Newsletter - May 2009

Message from the MD
By Ian Beaumont, Managing Director

What is an oxymoron? Well, for me it seems to be the contrast between the current dire economic and business environment and some unprecedented levels of client activity that we are seeing at Matrix. While this may seem puzzling, we see the explanation in two trends that are taking place in the industry – outsourcing and joined up thinking.

In these tough times we see an industry wide trend for efficiencies in retail product distribution. Efficiencies come in many forms but the ones we are trailblazing encompass the provision of smarter, more efficient outsourced services to assist with client and channel management. When managers are thinking where to save costs, clients are rightly questioning the rational of having expensive internal infrastructure and resource invested in CRM and client/business intelligence systems. Just as the industry outsourced the administration of client accounts many years ago, the advent of new web-based tools and technologies make this further level of outsourcing a compelling proposition when looking for efficiencies and cost savings.

The other trend that is sweeping the industry is the need for joined up or integrated information on sales and channel activity, sales performance and tracking, marketing activities and client communication. For many years we have been strong believers that every investment management organisation deserves a Single Intermediary View allowing it to co-ordinate and manage its sales, marketing and communication touch points in a joined up way. This drives efficiencies and cost savings - be it better management of your sales force, improved intermediary targeting, increased client loyalty or better ROI on marketing campaigns. With the launch of Financial Clarity, which meets all of these goals, we find ourselves preaching to the converted in the current environment!

Following the themes highlighted above, I'm particularly pleased to announce our partnership with Salesforce.com allowing us to offer one of the best web-based CRM solutions pre-packaged with our intermediary CRM information, integrated with your sales and organisational structure, or integrated back into your existing CRM deployments.