from 9% to over 28%, according to the Federal Reserve (Q2 2021).[1]

Why does this matter for private equity fund managers? Because Gen X is the first generation to come of age with digital technology — playing video games and using early-generation PCs. As private equity funds vie for assets, technology can be used to elevate the investor experience, differentiating your firm from the pack.

Reassess Your Operating Model from the Perspective of Investors

While private equity fund investors remain dominated by Baby Boomers, the surge in private equity has attracted affluent Gen Xers. Fund managers are wise to rethink their operating models based on shifting demographics. Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) often seek human guidance and assistance. Gen Xers (1965-1980) prefer automation and online access. Gen Xers want speed, simplicity, transparency, flexibility and real-time data. They want to feel empowered.

Enhance the experience for tech-savvy investors. Technology can be used to make the investor experience more enjoyable. First and foremost, technology should be used to make things easy.

  • Make it easy to perform remote due diligence (in the age of Covid and otherwise)
  • Make it easy to complete fund subscription documents
  • Make it easy to access and download fund data, analytics, reporting and documents
  • Make it easy to submit investor updates and information requests

Technology solutions benefit all stakeholders. As you think about how technology simplifies things for investors, think, too, about the positive implications for your firm, including efficiency, reduced costs, transparency and straight-through workflows.

Define Needs for Each Stage of Investor Engagement

As a fund manager, assess your investor engagement through three distinct phases:

  1. Pre-Investment
  2. Subscription Process
  3. Post-Close

Each stage provides an opportunity to enhance your investor (and prospective investor) experience.

Stage 1: Pre-Investment. With face-to-face meetings still limited by the Covid pandemic, prospects need ease of access to due diligence materials. An online data room lets you control what each prospect sees and when. Data rooms that provide an audit trail record of user activity can be used by GPs to better understand prospective investor interests and engagement.

Stage 2: Subscription Process. Most investors, fund managers and administrators agree that the fund subscription process is painful and costly. Up to 80% of subscription documents are submitted with errors. Consider how your firm would benefit from an automated process in a secure environment. Imagine the rewards of straight-through processing for your investors, your firm and your administrator.

Stage 3: Post-Close. Tech-savvy investors want online access to fund data, analytics and reports. They want the ability to “slice-and-dice” and download data as needed. Static PDF reports are no longer sufficient.

Two Technologies to Elevate the Investor Experience

At Ultimus LeverPoint, we hear first-hand from private equity managers about the need for technology solutions — for their LPs and themselves.

Upgrade the subscription process through document digitization. Ultimus LeverPoint’s uINVESTORTM is a digital platform that automates the private fund subscription process, allowing investors to complete, sign, and submit “sub docs” online. The platform digitizes subscription documents and provides an artificial intelligence-guided experience, prioritizing information that is relevant to, and required for, specific investor account types. Fund managers invite and onboard investors to their funds. Real-time tracking and transparency give fund managers on-demand visibility into investor activity and fundraising.

Benefits:

  • Intuitive and guided process for investors
  • Efficient process for GPs
  • Straight-through processing for LPs, GPs and fund administrators
  • Streamlined AML and KYC documentation processing

Upgrade investor portal capabilities. Investor portals have been around for years. But capabilities today far exceed those of years passed. Ultimus LeverPoint’s uACCESSTM portal is built to give GPs and LPs online access to sophisticated data visualizations, intuitive reporting and analytics, as well as secure document access. GPs and LPs are empowered to view and download real-time information as they see fit. uACCESS also provides advanced data room functionality for prospective investors.

Benefits:

  • On-demand information for investors
  • Remote due diligence for prospects
  • Transparency for GPs
  • Secure access for all
Partner with Ultimus LeverPoint to Reimagine Your LP Engagement

With vigorous competition for investor capital, one way to differentiate your firm is by using technology to upgrade the investor experience. We’ll help you rethink your operating model to align with the changing demographics of your investor base. Importantly, we’ll focus on elevating the experience of your investors, while creating efficiencies, simplicity and reduced costs for you.

Ultimus LeverPoint Private Fund Solutions provides fund administration solutions to over 210 firms with over $120B in AUA. Our clients are spread over a diverse range of private fund firms across the country, ranging in size from first time firms with AUM of $50M, to established firms with AUM of $19B.

[1] https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/#quarter:127;series:Net%20worth;demographic:generation;population:all;units:shares

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DISCLOSURE: Information contained on this website is based on public data, historical agreements and dialogue with intermediaries. Such information represents our current understanding of the described platforms and the costs associated with them. In many cases, such costs may be negotiable. All pricing and fee information is subject to change without notice.

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