GPs have always accepted manual processes as unavoidable in producing a significant proportion of internal and external reports.
Compiling data from multiple sources in Excel, performing calculations, adding commentary, getting data from third-party service providers, adjusting the format… a fully automated, digitized solution would be great, but all too often we conclude it’s easier to just roll up your sleeves and do it yourself!
However, times are changing.
Against the backdrop of GPs seeking to increase the frequency and scope of key reports – especially around the portfolio where monthly rather than quarterly reporting is becoming increasingly common, inefficiencies inherent in preparing specific reports are being amplified.
LPs are also demanding more and more reporting, more and more frequently, often imposing bespoke templates that their GPs have little ability or appetite to push back on.
Thankfully, improvements in technology and the availability of enterprise data management solutions provide the potential for dramatic efficiency gains and on-demand reporting for GPs seeking to evolve their reporting and analytics.
How are GPs leveraging technology to accomplish reporting goals today?
1. Leveraging native reporting capabilities in applications
GPs can leverage dashboarding capabilities provided in-app by vendors to report on specific functions and areas of the business. However, two issues arise when completing reporting from individual software:
- Firms are generally limited to the data that resides in the software itself.
- Firms are limited by the application’s reporting capabilities, visualizations, logic, calculation engines and more.
While native application analytics are well suited for certain reports, the firm will have to default back to manual report production for more complex cases – or simply accept a more limited range of insights on their business.
2. Leverage a data platform for unlimited flexibility
Utilizing a data platform as part of an enterprise data strategy is the most flexible and long-term solution for efficient reporting.
Firms can access all their data in one place, including data flowing from best-of-breed applications and underlying systems used by service providers such as fund administrators. This provides the foundation for virtually unlimited reporting and analytics potential.
- Within the data platform, complex calculations, transformations, and logic can be efficiently digitalized
- Automated data reconciliation and exception management workflows support data quality
- Master Data Management is used to automatically match data points named differently in different systems
- With these robust foundations, firms have a high-quality single source of truth they can use to feed powerful business intelligence tools such as Power BI and Tableau, producing dynamic reports that refresh automatically as source data updates
As GenAI solutions such as Copilot are increasingly embedded in such tools, this provides additional value for GPs when querying their data.
The ATLAS Data Platform’s library of connectors between private capital systems and BI tools.
The advantages of a data platform in private markets
1. Tailoring reporting to the firm’s needs without limitations
Using a data platform for business intelligence allows firms to digitalize existing reports or create custom reports exactly as they envisage, working back from this to ensure that the data platform supports their goals. Furthermore, there is greater flexibility to keep iterating and improving the reporting in the future.
“A data platform is like building with Lego blocks rather than settling for pre-built action figures. Firms get precisely what they need, tailored to their requirements.”
Examples of reports combining different sources that are visualized with a BI tool.
2. Ability to adopt and switch underlying applications with minimal disruption
It is less disruptive to switch an application, such as CRM or portfolio monitoring, when a firm chooses to do so.
- Without a data platform, a firm would have to change and adapt to the new reporting that flows out of the new tool.
- With a data platform, the firm simply switches over the connection, rerouting the data into the pipeline already built, which will keep the reporting working correctly.
Ultimately, it makes it easier to switch between software, market data, and even service providers, leverage new technology, and stop using software that the firm does not benefit from.
3. Reduction of key person risk
It is very common for us to encounter processes that have evolved in complexity to the point that only a single individual at the firm is capable of undertaking the various steps to produce reports.
Clearly, such a scenario represents a real risk for the GP and its investors and should be avoided at all costs.
ATLAS Data Platform: How can it help you?
Our clients use Holland Mountain’s ATLAS Data Platform to digitalize their complex custom reports and deliver their reporting at the push of a button.
With ATLAS, GPs can:
- Reproduce their existing reports by digitalizing the reporting process with ATLAS.
- Create new reports and improve them as their business grows and requirements evolve.
- Leverage built-in capabilities like analysis and calculation, including more data refresh options to keep the data as up-to-date as possible.
- Free up their internal resources from manual data collation and reconciliation, enabling them to focus on activities and analysis that are more valuable to the business and more rewarding for them
Our ATLAS Data Platform acts as an integration hub, consolidating data from spreadsheets, systems, feeds and fund administrators, providing a single source of truth to drive advanced, efficient reporting.
Schedule a demo of ATLAS to see its reporting capabilities
Contact our private capital and data experts for a demonstration of the platform and how it can automate all your reporting processes.