Case study
InfraRed Capital Partners
Global infrastructure and real estate investment manager InfraRed Capital Partners is a business accustomed to the challenge of change. Acquired by HSBC at the dawn of the new millennium, then rebranded after a management buyout in 2011, it has since grown rapidly across the network, from New York to London to Sydney.
The challenge: Rapid global growth with more regulation, but without the right technology
Laurence Hayes, associate director of systems and operations at InfraRed Capital Partners, summed up the operational challenges facing the organization: B次元官网网址淲e have more teams, weB次元官网网址檙e investing in more jurisdictions, complexity and investor demands are increasing, and new regulations are coming through all the time. We needed to be more agile and cover a greater breadth of deliverables,B次元官网网址 Hayes says.
The challenges required the introduction of new technology to assist in meeting ever-increasing demands. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e now around 140 people worldwide, working with a number of internal and external parties,B次元官网网址 says Hayes. B次元官网网址淎s businesses grow, silos naturally crop up and frustrate even the most efficient work and restrict agility. We realized that to keep up with the pressure of a growing business, we needed technology that could help us to standardize and improve processes in the most coherent and effective way.B次元官网网址
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e making investments all the time, but prior to HighQ, capture of information was via manual circulation of spreadsheets,B次元官网网址 explains Hayes. B次元官网网址淭o effectively process such large amounts of data, we needed to make significant changes to the data collection part of the workflow.B次元官网网址滲次元官网网址淎t the same time, we had around 150 projects in our infrastructure business and wanted a platform for the multiple third parties managing and developing those assets to use.B次元官网网址
Soon after the business started to work with HighQ and a consultancy firm, Ethien, 15 initial workflows were identified B次元官网网址 the first of which are now beginning to see results. B次元官网网址淥ne of the immediate advantages is the effective automation of all the processes, which significantly cuts the time otherwise spent on admin tasks and emails,B次元官网网址 Hayes says.
B次元官网网址淔or example, the real estate team sends quarterly compliance questionnaires to internal team members and external parties, such as property managers and accountants B次元官网网址 but the number and nature of the questions needing answers depends on role and seniority,B次元官网网址 Hayes explains.
Historically, he says, each would receive their email, followed by more emails to chase those who donB次元官网网址檛 respond, and eventually, they would manually collate the results and put them into a report.
B次元官网网址淲ith HighQ, we can now send the questionnaires automatically, as well as tailor them so people only receive the questions relevant to them,B次元官网网址 says Hayes. B次元官网网址淭here are then automatic reminders and the ability to filter reports and highlight who hasnB次元官网网址檛 responded or the exceptions reported. We can also automatically create the quarterly report for the compliance team.B次元官网网址
On the other side of the business B次元官网网址 infrastructure B次元官网网址 a similar process automatically asks parties environmental and social governance questions about the investment project and applies a scoring methodology to the responses.
The result: Improved process, monitoring and compliance, plus time savings
The efficiency gain should be clear, but itB次元官网网址檚 also measurable. B次元官网网址淭here were two people in the business who had to pull all these things together before. One has now been completely released to get on with other things,B次元官网网址 says Hayes.
With use cases like this already well-proven, the business is now in the process of bringing on some other candidates for improvement, for example, a portal for the annual audit, which also involves InfraRedB次元官网网址檚 external auditor and accountants.
Hayes explains: B次元官网网址淲e can track each audit entity B次元官网网址 again without email B次元官网网址 plus, use the portal to upload draft accounts for review and approval. An audit issue log also alerts people to any queries and answers in a single place.
B次元官网网址淒ata is clear, current and can be cut into different views for insight into even more possible improvements. The benefit, while less measurable, ought to be faster responses to queries and a smoother process for all concerned,B次元官网网址 he says. B次元官网网址淭here has been a clear benefit in using workflow to standardize approaches and force governance across multiple parties, minimizing misinterpretation errors and so on.B次元官网网址
In other examples, workflows can be adapted for another business area or broken down into smaller ones. For example, the team has digitized the due diligence sign-off for buying a new asset. B次元官网网址淭hat was quite simple to bring into HighQ, but we can now separate out stages such as incorporating all the companies or conducting a building survey,B次元官网网址 he says. B次元官网网址淲e wonB次元官网网址檛 create workflow for the sake of it, but there are many steps where it would be useful to track their completion.B次元官网网址
The future: Flexibility to expand into other business areas
B次元官网网址淗ighQ wonB次元官网网址檛 replace all emails, but it takes some things off that probably shouldnB次元官网网址檛 be on in the first place,B次元官网网址 says Hayes. And although itB次元官网网址檚 early in their HighQ journey, it could also mean change is in store for both the business intranet and some investor communications in the future.
Indeed, a general benefit HighQ presented as a provider was the fact the company can choose to take it in any new directions B次元官网网址 such as project or task management B次元官网网址 at its own pace. B次元官网网址淎 difference compared to some products is that we can develop it ourselves and become self-sufficient with workflows quite quickly. We didnB次元官网网址檛 want to be reliant on consultants to build out more solutions in future,B次元官网网址 says Hayes.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 also particularly good that itB次元官网网址檚 cloud-based B次元官网网址 accessible to anyone in all the countries weB次元官网网址檙e expanding in B次元官网网址 and clearly secure, as lawyers have been using it for years!B次元官网网址
It should even get business functions collaborating more about exactly what they could do with HighQ. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e talking to HR, compliance, the company secretary B次元官网网址 there are processes to improve in all these business areas,B次元官网网址 says Hayes. B次元官网网址淎nd in the years to come, weB次元官网网址檒l really try to build it out across the business.B次元官网网址
Schedule a demo to see how you can leverage HighQ capabilities like InfraRed