Last week”s story in Wall Street & Technology online highlighted the newness of Eagle Investment System”s . Apps in the institutional investment management space are nothing new. In fact, every vendor in the space (apparently except Eagle) has had them for some time now.
This begs the question: Do apps really make a difference? The answer is yes and no. In the space for institutional investment management systems, apps can be useful tools for portfolio managers and client servicing personnel and other “tablet-preferred” users, but they are only as good as the underlying system(s) they come from.
More important than the app itself is the scope of what the underlying system does and how the data can be accessed. So if you have a front to back office system, it goes to follow that you can build a much better app than if the underlying system only handles one piece of the investment process. If you don’t handle all of the key pieces of the investment management process, then you probably have to partner with someone to build it for you (apparently what Eagle did), rather than doing it yourself because the systems you have to work with are not your own.
While apps can be useful tools and very few would question the appeal of the tablet device for personal and professional use, savvy consumers in the institutional investment management space will look beyond the novelty of apps and instead look at what the underlying system provides.
