Navigating uncertainty with data-driven analytics
Insights
Insights
From my recent conversations with investors and clients over the past few weeks, I know many are preparing for some volatile economic conditions in the coming months. This period of uncertainty is driven by macroeconomic factors like high inflation, geopolitical events like war in Ukraine, and regulatory changes – especially the upcoming expiry of the SEC’s MiFID II no-action letter.
How can firms best navigate through these uncertain times?
The importance of data-driven decisions
The Covid pandemic was a big upheaval across all industries. At Singletrack, we strived to make sure our clients had all the data they needed at their fingertips in the right format, sufficiently distributed within their firms so that people could make decisions. We saw that data-driven transformation contributed to better management decision making, and also contributed to smaller scale, day-to-day operations.
Agility matters
Now firms are facing an uncertain economic climate, leading to doubt about deal or IPO pipelines, as well as plenty of other turbulence. Successful firms will need to be agile and ready to change focus quickly when needed. One tool to support them in this is Singletrack’s ‘Client at Risk’ metric that can tell an investment bank which of its institutional clients might be at risk of either terminating their relationship, or a significant decline in activity (such as attending events) and revenue over the next six to 12 months.
Elevating talent
It is also only natural that firms will become particularly focused on the efficiency across their operations, including for their employees. The record-breaking finance sector hiring of the past few months has given way to increased caution, and data-backed talent management KPIs will allow firms to support and nurture their people to deliver increased value from the resources they already have. Talent management was a real issue that came out of the COVID era, and our clients’ leadership teams found it invaluable to have real intelligence on not only their top performers, but also how to get their less-than-top performers achieving at a similar level.
Events in every format
Economic uncertainty can of course lead to a lot of pressure on the cost of capital-raising events. It’s not inconceivable that CFOs of investment banks might prefer that corporate access roadshows and conferences return to online set-ups rather than expensive face-to-face meet-ups. The fact that we integrated Zoom into the Singletrack workflow during the initial Covid lockdown period has meant seamless, time-saving access to important meetings for our clients.
Navigate through uncertainty
Efficiency, productivity and agility are important for capital markets firms no matter the conditions but become essential when markets are volatile. To help our clients navigate effectively through this period, a key focus for us here at Singletrack is to roll out a series of new features which will help them make decisions that are informed by the data. We believe that with clear, data-driven decision making and smart client servicing, our clients can be successful whether conditions are calm, or more turbulent.