What are the tangible benefits of a cloud-based approach to your software stack in corporate services, trust and fund administration?
We can answer that question with 5 key learnings from our own journey, in terms of the systems we use internally, our latest products and those in development… We’ll examine:
1. Why is cloud the natural home for both customer service and product development?
2. How did our cloud journey bring benefits for everyone?
3. How did users reduce costs and improve efficiencies when we introduced Web APIs?
4. Why does cloud make the best client onboarding experience?
5. How can cloud futureproof both our and our customers’ business?
One of our highlights from last year was the latest edition of our Future Focus Report, and one of its key findings was a number of dichotomies “between belief and behaviour” in the corporate services, trust and alternative fund administration sector.
What exactly were those dichotomies and, most importantly, what are the actionable, concrete steps we are taking to address them? Let’s zoom in on two key findings of our report:
Firms in our sector can see the value of digital transformation – but they need to find a way to get there. As Keith Hale writes, “78% believe that digital leaders are more competitive, but only 6% felt their firm was itself a digital leader.”
Most of our industry does not feel it is spending appropriately on digital innovation – so we need to find new, smarter and more cost-effective ways to digitalise: “95% of respondents saw technology as an investment in growth, but only 32% said their own firm had budgets for this.”
Across the course of this year we’ll be blogging, thinking and discussing areas where the industry can more rapidly see value: cloud computing and SaaS software.
To quote Nagaraj Balasubramanian at Google’s blog from a couple of months ago, cloud computing is the opportunity to overhaul your “budgeting and risk management” to “team-building, prioritization, timelines, and working culture.”
The need for cloud solutions has been flagged previously. Back in 2020, the industry listed it as one of the top three areas of innovation over the next five years, alongside automating workflows, and implementing client portals. Then in March of last year, TrustQuay’s Adrian Akers explained that “One lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic has been the power and flexibility the cloud has demonstrated over on-premises deployment, and this will spur on firms to make the jump.”
Our friends at QBS Group would agree: “Cloud is crucial for digital transformation,” they write, referencing a blog from Satya Nadella on a new world of “remote everything”:
“From remote teamwork and learning to sales and customer service, to critical cloud infrastructure and security—we are working alongside customers every day to help them adapt and stay open for business in a world of remote everything.”
The next logical step is for TrustQuay to explain the tangible benefits of a cloud-based approach. And what better way to begin than by summing up 5 key learnings of our own firm’s journey, in terms of the systems we use internally, our latest products and those in development.
1. Cloud is the natural home for both customer service and product development
A critical element in the process of digital transformation is the adoption of a continual innovation and a quality improvement mindset – and this is where TrustQuay’s CICD and test automation processes are key. Alongside these, our online Customer Hub allows all users to get the best out of our software through the ability to seamlessly raise and track support tickets, read detailed help documentation, and watch focused product videos and webinars – no matter when or where or how they needed to get in touch.
2. Our cloud journey brings benefits for everyone…
Although key milestones on our pathway to cloud-first, it is important to note here that these are not ‘cloud-only’ initiatives. They’ve also delivered huge benefits for those with traditional on-premises deployments. For example, a robust CICD process improves predictability through continuous risk management during release cycles. Increased test automation reduces the risk of defect injection. And increased release cadence reduces the time to value and risk of an upgrade, enabling you to get the best out of our software and benefit from our latest enhancements.
3. Our users reduced their costs and improved efficiencies when we introduced Web APIs
The next stage on our journey involved containerised deployment and the launch of web APIs across our TrustQuay portfolio, which enable our customers to tailor the software to the needs of their business. In addition, the first of our hosted and IaaS deployments were conducted, enabling greater customer flexibility and the first availability of our products on the cloud. This cloud transition continues to help our customers improve their efficiency, reduce cost, and increase both agility and scalability.
4. Cloud makes the best client onboarding experience
Our journey to cloud-first has not only focused on the enhancement of existing processes and products, but also on the development and launch of new ones. Most notably the launch of TrustQuay Portal, a solution that seamlessly connects clients with front-office and back-office processes alike. Specifically developed for corporate services and trust administrators, it includes real-time ID verification in conjunction with our partners GBG.
5. Cloud is about futureproofing both our and our customers’ business
We now live in an ever-increasing digital age, and as technologies advance so will the way in which we all live and work. TrustQuay operates very much with an agile, client-first mindset and works closely with our customers to identify emerging trends and business needs and develop a feedback loop that has enabled us to continuously develop our solutions over many years to ensure they meet the evolving needs of the industry.
We have taken a strong step forward on the pathway to helping corporate services, trust and alternative fund administrators to move to the cloud and there’s more work still to come…