Trust organizations know that the industry is more complex than ever, with growing competition across wealth management, intricate tax, legal, and regulatory issues, and a proliferation of investment products and asset classes. Technology plays a pivotal role in a firm’s ability to service clients properly, yet it changes rapidly, making it challenging to stay current. Additionally, trust firms and departments face a tight labor market, making it difficult to attract and retain qualified professional talent—a problem felt most acutely in operations.
Unsurprisingly, more trust organizations are turning to managed services to alleviate some of these pressures on their internal resources. In the managed services model, a firm outsources much of its back-office activity to a provider with deep expertise in trust operations, including accounting, payments processing, custodial services, and even call-center staffing. Leveraging managed services enables a firm to control its operational overhead better and reduces the pressure to hire internally. It also frees organizations to focus their professional resources on working with clients and structuring solutions without worrying about back-end support. Ideally, the managed services provider continually invests in a modern technology infrastructure that supports its services, relieving some of that burden from the trust firm.
Scaling for Growth
For startup trust businesses, managed services can help speed time to market with a scalable operating model from the outset. Inspire Trust Company, for example, launched as a national bank and trust business specifically designed to serve people receiving proceeds from personal injury settlements. With one physical office in Nevada and remote employees across 11 states, the firm needed a managed services partner and trust accounting platform to link the business together. After evaluating various managed services and technology providers, Inspire concluded that SS&C Innovest met all of its criteria.
“As a startup, we don’t have the resources to staff for a full operational footprint, so going with SS&C was a key part of our decision,” said Inspire’s Chief Regulatory Officer Michael Cannella. “We use SS&C Innovest’s managed services daily for all of our cash transactions, money out, money in, trading, regulatory reporting, and more.”
It’s important to note that the value of managed services extends beyond the startup phase. Many firms continue to benefit from this model throughout the life of their business. The key is to find a partner that can scale and grow with your needs, ensuring that you always have the support you need, no matter how your business evolves.
Oklahoma City-based InvesTrust Wealth Management has grown steadily on the strength of long-term client relationships since its founding in 1998. The managed services model is core to its client servicing capabilities. “For over 20 years, we’ve been a strong supporter of the SS&C Innovest platform for the key operational aspects of trust accounting, reporting, and trading, as well as serving as a custodian for our third-party money managers,” noted Mark Williams, InvesTrust President, CEO, and CIO. SS&C Innovest effectively functions as an “FTE substitute” for InvesTrust, enabling the firm to reduce back-office headcount for everyday, routine processes.
Optimizing Resources
Ultimately, trust organizations must consider where they can most effectively dedicate their resources. Managed services offer a solution, allowing firms to focus on their core competencies, such as building client relationships, while delegating operations to experts. The right managed services provider will not simply “take over” back-office processes but perform them more effectively and efficiently, helping the firm maintain high quality and operational performance standards. That can be a critical differentiator in today’s more competitive and complex trust environment.
SS&C Innovest provides customized outsourcing solutions and Managed Services. Scores of organizations and individuals across the country, from family offices to community banks to national organizations, empower SS&C Innovest to manage these services directly or on behalf of their clients. To learn more about how SS&C Innovest can support your needs, call (800) 727-0605 or email info@sscinc.com.
