Monthly Archives: September 2021

Amid broader digital transformation trends, many service providers have re-imagined their value proposition to take advantage of new technologies. The compliance consulting space is no different. The prevailing question, however, is at what point does the focus on technology begin to crowd out the human elements in the value chain and, more importantly, at what cost to clients navigating an evolving regulatory landscape?

The transformation across the consulting universe is not occurring in a vacuum. Business leaders, for instance, are well aware that valuations for SaaS companies trade at a compelling premium over traditional providers of business services. Moreover, a bifurcation is already reshaping the compliance consulting market between those who have invested in technology and can leverage economies of scale and those who cant make these investments and are at a disadvantage. But as the pendulum swings and digital solutions encroach on core consulting services, advisors may perceive the tail is wagging the dog.

Make no mistake, investments in technology are imperative for any consulting firm. This is particularly true in financial services as data volumes increase, reporting demands become more pronounced, and regulatory complexity creates new barriers to entry. Still, when the SEC comes knocking, comment letter in hand, they wont be turning to Siri or Alexa for answers.

Living in the Gray

To be sure, technology tends to be quite effective in black-and-white scenarios. Compliance, though, is a nuanced specialization that usually resides in the gray.

Consider the processes that inform fair value reporting in private equity. Technology provides an effective tool to collect data and streamline informational needs around underlying assets. Interim valuations in PE, though, can be more of an art than a science. And the most significant risks from a compliance perspective relate to the adequacy of a process, whether its deployed consistently, and any conflicts of interest, real or perceived, that could influence valuations. Make no mistake, regulators are watching. As reported by Ignites in July, a global asset manager was forced to adjust the NAV on multiple funds when previous estimates were affected by changes in fair value methodologies.

Still, many advisors in choosing a consultant want to know at what point do new advances in technology cross the threshold from adding value to compromising quality? For most, it requires a Goldilocks assessment. Too little tech creates blind spots and bottlenecks, whereas too much instills complacency and fails to equip advisors for anything but best-case scenarios. As such, the human element remains as important as ever, and advisors should keep in mind three core considerations when choosing a compliance consultant.

1: Dont Underestimate the Value of Experience

At Foreside, well often highlight the ways regulation can be a catalyst for innovation. Were not exclusively referring to RegTech solutions as new rules change daily workflows. Perhaps more important is the ability of advisors, who know where the regulatory boundaries lie, to create new investment products that can meet evolving investor needs. Through embracing a culture of compliance, advisors can proceed with conviction on new strategies and distribution channels.

Foreside, for instance, was among the consultants advising on the first conversions of actively managedmutual funds into ETFs, a milestone that has triggered budding interest from other active managers. Technology, of course, can automate certain facets of ETF fund accounting, performance reporting, or rote administrative tasks. But it falls down in the gray spaces that characterize everything else. Evaluating the alternatives available to advisors, considering the impact of new regulatory precedents on current operations and future plans, or analyzing how new fund structures can meet specific objectives, for instance, are the types of challenges in which technology offers little if any help.

2: Dont Overestimate Assumed Cost Savings

The conventional wisdom among most advisors is that tech-driven offerings produce cost savings and efficiencies that then get passed along to the end client. In many cases, this can be true.

For instance, tech-enabled solutions are critical for consultants to keep up with regulatory demands and scale their business over time. When the SEC launched Form CRS in June 2020, the time and administrative resources to manually collect and input the required information created acute capacity constraints among smaller, mom-and-pop consultancies. Those who could automate these tasks, however, didnt have to bill the hours back to their clients and could better use their time to engage in constructive dialogue on more pressing topics.

That being said, tech-driven solutions arent always the most cost-effective alternative. Proprietary software is not cheap. And SaaS-oriented firms arent exactly shy in finding ways to pay for it. Its not uncommon to see high registration or implementation fees, variable pricing models that escalate as advisor AUM grows, or other surprise fees for essential features not included in basic packages. When it comes to the true value of proprietary technology, advisors should also consider the risk of vendor lock-in, which can dramatically increase switching costs and make it difficult to integrate new capabilities from other third-party vendors.

