Description
Data Outsourcing & Business Intelligence Looking Beyond the Horizon
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC.
TM
1
CONTENTS
The Information Nightmare .......................................................................................................................... 1
Why Outsource? ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Business Intelligence & Why You Need It .................................................................................................... 2
An Outsourcing Case Study ........................................................................................................................ 2
The Steps ............................................................................................................................................................... 3
Where Do I Start? ................................................................................................................................................. 3
About Hipercept ................................................................................................................................................. 4
THE INFORMATION NIGHTMARE
The nightmares begin with users being bound to silos, disparate systems, and legacy software
that they simply refuse to give up. Excel spreadsheets are scattered on shared network drives.
Individual’s hard drives destroy your information landscape, despite the countless emails singing
the virtues of adhering to policy. The frustration within upper management rises because they
cannot seem to get a consolidated portfolio report that makes sense. So what do you do? You
consider outsourcing.
WHY OUTSOURCE?
In this time of economic uncertainty, corporations do not want to make long-term commitments
to full time employees. The soaring cost of health benefts, 401K’s, administration, and real estate
have made middle ofce employees much more expensive and at times, cost prohibitive.
Utilizing an efective outsourcing model with a qualifed vendor allows for the rapid scale up or
down of resources virtually on-demand. Compared to a traditional hiring cycle of searching for the
right employee, you could be months ahead of the game using an efective outsource strategy.
Outsourcing can leverage best practices that are more difcult to achieve in a large global
corporate environment. Outsourcing can lead to attaining a greater expertise, lower costs, and
higher quality. It can also free up top in-house talent and allow them to focus on more strategic
corporate endeavors. These outsourced resources are an extension of your company and are
sometimes referred to as the extended enterprise.
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
Damien Georges
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC. 2
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
TM
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE & WHY YOU NEED IT
Business intelligence (BI) is no longer an optional convenience in an overall corporate strategy. In
this market environment BI is becoming a critical component of successful businesses. Technology
professionals are under increasing pressure to operate more efectively. There is a growing focus
on streamlining operations and reducing costs. Relying on a stitched together package of manual
Excel spreadsheets does not cut it anymore.
The industry is starting to understand that data itself is useless. However, when you have the
ability to organize data into information, then you have a valuable commodity. Business Intelli-
gence is the pathway to turning data into information. Strategic decisions can be made with a high
degree of confdence when there is information to support them. Can you look at a consolidated
report and say where everything came from? Most large corporate companies cannot.
AN OUTSOURCING CASE STUDY
A large insurance company with a sizable international portfolio
comprised of direct real estate investments, debt, and CMBS
derivatives was having great difculty in normalizing and summa-
rizing their risk exposures. Disparate systems, timing issues, and FX
fuctuations complicated this problem. Their resident Business Intel-
ligence team (comprised of all internal funded FTE’s) were unable to
deliver the analytics required to manage this business accurately or
in a timely fashion. Delays and cost overruns were the norm.
Consider also the pressures involved regarding the internal
political ramifcations of this team operating in a large company
construct. Team leaders were hesitant to aggressively realign staf,
as that might be considered to be a negative refection of their own
management abilities. So the team struggled on, and as a result,
productivity further eroded.
With an annual internal seven-fgure run rate, excluding
benefts and other incentives, the insurance company could no longer substantiate the cost
involved, nor the risk factors associated with reporting inaccurate data. Clearly, they were a prime
candidate for a managed outsource strategy.
The company engaged a BI outsource frm with extensive domain experience in real estate
and alternative assets and was able to move this critical reporting function exclusively to them. As
a result, they reduced their operating costs by half. The political pressures that hampered progress
were now alleviated, as the company was now able to hold their vendor accountable.
The key to this scenario was the successful integration of the vendor into the internal work-
fow process. They brought them into their internal trouble ticket system, included them in all
conference calls, and made them feel like true partners in the development efort. With vigilant
monitoring, integration does not have to be a painful transition.
Can you look at
a consolidated
report and know
where everything
came from?
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC. 3
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
TM
THE STEPS
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT
Decide why, how, and in what form the outsourced service supports your business strategy. Some-
times components may be better suited to being retained internally. Not everything is a candidate
for outsourcing.
BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT
Why am I doing this? Will this be worth it? The answers will come from analyzing expected cost
savings and other fnancial and operational benefts of the initiative. Hire an experienced
consultant to help you.
