Mobile technology has transformed the retail brokerage ecosystem. Leveraging smartphones to invest in the market is a growing trend, that picked up significantly during the COVID-19 lockdowns and shows no signs of abating. Key to this development: significant numbers of young investors from the millennial and Gen Z cohorts routinely follow the latest market trends and developments, trading shares over their mobile phones.
When one large US wealth and asset manager found itself struggling to keep pace with a rapidly trending stock meme, the firm recognized that its technology needed an overhaul to retain market share and remain relevant for the next generation of investors. For example, many new mobile trading applications enable traders to buy fractional shares and to move money between accounts with ease. This firm could meet these demands, but not without hiring significant numbers of people in the back office and working 24/7 to keep up with volume.
To remedy this situation, the firm turned to Ernst & Young LLP (EY) to help it modernize its brokerage platform, and to streamline operations to more effectively enable and support data-driven decisions. Ultimately, the goal was to provide the business the ability to offer more innovative features to its customers, along with a superior experience, and help it seize a competitive edge.
To achieve an ambitious digital transformation, the firm set out to optimize business processes by:
- Designing a dynamic, future-ready platform that would align with the business strategy and adapt to incorporate future innovations and disruptions
- Adopting a “business-led, tech-enabled” mindset where business capabilities are at the center and the experience, operational processes and architecture are all driven by the domain underpinning the business capability
- Creating a platform that incorporated essential digital transformation elements, including cloud enablement, microservices architecture and an application programming interface (API) centric design
- Reforming talent and workforce strategies and refining performance measurement through key performance indicators transformation
- Following this up with an actionable plan that helped to establish a clear, phased approach to transition to the target state architecture over time
The EY team guided the client’s digital transformation and platform modernization initiatives, relying on a tested methodology and comprehensive approach that aligned business and technology strategies; strengthened change management efforts; and set the stage for a forward-thinking, adaptable platform that would meet customer needs and also help attract top talent.