Author: Josh

How can firms benefit from accessibility, interactivity, and visualization of their private equity data?

To explore current trends around data and information solutions in the private equity marketplace, we interviewed Altvia SVP, Industry Solutions & Strategy, Jeff Williams. The discussion will be presented in a series of blog posts in order to provide a comprehensive perspective on this trending subject.

Thanks, Jeff, for joining us to discuss what private equity firms need to know about data. Let’s start with a quick introduction: Please tell us a little about what you do at Altvia.

I lead the team at Altvia that is focused on finding and assessing private equity firm challenges that we believe can be—and really, have to be—solved using technology. Specifically, we’re interested in identifying problems or issues that, when addressed properly, help private equity firms differentiate themselves and become more operationally efficient.

The private equity data solutions we develop enable firms to collaborate and communicate more effectively—both internally and with investors. Our systems are true game-changers in the private equity ecosystem.

What is currently trending around technology in the private equity marketplace? What are people talking about, and which solutions do they need?

When it comes to the problems people are having with technology or problems that technology can help to solve, the big trends center around data. At a strategic level, how to store, accumulate, and analyze data is an important topic right now. And there’s a bigger conversation about relationships with limited partners regarding the ability to service them effectively and be good partners. Often these discussions focus on transparency. But at a relationship level, it’s really more about how these partners interact with each other.

So, the ability of firms to improve their service interactions with stakeholders is top of mind?

Yes. At the end of the day, private equity is a market that provides financial services. A lot of conversations lately are about the service itself and, more specifically, what service is actually being provided. When you look at service industries, they are traditionally driven by incremental steps of differentiation: How can they provide something even slightly better or different from their competitors?

Altvia offers a leading-edge private equity data solution: Altvia Answers. From the perspective of a firm, what exactly does Altvia Answers do?

Altvia Answers is very much a solution built to solve the private equity data problems we’re hearing about. For the better part of the past few decades, this industry has been active in using technology to generate data, and more recently, to consume additional sources of data. We’re at a point where older firms have accumulated data much less methodically than firms that are starting out today, and this reveals several important considerations:

• Firms that have been in business longer have ended up with multiple systems along the way, and there are often no integration points between those systems.
• Often, the systems on their own are not capable of doing much with the data they contain, nor are they capable of performing the complex analyses that firms need today.
• The capabilities of modern technology within the realm of private equity data (complex queries, management of large volumes of information, and making sense of all your data) are not functions that exist in the legacy systems that many firms are using.

In a nutshell, people have systems that don’t interact, even though they’re relevant to each other. Firms would like to look at the data within them together, but there are tremendous inefficiencies with trying to bring those systems together, showing a lack of capabilities of these tools on their own.

Altvia Answers is a solution that addresses the entire chain of these issues by bringing data from disparate sources together in one place, then doing modeling using all of that information to establish a single source of truth for all of your data across all of your systems. Even better, Altvia Answers connects to the data systems a firm already has in place, with no need to export or upload information. This greatly simplifies the process.

It also facilitates very powerful and advanced private equity data capabilities in terms of analysis on a large scale, and it does that in the cloud in an automated fashion so there is no need to embark on time-consuming and error-prone manual processes.

And, most importantly, Altvia Answers enables business users to interact with their data across systems in very intuitive ways, and on any device, eliminating the need for highly skilled, IT-centric resources that would historically have spent weeks at a time developing an analysis. Altvia Answers is right at the fingertips of business users and executives at any point, ready for them to ask their own questions and get their own answers in an engaging and intuitive way.

As you were instrumental in developing and launching Altvia Answers, we’re guessing you have some great stories about how the solution works, specifically to help private equity firms. Could you share some examples?

One particular organization had spent nearly two years assessing vendors in an attempt to find a solution that could deliver on the vision they had. They felt it was not only compelling, but also very different from their competitors. They were looking for a system that would allow them to really provide a service that was highly differentiated, unique, and superior to their competition.

After talking with dozens of vendors, they found a few that came very close to their criteria, but there was always something missing from the bigger picture. As we talked with them and began to understand their vision, what we were able to do with Altvia Answers was allow them to identify the best-of-breed solutions across the entire chain of systems involved in executing their vision. This allowed them to use the best CRM solution, then put Altvia Answers on top to connect their entire system.

Now entirely integrated, this system provides the firm with a single place for business users to go in order to find, analyze, and understand data across their organization. Altvia Answers proved to be the key to a complete solution to their business challenges.