3: Seeing Through the Innovation Fallacy

Ironically, tech-driven solutions dont necessarily represent the most cutting-edge alternatives either. The pace of innovation is only accelerating, and the costs to replace legacy solutions and manage technology debt are not insignificant. So rather than invest in new capabilities, R&D budgets over time can get redirected toward maintaining and updating existing solutions. This has been a factor, for instance, in the fund administration space, where mounting technology debt and integration issues have handicapped first movers in certain segments.

Alternatively, tech-enabled consultants with experts on the ground and in constant communication with regulators and clients -- benefit from a continual feedback loop. As such, they can identify areas in which automation makes sense and also where it doesnt. And they can couple their own technology with best-in-class solutions that may better meet a given need as it arises. This allows tech-enabled platforms to be nimble and move with the times.

No hard and fast rule exists that outlines precisely at which point technology can be effective and where it will fail. This, again, is where on-the-ground experience and expertise make a difference. Consider the work that goes into Form PF filings, a Dodd-Frank-era requirement designed to measure systemic risks. Even basic questions can be too complex for automated programs.NAV calculations provide just one example, as it may not be entirely clear in which scenarios advisors should deduct deferred compensation or what additional disclosures might be necessary when they dont. A seasoned consultant will not only be able to answer these questions with conviction, but they will also avoid deficiencies that would otherwise raise red flags or trigger an SEC examination.

If there is a hard-and-fast rule that should guide all consultants, its that there can never be too much personal engagement to better understand the ethos and business objectives of their clients. In this sense, technology that enables or enhances personal attention tends to be the most effective in fostering a culture of compliance and growth.

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The Tech Conundrum: At What Point Does Automation Become 'Too Much' of a Good Thing? - Finextra

Whats Going on with HollySys Automation Technologies?

HollySys Automation Technologies (HOLI) has just provided an update related to litigation filed against the automation and control technology firm in the British Virgin Islands. The litigation was filed by Mr. Baiqing Shao and Ace Lead Profits Limited in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (the Court) Territory of the British Virgin Islands. HOLI stock, at market close yesterday, Sept. 23, dipped down to $20.53, which is a 0.68% decrease in value.

According to a company news release, HollySys adopted amendments to the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company on January 7, 2021. On February 4, 2021, Mr. Baiqing Shao and Ace Lead Profits began court proceedings against HollySys seeking to prevent HollySys from enforcing the 2021 Amendments.

On September 22, 2021, the Court rejected Mr. Baiqing Shaos claim, which means the 2021 Amendments were valid and are currently effective. Furthermore, the claimants have been ordered to pay HollySys' litigation expenses, which HollySys plans to enforce, including by seeking satisfaction against the shares in the company held by Mr. Baiqing Shao.

HOLI has a Short-Term Technical Rank of 98. Find out what this means to you and get the rest of the rankings on HOLI!

Hollysys Automation Technologies Ltd is a China-based company that provides automation and control technologies and products. The company operates through three segments. Its IA segment supplies solutions including third-party hardware-centric products, proprietary software products, and others. The Rail segment supplies train control center and automation train protection to the rail and subway industries. The M&E segment consists of its two Southeast Asia-based subsidiaries that provide mechanical and electrical solutions. Hollysys Automation Technologies generates most of its sales from the Chinese domestic market.

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HollySys Automation Technologies (HOLI) Provides Update Related to Litigation Filed Against the Firm in the British Virgin Islands - InvestorsObserver

At a time when sporting events were shuttered, the U.S. Soccer Federation focused its energy on a new goal: organizing its customer data in a way that unlocked a more tactical approach to marketing.

Step one was to implement a customer data platform. And as the world opens back up and soccer is back in action, U.S. Soccer has a new approach to connect with millions of fans while keeping a tight budget and staff.

