A private equity firm expands efficiency with cloud-based integration platform from GFT
Rapid time entry
Time-to-market acceleration
Real-time data processing
with cloud-based integration platform
Improved operational performance
Better integration with the CIP solution
“When we see challenges, something that requires a nonstandard integration, we don’t hesitate. We work around the limitations. With the CIP as the foundation, we can develop custom integrations whenever needed. We make it happen.”
Challenge
A large U.S. private equity firm sought to improve its ability to integrate data and information among a range of existing applications, new software solutions and partners’ systems.
It needed, for instance, to be able to quickly and securely integrate its systems with that of a new retail partner to handle onboarding and client servicing as the partner began to offer one of its funds. Other requirements related to the integration of a recently acquired software suite for tracking deal flows and a solution used for investor information, commitments, allocations, terms and more.
The firm had been linking disparate systems with point-to-point integrations, sometimes building the same thing over and over again. For example, exchange rates were collected and stored, and then parallel integrations were built for every internal system that needed the rates as an input. Performed this way, the integrations were not standardised and not repeatable, which also created more network traffic than it should have.
The organisation wanted a better approach, with a flexible architecture and less repetitive work. The goal was to eliminate manual integration processes and make it possible for newly adopted platforms to have automated integrations from day one. Software integrations were becoming central to their business success. Greater ability to integrate software systems would allow them to boost performance, improve workflows and enable new business relationships.
Engagement
GFT delivered a cloud-based integration platform (CIP) that brings improvements for the firm with every new integration that’s implemented. The platform provides a foundational toolset, standardising a range of tasks and controls that used to be built from scratch for every integration. It speeds up development work, providing a software development kit for engineers. Processes are reusable. Dashboards and alerts are intuitive and consistent. In any given implementation, only the final pieces need to be built to accommodate a specific system.
The gains are many. The CIP protects the firm’s data with improved reliability and increased resiliency. The platform is less complex than the ad hoc integrations it replaces, which improves maintainability and observability, and it builds in automation for all new implementations. Perhaps most importantly, the CIP boosts the firm’s capabilities - enabling it to adopt new systems and processes, thereby expanding the business that the firm can do.
Because the new platform is cloud-first, it is fully scalable. The architecture is more flexible, and performance is improved. Servers can be deployed wherever and whenever they are needed to integrate a specific application or system. While most of the client’s systems are hosted on-premises, the cloud-based CIP, which uses HTTP, makes it possible to integrate with systems over the internet regardless of the technology they use. The development process for new integrations is streamlined.
Benefit
The CIP solution from GFT is now in use by the client for a range of direct and indirect integration tasks - several dozen tasks in all. Over time, the platform will be used in more places across the organisation’s IT systems. It will replace and improve existing integrations. It will come into play when new software solutions are added and when a new partnership requires links to external systems. It will no longer be necessary to reinvent the wheel for each new integration.
The CIP solution is foundational, filling an important function in the firm’s IT environment. It’s a business enabler, cutting the time needed to go to market for business partnerships and enabling new, best-in-class solutions that improve the firm’s operations. Because the platform is cloud-based, it’s helping the firm push its systems toward real-time processing, with the attendant gains in usefulness.
Alternative investment firms today often struggle to integrate all the software systems that have become vital to their business. Having a flexible and modern CIP in place gives any firm an advantage against competitors that are still using a less nimble approach.
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Success story
A private equity firm expands efficiency with cloud-based integration platform from GFT
GFT USA