Altvia Answers helps firms position themselves as industry leaders?

Correct, and a big part of it is not only the ability to consume data across systems internally, but also to allow their clients to access important, real-time data that is relevant to them. For data-hungry clients, the scenario went from “We’ll send you a statement in the mail every so often,” to “You don’t even need to pick up the phone to ask us for information. You can access the data that’s relevant to you in real time, at any time.” And they can do so in a way that’s intuitive, efficient, interactive, and engaging.

It’s having a snowball effect on their whole business structure?

Yes, Altvia Answers, and the way it maximizes the value of private equity data, is serving as the cornerstone for more efficient internal operations and processes that are more organized and more systematic. This snowballs all the way through to providing new capabilities to their investors, which in turn strengthens their relationships and positions them as industry leaders.

One of the most daunting parts of a software implementation is the first few months that you’re using it. At this point, there’s no guarantee of success even if you’ve done everything right up to this point. To make sure your investment pays off and not be burdened with trying to fix what might turn out to be irreparable problems in the future, take these steps during your initial use period:

Keep your software implementation simple and complete

First, make sure that the fields you decide to track and the data within those fields are simple and complete. Sometimes people try to overdo it and add way too many fields–perhaps even data that they haven’t tracked in the past but that they want to track in the future. This might be a natural reaction to having a shiny new database toy, but it’s unlikely that these 50 new fields are the core fields that you really need to track, nor are they usually the data you’ve been tracking to make yourself successful up to this point.

The result of over-adding fields, then, is twofold. First, pages with too many fields end up looking blank so users get frustrated working in a database that feels incomplete. Second, many of the reports and analytics that you might be able to run based on comprehensive data are not available so when users go running those reports the reports are essentially meaningless. Also very frustrating.

So the key is to keep the initial configuration simple, focus on the core fields and the core data points you want to track, and make sure that all of those fields are populated. Then when users log in for the first few times, the data is strong and it instills confidence in all of your users.

Tips to keep it simple and complete:

1. Start with simple data tracking
2. Keep configuration simple
3. Ensure all fields are populated
4. Stick to the core data points and fields
5. Always make sure there is confidence in your system

Provide the “why”

So often, users end up getting just the technical how-to training but are never told why this is important or how it will make the firm more efficient. So it’s really important both during training and software implementation to talk to users about why changes are being made and what value the company is hoping to get from the system.

Unfortunately, the seemingly menial task of entering good data happens first and often over time. It’s only after that data is in the system that you get the gratification of finally running that one perfect report that tells you everything you never knew.

If users are shown the value of running a report like that and the value of inputting that data upfront, they’re more likely to see the benefits and more likely to be dedicated users.

During the training, it is important to follow these 3 steps:

1. Communicate with Users: Take the time to communicate the value of what you’re implementing and ask for feedback before, during, and after. Let users know why changes are being made and make sure they understand how they can provide input or help out. By letting your staff in on these details, they’ll feel more involved in a system that is designed for them – which will translate into better compliance with new procedures and information entered into the system.

2. Culture Change: Take the time to inform your employees on how their work will change and make sure they understand the benefits of these changes. Make it clear that compliance with new procedures is not just for their benefit but also for the companies as a whole.

3. Manage Expectations: Allow yourself some flexibility in implementing a new system so that you can incorporate feedback from your users and allow them time to adjust to their new environment without expecting too much at once.

The central tenets of good customer support are for the people providing it to be skilled, helpful, and available. With Altvia, you get exactly that: comprehensive support for our suite of Private Equity products and access to a team that rivals the best technology consulting firms.

At Altvia, we assist you throughout your technology journey—from your initial inquiry about solutions for data management to a GP-LP engagement platform all the way through your implementation and beyond. 

We understand that even with the most intuitive of systems, attentive customer service from team members who thoroughly understand the product and are committed to seeing an issue quickly and fully resolved is essential to success.

“Our market is so relationship driven—we really get to know our business partners and understand their needs. With Altvia, it’s clear that they value having a relationship that comes along with the software.” Michael Painter, Managing Partner, Co-founder, Plexus Capital. 

The First Elements of Customer Support: Onboarding & Training

Altvia customer support takes you through the sales process into onboarding and then to the ongoing technical assistance your firm needs to succeed. 

As an Altvia customer, you receive comprehensive care for all your products, including implementation insights, training, solution adoption services, growth evaluations, ongoing technical support, and 24/7 access to our knowledge base.

As a result, you get up to speed rapidly and start seeing process and productivity improvements almost immediately. 