We really only have about 15 to 20 people that are working directly on our loyalty program between marketing and our product and business intelligence teams, said Ross Moses, Senior Director, Analytics and Insights for the United States Soccer Federation. We dont have the ability to go in and basically turn on campaigns every day for different types of segments.

Implementing the CDP helped U.S. Soccer centralize its data for a more complicated marketing automation strategy.

We needed something that was going to update in real-time, Ross said. Its going to plug into all kinds of data sources and ultimately be able to react in real-time based on who that customer is. If somebody changes from a non-ticket buyer to a ticket buyer, the campaign has to update accordingly, and the same goes for all of our business lines.

Considering a CDP back in 2018 was pretty cutting edge for a nonprofit organization with a relatively small team. But to meet the demands of millions of fans, U.S. Soccer needed to scale their campaigns and other marketing efforts.

The outdated infrastructure was holding back the marketing team from executing many more automated campaigns and sending personalized messages to fans.

We were sitting on what was really an outdated digital infrastructure, and I use infrastructure very loosely because there wasnt much there, he said. We had an outdated website. There was no mobile app. We had a lot of manual tasks that we were doing in order to track who our customers were, Ross said.

The whole question around CDPs was a key moment for us, he added. Ross said the organization explored whether a traditional CRM could solve that challenge, but opted for a CDP since it was more focused on ingesting data from multiple sources and being able to automate campaigns.

We were doing data prep and data hygiene to run analysis, and then having to redo it and update a week or a month later, said Ross.

With 80 percent of U.S. Soccers website traffic coming in from mobile devices, they needed to make sure they had a mobile-first experience, as well as a mobile app. And now that they were equipped to engage with more fans digitally, they need to keep track of these consumers.

We needed the 360-degree view of the customer and this tends to be the Holy Grail, said Ross. And how do you achieve this? Easy to say, hard to do.

They adopted single-sign-on credentials for users across all channels, including the website, mobile app and online store. Thats critical, but also on the back end, making sure weve got one ID for one person and were appending transactional and engagement data to one profile and not multiple users, Ross said.

To break through with a more personalized experience, U.S. Soccer also put in place self-service measures so fans could customize their experience. This puts fans in the drivers seat and also takes some of the workload off of the lean marketing team.

People basically expect personalization these days, said Ross. For as much as the business knows about the individual customer, they should be able to tailor their messaging or marketing or the content based on who they are.

With a CDP in place to centralize and update customer data, U.S. Soccer can orchestrate more personalized and efficient campaigns with limited resources. And greater success meant more revenue to support soccer programs nationwide.

We needed to take that step and lay the foundation for what were still working on every day, Ross said. Were trying to do more and more of this and leaning in.

View the full presentation from our fall MarTech conference here (free registration required).

Marketers today face increasing pressure to provide a unified experience to customers across many channels. And these avenues are growing each day. Thats whycustomer data platforms, or CDPs, have become more prevalent than ever. These help marketers identify key data points from customers across a variety of platforms, which can help craft cohesive experiences.

Ciscos Annual Internet Report found that internet-connected devices are growing at a 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2018 to 2023. COVID-19 has only sped up this marketing transformation. Technologies are evolving at a faster rate to connect with customers in an ever-changing world.

Each of these interactions has something important in common: theyre data-rich. Customers are telling brands a little bit about themselves at every touchpoint, which is invaluable data. Whats more, consumers expect companies to use this information to meet their needs.

Meeting customer expectations, breaking up these segments, and bringing them together can be demanding for marketers. Thats where CDPs come in. By extracting data from all customer touchpoints web analytics, CRMs, call analytics, email marketing platforms, and more brands can overcome the challenges posed by multiple data platforms and use the information to improve customer experiences.Learn more here.

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US Soccer leans on a CDP to make its marketing automation more personal - MarTech

With 50% of jobs at risk of automation, future economies will reward people that display human services traits. Thats why Jeff Tan, Innovation Solutions Officer at dentsu encourages us all to reflect upon how we can uplift those around us in our daily jobs.

