Over the course of a decade, ISG partners with a global fund manager to proactively deal with its most important investor relationships.
Opportunity
A global fund manager approached ISG with a challenge: it had recently expanded from just the Australian investor market to the United States. Key Australian investors were concerned about what this meant for the firm’s focus moving forward. The fund manager wanted to initiate an investor-listening program to hear direct, impartial feedback from its investors.
In the inaugural year, ISG used an online survey to collect feedback and identify operational and strategic concerns of the investors. Our recommendations highlighted quick wins and long-term strategic adjustments needed to restore its investors’ satisfaction. The results led to significant expansion of the program with ISG to an ongoing annual investor relationship program.
Imagining IT Differently
Each year, the investor-listening program has expanded in depth and strategic importance. In the second year, the program expanded to include interviews with investors to supplement the online survey. These interviews allowed ISG to gain significantly more nuanced feedback on the investors’ relationships with the fund manager across multiple areas of the engagement, including investment performance, strategic clarity and governance.
In the third year of the program, the results were used to set targets that form part of the corporate scorecard for the fund manager. In the fourth year, presentations of the results were elevated to the board level, which continues in the program to this day.
Future Made Possible
- The fund manager has used the program to navigate incredibly complex events, such as a recession, challenges with specific assets, changes in the legislative environment, and cultural and reputational risks.
- Gaining direct investor feedback enabled the fund manager to tailor communications, refine strategies and optimize engagement models as it expanded into new regions.
- The fund manager has improved its top-line metric – investor satisfaction – for four years running and has exceeded its target for the last six years.
- This world-class investor experience is a significant asset in the firm’s business development and growth.
