Clients benefit from increased service levels thanks to back-end automation
Ultimus Fund Solutions® (Ultimus®), one of the largest independent fund service providers and an award-winning fund administrator, is pleased to share that it completed the second phase of the company’s proprietary uSUITE® technology launch, solidly laying the groundwork for the firm’s innovative technology strategy.
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uSUITE uses Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to streamline massive amounts of back-end data processing, eliminating the need for manual intervention. As a result, Ultimus team members have more time to interact with clients and understand their specific fund nuances and needs, driving productivity, quality, timeliness and client satisfaction. Notably, the firm continues to earn client satisfaction accreditations for its outstanding service levels, including recognition in the Global Custodian Fund Administration Survey earlier this year.
Originally launched in 2018, uSUITE is a product of the company’s long-term commitment to investing in technology and client service. Its underlying applications feature built-in robotic processing software, machine learning algorithms and various application programming interfaces (APIs). Incorporating a data and technology strategy and built on architecture put in place by the Ultimus development team, the uSUITE platform is being rolled out in phases. The various applications developed and implemented in the past few years helped streamline the fund accounting and investor services workflow and transformed large areas of the operations to exception-based processing. This initial framework allows Ultimus to begin releasing a number of client facing applications through the rest of 2020 and beyond.
“We take great pride in having daily analytics, exception-based processing and increased productivity using in-house-built applications for tasks that other firms would typically outsource to other countries,” commented Bill Tomko, EVP, Head of Fund Servicing at Ultimus. “Implementing the uSUITE platform has improved our overall operations, which enables us to reduce risk and provide clients with higher service levels as well as to scale quickly for large new client onboardings.”
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Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Jason Stevens emphasizes that Ultimus’ biggest asset is the capability of uSUITE applications to handle extraordinary amounts of data each day without manual intervention. “Our automation easily handles the kind of market volatility volumes we saw earlier this year,” he said. “With our commitment to, and investments in, technology along with development of our digital strategy, we were able to masterfully build out the architecture for this innovative and proprietary platform over the last few years.”
An example of the benefits of uSUITE, one particular application within the platform, uPRICE, enables automated second source pricing of underlying securities within a fund, based on specific tolerances, which is part of determining the fund’s net asset value on a daily basis. uPRICE is customizable by client and fund, allowing Ultimus to tailor to specific fund requirements and tolerances. It is also flexible through its APIs with several market data vendors. This was highlighted during the extreme market volatility earlier this year when uPRICE auto-verified over 20 times the typical volume of prices without human intervention, allowing Ultimus to meet end-of-day pricing deadlines while alleviating client concerns and reducing risk of manual pricing tolerance reviews.
By the end of 2020, Ultimus will roll out Phase III of the uSUITE platform, which will provide data seamlessly to clients through applications that are currently in development and testing. “We continue to innovate, invest and provide clients with valuable tools,” said Ultimus CEO Gary Tenkman. “The next phase of uSUITE will include client-facing applications that will deliver new digital tools, revolutionary transparent oversight, and consolidated access points for investment managers. Our goal is to help clients turn data into information they can use to run their fund adviser businesses more effectively.”