Last weekend, I completed my usual long run along the bike paths that gently curve through the Santa Monica sand. Seeking caffeination, I hobbled into my local Starbucks. Coffee snobs, I just heard your collective hmmph! but I dont care.

There is a regular employee there named Jessica. A fifty-something, curvy woman addicted to smiling, Jessica has the ability to make customers feel as toasty as the breakfast sandwiches in the boxed-shaped ovens behind her. Shell usually chat away while I wait on my black grande Americano and finger-burning toasted cheese. She provided food, coffee, conversation my hierarchy of needs.

Jeff! Great to see you, what a beautiful day it is today, right?! How was your run? Wow, youre so athletic and handsome!*

*Disclaimer: this conversation is recalled to the best of my memory.

As a coffee drinker and lover of small-talk, I felt at home. If your Myers Briggs indicator starts with an I, you will hate sitting next to me on a Los Angeles - Sydney flight.

Ive been to hundreds of venues over my lifetime and staff are usually friendly and polite. Yet most of the time, it can feel like a sanitized hospitality, all part of the grueling job at front of house. Often, its a smile and a minimal-viable-conversation while taking orders or collecting the check.

On rare occasions, a venue would be fortunate to discover someone that can truly engage with customers. Someone with an inner brightness and the capability to make people feel as sparkly as the Santa Monica water.

Its no new insight that artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role in the workforce. Sneak in a flask to any industry conference and take a swig every time you hear, AI is replacing workers. Youll be stretchered out.

If youre not yet worried about future-proofing your skillset against automation, you should be. We often associate at-risk jobs as lower-skilled. However, any routine or process-driven task that can be optimized falls this category. In marketing services this includes media campaign optimization and management, reporting and analytics, elements of creative production, billing and budget reconciliation, elements of people management. The list goes on and on.

A study by McKinsey suggests that 50% of current job tasks have the potential to be automated based on current technologies, not considering the technological advancements still to be developed. Automation will have a far-reaching impact globally across every sector.

Worried now? Well, theres hope.

Kai-Fu Lee, author of AI 2041 and prominent leader in Chinas technology industry said in a recent Economist Asks podcast, In 20 years people will be paid not just based on [their] economic contribution, but how much they make other people feel better, how much they are indispensable in the process of winning people over.

You may associate human services with social work and humanitarianism. Yet, I believe that the term should be much broader and describe any type of services industry work that requires an understanding of humanity. Does this sound like your job? Mine too. Of course, almost all marketing-industry related jobs fall into this category.

I encourage you to reflect upon those that you interact, be it colleagues, clients or customers. Are you enriching their lives with your words and actions? Are they feeling energized and just a little bit more human after engaging with you? Are you helping them be the best version of themselves?

You may write this off as too idealistic, or too fluffy. Dammit Jeff, we have tasks to finish, we dont have the time.

Yet so many aspects of our jobs involve understanding and dealing with humanity. Focusing on building up your human-services skills will only future proof you as a contributing member of a future AI-driven economy.

If you ever want an example of human services personified, come down to my local Starbucks and meet Jessica. Just dont burn yourself on the toasted cheese.

Jeff Tan is innovation solutions officer at Dentsu International.

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There's a 50% chance your job will be automated. Why acting more human will protect you - The Drum

Newswise Vienna, Austria (VIRTUAL) A variety of scientific discovery and technology awards were presented during SLAS Europe 2021 Digital Conference and Exhibition, which took place June 23-25 online. The annual European forum of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening bestowed the Ignite Award to the most promising new startup company, the New Product Award, SLAS Tony B. Academic Awards and Student Poster Awards.