Ongoing Customer Support

Our team members solve problems, but that’s just the beginning. They also empathize with our customers, learn from them, and advocate for them. 

We approach every interaction as an opportunity for our team to engage with yours to enhance your experience and maximize the value of our solutions. 

We strive to leave you in a better place than before you reached out. That’s the Altvia customer support difference: We don’t just resolve issues—we use them as springboards to help you get ahead. 

Customer Support as the Key to Success

Our team works directly with your firm to build a roadmap for ongoing success. We understand the challenges you’re facing and are here to help you achieve your specific goals.

We can do that because we make it our mission to understand your business. Working exclusively within the private capital ecosystem, we realize that a multi-family office is different from a middle-market buyout fund. 

And we know how to customize your system to reflect those differences. This ensures you gain ongoing value from our solutions and get the most from your technology investment. 

The Altvia Help Center: Self-Directed Customer Support

We offer the Altvia Help Center as a place for you to find helpful information, tips, and tricks that enable you to get even more from our products.

Within the Help Center, you can access instructional videos, how-to articles, and trailheads for users that want to expand their knowledge of our products and services.

The value that exceptional customer support can provide to an organization can’t be overstated. We work tirelessly to ensure our services help empower our customers to achieve their business objectives and more.

It wasn’t long ago that the only passwords a person needed to remember were for their email and their bank account. But now it seems that every time you turn around, you’re on a site that requires you to create a login and either sign in with Google or Facebook or create a new password to remember.

We find that password managers can be a handy and secure way to keep track of passwords for email, data rooms, Cap IQ, Preqin, and any of the dozens of other online sites that require the creation of a password.

Based on our experience, below are a few thoughts on password management and tools to manage passwords.

1. Password Managers: To Use or Not To Use?

The thought of storing dozens of your most important passwords in one place might terrify some people. But the fact is, short of memorizing a different 8+ character random alphanumeric password for every system you access, password managers may be the most secure way to protect these precious character strings.

Using the same password in multiple places around the web obviously is a flawed strategy because you’re taking a huge risk every time you create a new online account.

If the password for that new account is compromised, the password for all of your accounts is compromised. And depending on how often each service requires you to change your password, you could find yourself constantly making modifications to ensure all your accounts stay in sync.

Password managers are also invaluable when you lose a device or have one stolen. All of your passwords may be on that device, but if they’re protected by a password manager that is properly configured, they aren’t likely to be lost along with the hardware.

2. Doesn’t My Browser Help Me Manage Passwords?

Yes, most modern browsers will store passwords for you as a convenience. Many people utilize this feature nearly every day. But it provides virtually nothing in terms of security.

And with many browsers offering password sync across devices, passwords stored in your browser may be even more vulnerable.

3. RoboForm vs. LastPass to Manage Passwords

Two of the more established names in the password management space are RoboForm and LastPass.

Both are solid options in terms of usability and security. And in terms of the features they offer, they’re very similar—down to the way they capitalize their names. If you’re new to the tools used to manage passwords, either of these two proven winners should suit you.

4. Manage Passwords With Dashlane—The New Kid On the Block

Dashlane seems to be the new favorite for password managers, based in part on the $22 million round of funding they raised.

Skeptics are saying that this largest-ever fundraising round for a password management tool might be an overreaction to the Heartbleed bug, but Dashlane’s product is a slick option for those seeking a cutting-edge password management tool.

5. Two Additional Approaches Used to Manage Passwords

There are two other password management techniques that are commonly used and you may be familiar with. The first is what’s called single sign-on (SSO). With this approach, one set of login credentials is used across multiple systems.

For example, if you have a Gmail account, another cloud-based solution that you want to access may give you the option to “Sign in with Google.” If you select that option, the system confirms that you’re correctly signed into the account you’ve linked to and lets you in without requiring an additional password.

The second password management technique is called two-factor authentication. You may also see it referred to by names like dual-factor authentication, two-step verification/authorization, etc.

Basically, this means a user is required to provide two pieces of information, rather than just one, to gain access to a system.

For example, you might have to enter your password and then answer a security question. Or, after entering your password, you may need to enter a code that is sent to you in a text message.

6. Manage Passwords for Your Altvia Products

At Altvia, we take security very seriously. Fortunately, Salesforce does, too. But if you lose your password, the system does allow you to reset it.

The reset process involves receiving an email. If you find that nothing is happening when you click Reset Password, there are steps you can take to ensure you get password reset emails from Salesforce.