Hedge IT Blog

We spend a lot of time here on Hedge IT making suggestions about what hedge funds and investment firms should do when it comes to their technology. But today, we’re not going to tell you what you should do. In fact, these are things we definitely DON’T want you to do!
 
Plan your infrastructure only for the short-term.
A crucial mistake often made by funds is not planning for the future. Even at launch, you should be thinking about what your firm will look like and what technology you will require down the road. Planning out two to three years in advance is recommended in order to reap the most benefits when it comes to your infrastructure. Plus, if you don’t plan ahead, you may wind up incurring more costs if technology decisions need to be made unexpectedly.
 
Ignore the importance of a business continuity plan.
It has become commonplace for hedge funds to employ disaster recovery strategies to protect mission-critical data and applications (due to a number of reasons including investor expectations, new regulations and the effect of unexpected natural disasters, e.g. Hurricane Sandy). But firms often overlook the equally important business continuity plan, which provides guidelines for what employees need to do in the event of a disaster.  Yes, focusing on your infrastructure is essential to keeping your business afloat, but that business also cannot survive without its employees. Don’t forget to test that BCP plan once you’ve developed it – a good plan will only work if people know how to follow it.

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We hope you're enjoying this week full of videos here on the Hedge IT blog! On Tuesday, we shared footage from our friends at Zerto featuring our vice president of client technology, Steve Schoener, who spoke about cloud disaster recovery during a recent webinar.

Today, we're excited to share with our readers a video spotlighting Eze Castle Integration that was produced by the team at Channel Partners Online. Recently, the group honored Eze with its Channel Partners 360° Award, which celebrates excellence in innovation, technology solutions and customer satisfaction.

Check out the video they created about our team, solutions and services. And, of course, a special thanks goes out to Channel Partners Online for their fantastic work!
 

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Yesterday, we hosted a webinar on business continuity best practices, featuring Eze Castle Integration’s own business continuity experts: Lisa Smith, a Certified Business Continuity Planner and Manager of Business Continuity and Data Privacy, and Katharine Washburn, Business Continuity and Data Privacy Coordinator. The presentation covered everything from developing business continuity best practices to ensuring that a company’s employees are personally prepared. Read on for a quick recap of everything covered during the event.

Business Continuity Planning

Although many companies recognize the importance of crafting an effective business continuity plan, few actually feel that they have prepared one adequately. According to Continuity Compliance, while 70% of businesses have created a robust business continuity and emergency response plan, only 25% have also accounted for human resiliency. Furthermore, a recent survey commissioned by the Ad Council found that only 17% of the 60% of Americans that feel preparation for natural or man-made disasters is essential consider themselves to be very prepared for an emergency situation.

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The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has reported high activity levels of Flu cases in 24 states, and the illness is spreading at a much more rapid rate this year than in previous winters.

So, what does this mean for investment firms? It is now more important than ever to ensure your firm can and will remain functional if it is affected by this outbreak or, worse, a pandemic. Business leaders must be mindful of the repercussions of the virus, as a decrease in staff could cause a great strain on the firm and potentially costly downtime.

We asked our Business Continuity Planning experts to give 10 tips on keeping your firm up and operational during Flu season. Watch and learn.

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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, many hedge funds and investment firms in the Northeast region took account of their firms' operations and assessed the aftermath. Business continuity plans and disaster recovery procedures were undoubtedly put to the test as power outages and flooding wreaked havoc on the area. In a previous Hedge IT post, we discussed many of the lessons that fund managers took away from this experience. Today we’re taking an even closer look at how investment firms fared during the disaster, as agencies such as the SEC and FINRA are now conducting in-depth examinations of many such organizations.

These post-Sandy investigations are being conducted on several firms throughout the Northeast, and although they are not technically intended as a sweep exam, they’re being used as a mechanism to gather information on the lessons that were garnered through the storm. The SEC may potentially use the responses in aggregate as a basis for implementing new BCP recommendations or guidelines in the future. Additionally, these exams aim to raise awareness about the importance of having a comprehensive business continuity plan in place and conducting regular testing.

What can you expect from an SEC/FINRA exam?

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Do you know the difference between a disaster recovery (DR) system and a business continuity plan (BCP)? Does your firm employ one or both of them? Some funds think if they have one system in place, they don’t need the other. Our team of Mythbusters recently set out to determine if a firm can operate successfully with a disaster recovery plan but not a business continuity plan. Take a look at our brand new video, and find out!

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Here we are again – at the end of another year and recapping some of the best and most popular posts from the Hedge IT Blog in 2012. This year, we spent a lot of time talking about cloud computing, security, and disaster recovery, among other topics.
 
As always, we welcome your feedback and would love to hear your suggestions for future articles on Hedge IT. In the meantime, we’ll continue to bring you new and interesting posts related to all of your favorite hedge fund technology topics.
 
At last, here is a recap of our most popular blog articles of 2012:

Cloud Adoption Survey Results Revealed: Part 1

This year, we undertook a research study surveying 130 hedge funds and alternative investment firms in regards to their adoption of cloud technology. The results revealed that more than eight out of ten investment firms are either currently using or planning to use cloud computing services in the near future. This shift towards the cloud signifies a major trend in the financial services space as firms look to move away from costly on-premise technology infrastructures. You can download the complete survey report here.

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We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Starting a hedge fund is a thoughtful and time-consuming process that requires skillful considerations and supportive collaborations to drive success. But with the changes that have swept through the industry of late, now seems like as good a time as any to launch a new fund.
 
We recently hosted a webinar with KPMG to examine the current hedge fund landscape for startups and determine whether 2013 is the right time to begin the launch process. Below is a short summary of the topics discussed. To watch the full event replay, click here.
 
Forming a Hedge Fund
There is a wealth to consider when launching your first (or second or third) hedge fund. From organizational and personnel matters to grappling with regulatory and compliance requirements and infrastructure needs, the list seems to never end. With the help of experienced prime brokers and service providers, however, managing these tasks has never been easier.

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On 20th November, the Eze Castle Integration team in London hosted a joint breakfast seminar with Simmons & Simmons looking at future IT and employment considerations for hedge fund managers.

We know building a hedge fund post successful launch is a challenging experience and requires a methodical approach and expert guidance. There are many factors to manage post launch including continuing capital raising, fulfilling investors’ performance and reporting expectations, meeting regulatory requirements and keeping technology systems running at peak levels.

You can watch a replay of the seminar here.

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Hurricane Sandy created a path of devastation, disrupted countless lives and businesses, and taught us many lessons.  Over the last week, here at Eze Castle Integration we have reflected on what we learned now that the lives of our employees and clients are slowly getting back to “normal.”

Communicate Openly & Often.

With Hurricane Sandy we had the “luxury” of knowing the storm was approaching, however, that isn’t always the case.  Companies must have a communication plan that can be quickly initiated should an unforeseen disaster occur.  We encourage clients to look into Automated Messaging Systems that allow notifications to be sent to all employees or clients simultaneously across multiple devices (i.e. home phone, work phone, cell phone, email).

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