Hopstem Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has been selected as the SLAS Europe 2021 Ignite Award winner. Hopstem was founded in January 2017 by Jing Fan, a neuroscientist and stem cell biologist from Johns Hopkins University (Boston, MA, USA). Hopstems technology and service revolve around its novel 3D brain organoid product for high-throughput calcium imaging. It is derived from a stable human iPSC line, which is a new way to screen, validate and de-risk the lead compound/molecules at the early stage of drug development for central nervous system diseases, with established targets involved in neuronal activity phenotypes. Hopstem has received four rounds of financing totaling more than 20 million Euro and established a research and development and manufacturing facility in Hangzhou, China, with a sales department in Houston, Texas, USA. As the SLAS Ignite Award winner, Hopstem receives a $5,000 cash prize, an opportunity to speak at SLAS2022 International Conference and Exhibition in Boston, and will record an SLAS New Matter podcast episode to discuss its products and services.

Denmark-based Reshape Biotech won the SLAS New Product Award for its Reshape Imaging System, an automated robotic solution that remotely monitors plates in incubators, while automatically creating time-lapse videos for high-throughput. Their product is quite unique and ahead of the competition, the SLAS judging panel commented, citing their automatic generation of time-lapse videos and remote monitoring, as well as the systems high capacity, flexible integration and cost-effectiveness. The Reshape Imaging System can also monitor growth of microorganisms in the incubator with no additional effort. The New Product Award is given to companies showcasing a new product that is commercially available within 90 days pre- and/or post-conference.

Three students were recognized with this years Student Poster Award. Winners were evaluated online and were judged on various content and design themes as well as presentation. The SLAS Student Poster Award recognizes the innovative research by students, graduate students, post-doctoral associates and junior faculty (less than four years in first academic appointment) who are chosen to present a poster during the conference.

Finally, SLAS provided three SLAS Tony B. Academic (Travel) Awards to students, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and junior faculty chosen for their original scientific research. Applicants submissions were evaluated by a panel of judges on the relevance of the research to the conference program, statement of value of the conference and overall scientific merit. Each winner had a chance to present their research at the meeting and received complimentary conference registration and, when the conference is held in person, Tony B. Award recipients receive roundtrip travel and shared hotel accommodations.

SLAS Europe Conference and Exhibition

The SLAS Europe 2021 program showcases four important tracks focused on emerging biology, technology, discovery and careers in business and technology that elucidate scientific advances and state-of-the-art applications of new technologies through scientific podium and poster presentations, exhibitor tutorials, special interest group discussions and inspiring keynote speakers. The 2021 conference was conducted online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Careers in Business and Technology Track was conducted as a free standalone online event on June 16. For more information about SLAS and its educational events, visitwww.slas.org/events.

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SLAS(Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international community of more than 16,000 researchers and technology providers dedicated to life sciences discovery and technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS publishes two MEDLINE-indexed scientific journals,SLAS DiscoveryandSLAS Technology. For more information about SLAS and its journals, visitwww.slas.org.

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The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) Announces its Europe Conference Life Science and Technology Awards - Newswise

NEW DELHI: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) has signed a five-year partnership with Automation Anywhere, a global player in robotic process automation (RPA) to accelerate and scale automation to drive innovation across its 30,000-strong employee organization.

During the first phase of a five-year plan, IOCL has automated select key processes across departments including finance, human resources, and inventory, using Automation 360, an AI-powered RPA platform, Automation Anywhere said.

IOCL said its overall vision is to improve operating agility, connect disparate systems, and at the same time, empower employees to work more efficiently by allowing them to create solutions which help them move away from tactical and mundane repetitive tasks and ultimately focus on delivering more compelling products to market.

Energy companies grapple with legacy systems, multiple data sources and manual, repetitive processes that get in the way of driving speed and impact," said Milan Sheth, executive vice president, IMEA at Automation Anywhere. "With our trusted automation platform, we look forward to collaborating with IOCL to unleash automation capabilities across their entire organization and streamline repeatable tasks."

IOCL is India's largest refining and marketing company engaged in the business of refining, transportation, and marketing of petroleum products. Under the ambit of its digital transformation program, Project i-DRIVE, the company is implementing hundreds of digital solutions across advanced analytics, emerging technology platforms, and custom tools and solutions.

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Indian Oil inks five yr deal with Automation Anywhere to accelerate RPA - Mint