VENDOR SELECTION
If you think you are choosing a vendor, you have already failed. You are choosing a strategic
partner. Keep in mind that big is not always better. Small and mid-sized frms might give you more
personalized service.
CONTRACTING
Make sure it captures the needs and expectations of both parties. Compliance and risk factors
must be addressed in detail.
THE BIG TRANSITION
Actively monitoring the migration is the name of the game here. Strict measurement of initial
performance will stave of risks that could pop up down the road. Be aware that failure to proac-
tively manage this phase of the implementation of the outsourced service could lead to decreased
service levels, cost overruns, compliance difculties that were not contemplated previously, the
need to switch vendors, or — worse — bringing the past service back in-house. Alternatively,
a well implemented outsource transition will deliver cost savings and newfound fexibilities of a
scalable resource pool.
WHERE DO I START?
Hipercept is an industry thought leader focused on maximizing technology investments. Our team
of subject matter experts has vast experience in strategic roadmap development that improves
business processes. At Hipercept, we understand that everyone has a unique set of challenges.
We fully appreciate the intrinsic value of human capital and factor that in when recommending a
solution that meets you and your team’s business case requirements.
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC. 4
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
TM
ABOUT HIPERCEPT
Hipercept delivers Technology Advisory, Consulting and Outsource Services that improve the
proftability and operational efciency of real estate and private equity investors.
The world’s largest investors of alternative assets trust Hipercept to provide strategic advice,
project management, business analysis, custom development, product implementation and out-
source services.
Hipercept has a report delivery platform that enables clients to leverage our broad business
intelligence capabilities as an end-to-end service reducing operational cost and improving infor-
mation delivery. Hipercept also provides support as a service for real estate clients using real estate
focused applications.
For more information on outsourcing services, contact us directly at [email protected].
HIPERCEPT
U.S.
239 Washington Street
Suite 305
Jersey City, NJ
07305
EUROPE
130 Old Street
London
EC1V 9BD
AUSTRALIA
301 George Street
Suite 1102I
Sydney, NSW
2000
CANADA
18 Haslemere Road
Toronto, Ontario
M4N 1X5
COLOMBIA
Calle 7 SUR # 42–70
Ofce 209
Medellín, Antioquia
doc_511530783.pdf
Data Outsourcing & Business Intelligence Looking Beyond the Horizon
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC.
TM
1
CONTENTS
The Information Nightmare .......................................................................................................................... 1
Why Outsource? ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Business Intelligence & Why You Need It .................................................................................................... 2
An Outsourcing Case Study ........................................................................................................................ 2
The Steps ............................................................................................................................................................... 3
Where Do I Start? ................................................................................................................................................. 3
About Hipercept ................................................................................................................................................. 4
THE INFORMATION NIGHTMARE
The nightmares begin with users being bound to silos, disparate systems, and legacy software
that they simply refuse to give up. Excel spreadsheets are scattered on shared network drives.
Individual’s hard drives destroy your information landscape, despite the countless emails singing
the virtues of adhering to policy. The frustration within upper management rises because they
cannot seem to get a consolidated portfolio report that makes sense. So what do you do? You
consider outsourcing.
WHY OUTSOURCE?
In this time of economic uncertainty, corporations do not want to make long-term commitments
to full time employees. The soaring cost of health benefts, 401K’s, administration, and real estate
have made middle ofce employees much more expensive and at times, cost prohibitive.
Utilizing an efective outsourcing model with a qualifed vendor allows for the rapid scale up or
down of resources virtually on-demand. Compared to a traditional hiring cycle of searching for the
right employee, you could be months ahead of the game using an efective outsource strategy.
Outsourcing can leverage best practices that are more difcult to achieve in a large global
corporate environment. Outsourcing can lead to attaining a greater expertise, lower costs, and
higher quality. It can also free up top in-house talent and allow them to focus on more strategic
corporate endeavors. These outsourced resources are an extension of your company and are
sometimes referred to as the extended enterprise.
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
Damien Georges
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC. 2
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
TM
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE & WHY YOU NEED IT
Business intelligence (BI) is no longer an optional convenience in an overall corporate strategy. In
this market environment BI is becoming a critical component of successful businesses. Technology
professionals are under increasing pressure to operate more efectively. There is a growing focus
on streamlining operations and reducing costs. Relying on a stitched together package of manual
Excel spreadsheets does not cut it anymore.
