How Technology Can Bring Certainty in Uncertain Times

By embracing cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and digitalization, hedge funds have the potential to thrive in the current crisis and beyond 

As we look back at 2020 – more so than for many years before it – it is time to reflect and make sense of what has happened to our world, our commerce, and our ways of transacting business. Almost a year ago, RFA and our clients were thrown into a forced new way of working. This meant a 100% business continuity plan mode across our clients and ourselves, while focusing on retaining performance trading in a functional and secure way during uncertain and challenging times. But while we are still living in such an unsettled climate, there are some certainties that the hedge fund sector must consider as we move into 2021.  

With so many workforces dispersed, security is at the forefront of every COO’s mind. Intelligent cybersecurity, using RFA’s AI and machine-learning tools, allows firms to identify threats, track trends, and learn patterns of behavior. Now more than ever, where staff could be sharing devices in and around their homes, the need to detect threats and to have staff adequately trained to recognize those threats is paramount, moving from a centralized to a decentralized cyber security framework.

In turn, hybrid and public cloud solutions are being adopted more and more as services become slicker and more flexible, and have more diverse offerings. This demand is a major driving force behind SaaS adoption, which makes perfect sense as our working habits have changed so dramatically over the last nine months. Where we are now seeing a hybrid ‘back to the office’ solution, RFA are building bespoke services to suit our clients’ exact needs. Embracing alternative working, many of our clients have now adopted Office 365, SharePoint, and Teams, providing a fully collaborative, available-anywhere solution.  

The rise of digitalization and increased reliability on data by firms has been a driver for hedge fund clients to maintain performance. This has not passed RFA by, and our global managed data services product helps facilitate our clients on this journey. Our product supports warehousing, data utilization, and analytics, and we fully expect to see increased demand for this over the coming 12 months. Data informs investment decisions and informed decisions go a long way to staying competitive.  

As we look less and less likely to return to the traditional office environment and margins become tighter, operational efficiency and effective reporting will be paramount to a successful 2021. Firms are becoming adept at rightsizing their teams by outsourcing non-core functions. RFA can be involved in DDA exercises, strategy, and other core business solutions. We advise on business process, analytics, operational due diligence, and application integration to name but a few. By utilizing technology effectively, I believe hedge funds can not only survive but thrive in the current crisis and beyond.  

About RFA
Managing Director of RFA, George Ralph is a technology and business leader with a proven track record of strategic alignment, process improvement, and guidance. Specializing in IT, financial cloud, and cybersecurity, RFA are a market leading technology business with a global presence.