Baxter: Vanguard Investments is a niche wealth management house. What are the key technology enablers which are shaping the wealth management industry at the moment?

Stevens: Like other segments of the financial services industry, Vanguard Investments is a client-centric business, therefore many of the technology enablers are focused on deepening and strengthening our association with our clients and protecting their financial interests with us. Typically these enablers support client interaction across a lifecycle. Web 2.0 and collaboration technology plays an ever growing enabling role in direct e-channel client services such as the Web and internally helping our Crew to access knowledge sources and provide efficient and high quality client interaction. As Vanguard Investments continues to scale as a business, cost efficiency is a key driver in order to support our low cost value proposition to clients. Business Process Management (BPM) solutions are critical to operational efficiency and management of controls. Over time, we are progressively building a Process Engineering competency that leverages the background and skill base of IT and our wider crew and can automate this via our BPM / SOA technology set in a continuous improvement framework.

We also see Business Intelligence as an important strategic enabler in enhancing decision making effectiveness and development of competitive advantage. This is symbiotic with Web 2.0 and BPM in providing either forward or market facing intelligence about our clients’ needs and behaviours and rear-view or operational facing intelligence about how we are doing as a business.

Baxter: What are the top three IT projects and strategies set to dominate Vanguard’s IT agenda within the next 12 to 18 months?

Stevens: We have a range of initiatives around developing our electronic channels to market. We have a series of plans to scale our web infrastructure, including content management and couple this to a new middle and back office systems environment. This will facilitate the next generation of full service Web 2.0 capabilities to meet client’s needs. Additionally, there will be new investment products which can be accessed by clients over the web. Business Intelligence will have a key role to play in this mix, helping us to understand our markets and development opportunities. Over the next 12 – 18 months, we intend to strengthen our BI capabilities at a skill, process, tool and data level.

The wealth management industry is still growing and maturing. This means that we are re-assessing and scaling key platforms and technologies to support growth and increasing complexities in products and controls requirements. For instance we’re currently implementing latest generation COTS integrated middle and back office platforms which will lead to greater operational efficiencies as well as lower ongoing operational costs. As we are an information-based business, the effectiveness of the IT group is also a critical factor to achieving successful growth. We’ve begun a holistic redesign across our IT function that’s aiming to create a more business-focused set of capabilities while uplifting performance in terms of agility and business value creation.

Baxter: Do you find that customers in different age groups prefer to interact with you in different ways and how does that influence your technology choices?

Stevens: Traditionally, younger generations have preferred electronic channels with older generations using these to a lesser extent. This is changing more and more as people of all generations become familiar with online services and the increasing level of functionality and useful information which can be offered. While the nature of institutional investing will always have a strong face to face relationship style of business, there is a strong shift for retail investors moving to online services. Vanguard Investments is continuing to develop the Web environment to offer clients full service capabilities, largely based on a Web 2.0 interface approach. While the Web is a key channel for clients, we are continuing to develop our contact centre capabilities, supporting CRM systems, digital marketing and leverage of email for client communication.

Baxter: Business intelligence (BI) is touted as an essential discipline for data rich organisations like insurers and wealth managers. Do you agree and what does your BI infrastructure do for your business?

Stevens: I strongly agree that BI is essential, especially when you are in a competitive market where client centricity is the focus. BI allows us to analyse market segments, more accurately align with client individual needs, measure our in market performance and meet our strategic and operational objectives. Vanguard Investments is continuing to invest in a range of BI capabilities, particularly in bringing on board key skills to help us with data modeling and analytics.

Baxter: You hold a great deal of personal information about your customers which, should it fall into the wrong hands, could prove very costly to you and them. How do you secure your systems and protect privacy?

Stevens: Information is one of our most valuable company assets and we have an inherent responsibility to our clients, to maintain confidentiality and accuracy, and protect against security threats. To achieve this objective, we have clear policies, operating procedures, and standards, and look to understand the nature of the risks to this information. This risk-based approach assists in determining appropriate security levels, and ensuring that effective controls are in place to protect our systems and client information. As we are in part, an online business, we leverage best practice prevention and detection methods. Routine testing and reviews are performed as a means of ensuring the standards are maintained effectively. The same level of security standards and controls are applied on the internal aspects of our networks. We know our information is valuable, and our information security efforts are ongoing and organisation wide, utilising measured assessment, management and governance.

Baxter: Are your customers active investors? If so, how does this influence the technology choices you offer to customers? Does this differ across the countries you service in the Asia Pacific region?

Stevens: Vanguard Investment’s customers are often well researched investors who are routinely engaged in investment activities. We aim to make it as easy as possible for investors to find and interact with us. A multi-channel approach is used whereby we offer clients services in a channel that is convenient to them – Web, contact centre, face to face and via a large number of independent financial advisors and dealer networks. Within Australia we have a broad range of clients from individuals (with personal investment products), right through to institutional clients with large scale investments utilising customized investment products. In the broader Asia-Pacific region, Vanguard has representation in Singapore, Japan, and Korea and is represented in other Asian countries. While many clients in Asia are Institutional investors and use face to face relationships for dealing with Vanguard, there is a growing number of investors who prefer online interaction with Vanguard.