The industry is starting to understand that data itself is useless. However, when you have the
ability to organize data into information, then you have a valuable commodity. Business Intelli-
gence is the pathway to turning data into information. Strategic decisions can be made with a high
degree of confdence when there is information to support them. Can you look at a consolidated
report and say where everything came from? Most large corporate companies cannot.
AN OUTSOURCING CASE STUDY
A large insurance company with a sizable international portfolio
comprised of direct real estate investments, debt, and CMBS
derivatives was having great difculty in normalizing and summa-
rizing their risk exposures. Disparate systems, timing issues, and FX
fuctuations complicated this problem. Their resident Business Intel-
ligence team (comprised of all internal funded FTE’s) were unable to
deliver the analytics required to manage this business accurately or
in a timely fashion. Delays and cost overruns were the norm.
Consider also the pressures involved regarding the internal
political ramifcations of this team operating in a large company
construct. Team leaders were hesitant to aggressively realign staf,
as that might be considered to be a negative refection of their own
management abilities. So the team struggled on, and as a result,
productivity further eroded.
With an annual internal seven-fgure run rate, excluding
benefts and other incentives, the insurance company could no longer substantiate the cost
involved, nor the risk factors associated with reporting inaccurate data. Clearly, they were a prime
candidate for a managed outsource strategy.
The company engaged a BI outsource frm with extensive domain experience in real estate
and alternative assets and was able to move this critical reporting function exclusively to them. As
a result, they reduced their operating costs by half. The political pressures that hampered progress
were now alleviated, as the company was now able to hold their vendor accountable.
The key to this scenario was the successful integration of the vendor into the internal work-
fow process. They brought them into their internal trouble ticket system, included them in all
conference calls, and made them feel like true partners in the development efort. With vigilant
monitoring, integration does not have to be a painful transition.
Can you look at
a consolidated
report and know
where everything
came from?
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC. 3
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
TM
THE STEPS
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT
Decide why, how, and in what form the outsourced service supports your business strategy. Some-
times components may be better suited to being retained internally. Not everything is a candidate
for outsourcing.
BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT
Why am I doing this? Will this be worth it? The answers will come from analyzing expected cost
savings and other fnancial and operational benefts of the initiative. Hire an experienced
consultant to help you.
VENDOR SELECTION
If you think you are choosing a vendor, you have already failed. You are choosing a strategic
partner. Keep in mind that big is not always better. Small and mid-sized frms might give you more
personalized service.
CONTRACTING
Make sure it captures the needs and expectations of both parties. Compliance and risk factors
must be addressed in detail.
THE BIG TRANSITION
Actively monitoring the migration is the name of the game here. Strict measurement of initial
performance will stave of risks that could pop up down the road. Be aware that failure to proac-
tively manage this phase of the implementation of the outsourced service could lead to decreased
service levels, cost overruns, compliance difculties that were not contemplated previously, the
need to switch vendors, or — worse — bringing the past service back in-house. Alternatively,
a well implemented outsource transition will deliver cost savings and newfound fexibilities of a
scalable resource pool.
WHERE DO I START?
Hipercept is an industry thought leader focused on maximizing technology investments. Our team
of subject matter experts has vast experience in strategic roadmap development that improves
business processes. At Hipercept, we understand that everyone has a unique set of challenges.
We fully appreciate the intrinsic value of human capital and factor that in when recommending a
solution that meets you and your team’s business case requirements.
COPYRIGHT © HIPERCEPT, INC. 4
DATA OUTSOURCING & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON
TM
ABOUT HIPERCEPT
Hipercept delivers Technology Advisory, Consulting and Outsource Services that improve the
proftability and operational efciency of real estate and private equity investors.
The world’s largest investors of alternative assets trust Hipercept to provide strategic advice,
project management, business analysis, custom development, product implementation and out-
source services.
Hipercept has a report delivery platform that enables clients to leverage our broad business
intelligence capabilities as an end-to-end service reducing operational cost and improving infor-
mation delivery. Hipercept also provides support as a service for real estate clients using real estate
focused applications.
For more information on outsourcing services, contact us directly at [email protected].
HIPERCEPT
U.S.
239 Washington Street
Suite 305
Jersey City, NJ
07305
EUROPE
130 Old Street
London
EC1V 9BD
AUSTRALIA
301 George Street
Suite 1102I
Sydney, NSW
2000
CANADA
18 Haslemere Road
Toronto, Ontario
M4N 1X5
COLOMBIA
Calle 7 SUR # 42–70
Ofce 209
Medellín, Antioquia
doc_511530783.pdf