Over the last few years, sell-side research firms have been under tremendous pressure to produce higher volumes of research that offer even deeper, better, and newer insights but with limited resources. Automation is emerging as a key to adapting, surviving, and thriving in this evolving new ecosystem. Will companies that seamlessly integrate automation and traditional research emerge as winners in this race?
We are increasingly seeing disruptive changes in sell-side research that are redefining the market. Sell-side research is being greatly impacted by arising passive investing and algorithmic trading leading to budget cuts. There is still a great demand for innovative research, but with deeper insights and from a vast range of sources. Automation is fast becoming a useful lever in addressing these challenges.
What is intelligent sell-side research automation?
- Interface automation – more and more we are seeing customizable and interactive platforms being built for clients to access content. This enables the client to see real-time trends and to make comparisons across multiple variables in one place, usually by way of an interactive dashboard. Clients no longer need to wait for complex data streams to be refreshed.
- Internet automation - in recent years, new fields of insight have emerged from the internet. This includes social media channels such as Twitter, online blogs, e-retailers and official government websites, which can all provide new ideas for research. In order to gain high-quality real-time insights, there is a real need to automate collection and analysis of data from such streams without having to spend weeks of manual effort.
- Task automation – less time is needed for research analysts to perform routine tasks due to the automation of chart updates, presentation tables and spreadsheets, and so on. Called ‘micro automations’, simple tools can be created bespoke to each sector with a zero error rate.
Intelligent automation is emerging as a defining factor in the race to survive. People and automation will be needed in combination to deliver informative, insightful and high-quality research in real-time to clients. To find out more about these challenges and suggested approaches, please download our new Industry Insights article: