From Excel to excellence: Improving efficiency with WealthSpectrum

Scaling a startup

Client Associates, established in 2002, has always prioritised a client-centric approach and operates with a vision to become the most admired wealth management firm in India. By the time 2008 rolled around, the company had moved past its initial startup phase. It became clear that relying heavily on tools like MS Excel and manual methods was no longer adequate for handling the expanding client portfolios and internal management information systems.

Since Client Associates is dedicated to providing personalised service, there was a pressing need for customised reporting solutions to meet various client needs. Additionally, the existing processes were not keeping pace with the company’s growth, leading to operational bottlenecks that forced them to dedicate too much time to administrative work. The firm turned to software to solve some of these scaling issues.

Choosing a solution

When choosing the right service provider, Client Associates considered multiple options and reviewed different packages from major Indian IT firms. Each option had distinct features, but it was essential for the firm to find a product that not only fulfilled their needs but also provided reliable support.

Ultimately, the company chose WealthSpectrum’s solution because of the positive references they received through word of mouth about their excellent after-sales support. Additionally, they found that during the initial interactions, the WealthSpectrum team demonstrated strong domain knowledge and was open to customising their offerings to better suit their needs, which was a significant factor in making the final decision.

The implementation process

The implementation process was divided into two main phases. First, the team delved deeply into the key WealthSpectrum reports, customising them to meet their requirements. Then, they focused on uploading and reconciling client data from the very beginning. This systematic approach helped them understand the existing data clearly, ensuring that the subsequent steps were targeted and effective.

When reflecting on the solution’s impact on our family office’s operations, our senior-most advisor noted that the most significant change observed in Client Associates over the last 20 years has been the enhancement brought about by our technology platform. This improvement has led to increased advisor efficiency, which is pivotal in streamlining our operations. In hindsight, while there are minor aspects we could have approached differently, none of these changes would have altered the overall process significantly.

“Over our long relationship period of over 14 years, WealthSpectrum has developed a highly scalable architecture, which has helped us deliver the highest level of accuracy and reliability in portfolio accounting and performance calculations for our clients.” – Ashish Sharma – Executive Director at Client Associates.

Advice to other family offices

There is an emerging trend of some family offices exploring setting up an in-house tech platform. Sharma’s advises family offices who are exploring the possibility of establishing an in-house tech platform to pursue this option only if they have an internal tech team that possesses both domain knowledge and technical expertise. Without such a team, partnering with a proven family office service provider is often the wiser choice.

For service providers, it is essential to prioritise the best interests of clients—both external and internal—when designing any solutions. While this focus may appear straightforward, actually implementing it can be quite challenging; however, this dedicated approach typically yields the best results.

The responses in this case study have been verified by the Simple team.