Why the Leading CRM Needs Altvia
Many firms reach out to Altvia after having tried Salesforce’s out-of-the-box functionality as a substitute for true fund management software and find that the system doesn’t work for alternative investments
This isn’t to say that Salesforce doesn’t have powerful features—some of which are applicable to this industry. In fact, our data management tool is built on the Salesforce platform.
We chose to partner with Salesforce when we developed AIM, and have continued that partnership because the system’s robust infrastructure allows us to provide a premier software solution tailored specifically for private equity.
Salesforce Alone Isn’t True Fund Management Software
We’ve found that there are five primary reasons that Salesforce, straight out-of-the-box, does not work effectively for fund management. Some firms certainly use it for that purpose, but the key is using it “effectively.”
How much time do those organizations waste each day/week/month on inefficient processes, miscommunications, and functionality “workarounds”—time that could be spent on more productive tasks? It’s an important question. The answer is dictated, in large part, by these five factors:
- Salesforce is designed for “typical” businesses that sell products and services.
Salesforce out-of-the-box comes with standard objects such as Leads, Accounts, and Contacts. It doesn’t include objects specific to fund management software that support deal flow and investor communications.
- The terminology and fields are not specific for fund management.
Fund management and purpose-built fund management software use a unique vernacular to describe both the stages of fundraising and the stages of committing to a deal.
Salesforce out-of-the-box uses traditional sales-related terms such as “qualified” or “booked.” This forces users to adapt to the generic language, which creates a confusing and ineffective fund management system.
- Connections between relationships aren’t tracked.
Success in the alternative asset management space is based on the quality of the relationships that you maintain with LPs and fund managers. Salesforce out-of-the-box doesn’t allow you to track relationships and the connections between relationships to the extent that most fund managers require and that true fund management software does. This results in gaps in information and connections that might derail a deal.
- Funds can’t be tracked independently from accounts.
Out-of-the-box, Salesforce can’t differentiate between an account and an investment that an account might make. This means that if an account could potentially make an investment in more than one of your funds, Salesforce would consider those two investments as two distinct accounts. As you can imagine, this creates serious confusion in the deal management process.
- There’s no distinction between funds in different states.
In a fund management CRM system, most fund managers like to keep a record of not just the funds that they are considering, but also the funds that they passed on or funds that they did not consider. Out-of-the-box, Salesforce lumps all opportunities into one sales funnel. This is a limitation that fund management software shouldn’t have.
So, again, Salesforce is the perfect foundation for fund management software—it just isn’t the perfect fund management software by itself.
Fund Management Software from Industry Experts
Salesforce does not, of course, claim to have extensive expertise in fund management or fund management software. But they don’t have to. At Altvia, fund management software is our sole focus and a solution that we’ve been providing to industry professionals for over a decade.
Altvia’s integration with Salesforce creates powerful synergy that gives users the backend horsepower and frontend finesse they need to do their job efficiently and effectively.
The solution enables fund managers to track the interactions of investments, monitor portfolio performance, and create integrations with other systems that give them a competitive edge over firms that continue to just “get by” with a less-than-optimal solution.
Is Altvia the right fund management software solution for your firm?
Contact us and let’s talk about your challenges and how we can address them.
