Part IV — Next-generation productivity tools: reimagining investors work in a digital world
This is the fourth article of our series “How more collaboration could drive better investment decisions”.
← Part 1 — Data enables decision-making … if you have the right tools
← Part 2 — Investors’ data problem: from scarcity to overload
← Part 3 — The beautiful synergy between data, collaboration, and communication
Covid-19 has forced almost all organizations to rethink their digital operation and enable teams to work effectively and efficiently from home. The change has highlighted fundamental problems with first-generation productivity tools used by Asset Managers (spreadsheets, emails, word processors…), much of which are designed for single users but are not well suited to entire teams.
To be truly productive in today’s interconnected but physically-remote world, Asset Managers need a new approach to digital collaboration. A next-generation technology which enables them to share and discuss ideas, as well as retain learnings for the good of the whole team and wider business.
Next-generation productivity tools for Asset Managers
Even in today’s digital environment, Asset Managers derive their best and most original investment ideas from the collective knowledge of specialists within their organization, such as industry experts, bonds, or equity analysts. Cross-industry expertise and collaboration are often required to crack the most complex investment opportunities — but this is difficult to achieve when we are all working remotely.
Traditionally, investment teams have operated in silos, relying on different files, tools, and methodologies to source, build or update investment theses. The ability to share information and collaborate on ideas has often been based on the back-and-forth, informal communication between team members.
First-generation tools like Excel, Word, and email clearly help individuals be more productive individually, but it’s easy to see how information can get lost and distorted. Similarly, how do you ensure decisions involve all the relevant stakeholders and ideas are discussed openly and transparently when there are many different email threads and offline conversations in the mix?
Based on Thread’s own experience of working with investment teams working with first-generation tools, it is also very common to see numerous instances where separate teams review the same information several times instead of capitalizing on each other’s work because they don’t have the right tools to collaborate and properly split their workflow.
Asset Managers need to look at a new generation of productivity tools if they want to succeed and make the right investment decisions in a digital world.
Capitalizing on collective knowledge
Thread has created a digital workspace where all relevant information and people are gathered in one place to create, discuss, and challenge investment ideas. Just like in the old days when a lot of insight was gained through direct conversation and sharing of ideas as a group.
The platform recreates those in-person discussions which are so essential to good investment decisions, while also creating a central repository for insights and conversations so Asset Managers don’t have to ‘reinvent the wheel’ each time.
This includes such features as real-time editing and commenting on investment notes, a centralized and shared views build so that teams can tap into a ‘single source of truth’, access to company restatements and estimates made by your colleagues, and the ability to edit estimates directly within a shared table which removes the hassle of copying and sharing Excel sheets with teams as a way to share knowledge.
Innovation for Asset Managers — a next-generation workspace
It’s time to redefine the way Asset Managers work, share, and collaborate. If one positive can come out of the Covid-19 crisis, it is the acceleration of digital, the chance to reimagine the way we work and find tools which better fit our needs, including:
- The ability to discuss, debate, and assess investment ideas with your remote team, to ensure only the best ideas turn into investment decisions
- Pooling knowledge with others to ensure you don’t miss out on insights that a colleague might have, especially those with specialist expertise or based in different markets
- A way to kill off bad ideas faster and build an investment culture where the best ideas win
- And finally, the luxury of being able to do away with excel file sharing. Next-generation technology should empower distributed teams to build an investment thesis simultaneously
So while innovation usually takes iterative steps towards a final revolutionary product that changes the world, our team at Thread sees the current crisis as a unique opportunity to break down silos and make a big leap into collaborative, next-generation investment technology.
