Is Your Buy-Side Reporting Strategy Aligned with Client Expectations?

Our asset management survey has revealed a surprising inconsistency in the industry: Although firms are successfully driving forward amid market and regulatory complexities, many remain anchored to reporting processes designed for a bygone era. It’s a disconnect between modern client expectations and operational risk.

Reporting as Strategic Infrastructure

Traditional approaches to reporting have treated it as a cost center focused on compliance and basic client communications. This perspective misunderstands reporting's strategic potential and client expectations in today's environment.

Our research with over 325 reporting decision-makers across global asset management firms indicates the real potential for growth: Organizations that view reporting as strategic infrastructure consistently outperform those that treat it as an operational afterthought.

Consider that 79% of firms with superior reporting capabilities earn enhanced brand reputation, and 76% see measurable improvements in risk management effectiveness. These outcomes directly impact firm valuation and competitive positioning.

The Data Foundation

Reporting transformations begin with data infrastructure modernization. This involves creating unified, trustworthy datasets to eliminate the silos and inconsistencies in legacy reporting workflows.

Firms operating with fragmented data architectures face compound challenges: manual reconciliation processes, inconsistent client communications, and inability to scale personalized reporting experiences. These operational inefficiencies weaken the inability to demonstrate value through transparent, comprehensive reporting.

Based on our survey findings, leading organizations are addressing this through comprehensive data unification strategies that encompass:

• Source integration: Connecting portfolio management systems, market data feeds, and third-party analytics platforms through standardized interfaces

• Quality assurance: Implementing automated validation and reconciliation processes that eliminate manual error correction

• Access democratization: Providing reporting teams with self-service capabilities that reduce dependence on IT resources

Automation

Firms that transform their reporting capabilities share a common characteristic: They view automation as competitive differentiation rather than operational efficiency.

That shift enables more aggressive automation strategies across the entire reporting value chain. Rather than automating individual tasks, the leaders are orchestrating end-to-end workflows that span data ingestion, analysis, report generation, and distribution.

Automated workflows also enable firms to rapidly answer client inquiries, perform real-time portfolio monitoring, and customize reports for client’s needs. The personalized reporting experiences that comprehensive automation capabilities enable would be economically impossible through legacy manual processes.

Beyond PDFs

Traditional PDF-based reports, while familiar, are mismatched with how modern institutional clients consume financial information.

Leading firms are pioneering digital reporting approaches that prioritize interactivity, customization, and self-service access. Digitizing existing reports is part of the mix, but these platforms reconceptualize how clients access and use performance information.

As a result, firms with sophisticated digital reporting capabilities report significantly higher client retention rates and faster new-business acquisition cycles. They are strengthening the trust and transparency that institutional clients require.

3-Phase Framework for Strategic Implementation

Successful reporting transformation requires a systematic approach to balance operational improvements with strategic capabilities. Based on survey results, here is a framework to consider for your firm.

Phase 1: Foundation building

Establish unified data infrastructure and basic automation capabilities that eliminate current inefficiencies and create a platform for advanced capabilities.

Phase 2: Experience enhancement

Implement client-facing improvements that demonstrate immediate value while building internal capabilities for more sophisticated offerings.

Phase 3: Competitive differentiation

Deploy advanced analytics, personalization capabilities, and digital experiences that create genuine competitive advantages in client acquisition and retention.

Taking Action

The reporting transformation imperative is compelling. Firms that continue to rely on legacy processes risk falling further behind as client expectations evolve. The opportunity for those willing to modernize is substantial—enhanced brand reputation, improved regulatory compliance, stronger risk management, and most importantly, a genuine competitive advantage in client acquisition and retention.

Download the full research to discover strategies for enhancing your reporting and achieving long-term success in a competitive market.

This blog post is for informational purposes only. The information contained in this blog post is not legal, tax, or investment advice. FactSet does not endorse or recommend any investments and assumes no liability for any consequence relating directly or indirectly to any action or inaction taken based on the information contained in this article.