Liongate dCRM Case Study
Delivering Excellence in Investor Relations
Problem
With prevailing principles of Innovation, Flexibility, and Excellence, the primary mission of Liongate Capital Management, an investment management and research firm specializing in portfolios of hedge funds, is to address the needs and concerns of its clients accurately.
Since inception in 2003, Liongate has always had a strong ethos of customer service underpinning its operation. The firm has experienced impressive client growth with assets under management now approaching almost three billion (USD) and the total number of investors approaching four hundred. The practicalities of managing investor relations with this burgeoning volume and complexity meant Liongate was outgrowing its traditional approach of personal contact underpinned with a mixture of desktop applications such as MS Outlook and spreadsheets and needed to formalize its processes and systems.
Solution
The decision was taken to appoint an Investor Relations (IR) Team which came together under Paul Bentley and its first priority was to select a system to manage Investor Relations activity.
"I had previously worked with a generic CRM system and whilst that had some advantages I was clear that we needed a system focused on hedge funds and specifically fund-of-funds," says Paul Bentley, Head of IR, Liongate. "We also wanted cutting-edge, robust and secure technology that would grow with us as we develop."
Liongate had specific requirements from its system. First it needed traditional contact management functionality; this would manage customer details, track telephone conversations, meetings and email. Second, it needed a mechanism for distributing reports and other analytics to customers. Third, the system needed to drive new business activity - to facilitate marketing activity such as campaign management and opportunity management. Finally, Liongate needed the system to provide not just contact information but underlying visibility into the funds and holdings of their investors.
The IR Team followed a formal evaluation of fifteen CRM systems and selected dCRM from Digiterre. dCRM is Digiterre's leading workflow and relationship management system, built specifically to support marketing and investor servicing processes within the investment management sector. It features a single view of investor holdings in addition to contact details, and is fully integrated with Outlook for tracking important client activities.
"We selected Digiterre for the industry-specific features dCRM contains such as the ability to track the shareholder register and underlying holdings, for its technology in being built on an industry-standard platform from Microsoft and for the excellent level of service provided by Digiterre," remarks Mr Bentley. "We also share the Digiterre vision for the future of marketing within the investment management space and buy into the product roadmap already adopting additional product modules and features."
Results and Benefits
The system has truly allowed Liongate to capitalize on its commitment to customer service and this was recognized by Hedge Funds Review in its 2009 European Fund of Hedge Funds Awards where Liongate won the award for the Best Investor Relations Team.
The system has revolutionized the way in which Liongate distributes documentation to its investors. The IR Team sends weekly estimates reflecting performance through to the previous Friday, a "flash estimate" at each month-end and an investor report including performance analysis, commentary, performance attribution and other financial information.
Balancing this investor thirst for ever-more-granular performance reporting, Liongate is mindful of the need to control the dissemination of sensitive documentation. This means ensuring that the appropriate level of detail is delivered to the relevant investor and that documentation is only received by eligible recipients. One feature that assists in this is the ability to watermark documents with the details of the specific investor for whom the report is intended making it less likely to be distributed onward.
In addition to managing outbound communication, the system also allows the IR Team to analyze investor behavior for internal use. Because the system records a complete picture of activity, the IR Team is able to slice and dice data to identify the behavior and activity of investors. This allows it to target specific messages at key audiences and to introduce additional investment opportunities, such as the launch of new funds, to interested investors. In this way, the system is also used by client Relationship Managers around the globe for new business development and opportunity management.
The system really proved itself through its performance in the market turbulence of 2008 where it allowed the IR Team and Partners to monitor and optimize all communication with investors.
"I cannot imagine having gone through the Lehman crisis without the system," attests Paul Bentley. "Our volume of client communication increased at least fivefold and more than ever we needed to respond quickly, consistently and in a compliant fashion."
The Future
Initially selected just for the IR Team, the success of dCRM has meant that its usage throughout the firm has grown to other functions and to all Liongate's Relationship Managers globally. It is anticipated that the number of users will continue to grow.
Additionally, Liongate is in the process of adopting Digiterre's latest product module, dCRM Web, which allows Liongate to manage a secure extranet for its investors. The extranet provides a secure means for investors to access all their documentation and reports and can ensure that documents cannot be forwarded indiscriminately. As the module is fully integrated into dCRM, all investor activity on the extranet is recorded into the system so that the IR Team can have a comprehensive view of all investor activity.
"We are very keen to reap as much value as possible from the system," concludes Paul. "We believe in a client-centric approach to business and we will continue to use technology to this end. We are delighted we have found a partner in Digiterre that assists us in achieving this vision."
