Financial Services Firms, the Most Challenging Data Needs of Any Sector.

It was a couple of years ago now, but it still stands out in my head. Birch Hill Equity Partners was the newest offspring of TD Capital, launched as a Toronto-based standalone that would emerge as Canada’s leading mid-market buyout firm.

But before all that grinding activity and high-flown success, there was only a newcomer, and the daunting task of having to create an entire technology infrastructure for it. Because, in spite of the fact that Birch Hill was a spinoff, the company was established as an independent, so everything, and I mean everything, had to be invented and installed and integrated from the ground up for it—ideally, at the hands of a single-source supplier.

I’m happy to say that, from the massive Great Plains implementation to the Microsoft CRM and BlackBerry sweep, we pulled that bit of magic off and helped to launch this new entity as a going concern. It’s a trick we’ve performed too many times to count now, but it bears remembering.

After all, an ever-changing legislative landscape, intense global competition, a proliferation of product and service offerings, and the incredibly and increasingly complex risk-and-regulatory scene mean companies involved in financial services play on a field characterized by some of the most challenging data needs of any sector.

What’s more, success breeds complication, with explosive revenues translating into explosive data content. Financial services firms need to accomplish everything from sales forecasting to sales cycle visibility and accuracy, to customer service, and they need to do it all competently, profitably and—given the very public nature of some aspects of their business—visibly.

To succeed in this environment, clearly, you need a powerful combination of ultra-secure technology and comprehensive business applications designed specifically for financial services operations. More than ever, the ability of companies in this sector to manage growth, control costs and respond effectively to change is a function of the flexibility and scalability of the enterprise systems and financial services software that define them, and the business solutions firm that supports them.

We at 360 are well placed to deliver to our customers the most appropriate of this kind of stuff, whether our clients’ business is in credit unions, banking, investment, insurance or any other financial services engagement. Drawing on a deep well of expertise and experience in implementing customized Microsoft business solutions that boost revenue and increase customer satisfaction, we help financial services clients—like Birch Hill—to automate and optimize themselves with business performance solutions that bear remembering.