Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel, a Cincinnati-based RIA, was founded in 1990 and has been a client of SS&C Advent from day one—“Back before people even used email,” notes Glenn Warden, the firm’s chief information officer. And for this RIA, optimizing efficiency in IT and operations has always been a crucial business tenet. Having outgrown Axys years earlier, the firm migrated to APX and its suite of solutions including Moxy® for trade order management and Advent Revenue Center for revenue management and invoicing; it now manages $12B AUM on the APX Suite.
Intrigued by the agility of the cloud, Warden and his team saw an opportunity to enhance cybersecurity and business continuity through outsourcing. The firm was purposeful in their desire to focus on its core business and employ an outsourced model to minimize technology distractions. Bahl & Gaynor commenced its search by surveying providers that were familiar with the APX Suite and offered enhanced reliability, support, and flexibility in order to continue pursuing growth while running lean.
The Solution: Advent Outsourcing Services (AOS)
After evaluating alternative solutions, these benefits tipped the scales in favor of AOS:
- The convenience and reliability of one-stop-shop: One provider offers solutions, service, and support expediting issue resolution
- Best service received with the team approach: One point of entry to a powerful team
- Security is paramount: Highly weighted in the evaluation and confidence achieved
- Top notch for disaster recovery and business continuity: Tested and proven capabilities
The impact of AOS was felt almost immediately. The firm utilizes operational services, including data management, and appreciates the flexibility of AOS to adjust services to satisfy future needs. Per Warden, “We used to spend a lot more time reconciling. If there were issues with market data, we had to deal with those. Those concerns are taken off our plate now, and there’s a considerable cost saving as well to getting the data and services through Advent.”
When considering if and when to outsource, many clients only consider the cost, yet for Bahl & Gaynor, the real value of AOS is the added agility and flexibility gained, which enables the firm to pursue growth opportunities for its business. “From a strategic level, I believe AOS is really going to open up a lot of doors for us to move forward at a much more accelerated, exponential rate than we have in the past,” says Warden.
The investment philosophy of Bahl & Gaynor is perfectly summarized by its tagline: Dividends Pay Dividends®. The firm strongly advocates that the long term stability of a company is directly tied to its ability to pay growing dividends. As such, this philosophy is incorporated throughout its business.
It’s a lean shop, but by deploying assets to technology, the business is able to focus on its core competencies and grow to scale by redeploying staff to more productive activities. More importantly, through its partnership with Advent the firm is able to strengthen its security, disaster recovery, and business continuity posture. To learn how AOS is paying dividends for Bahl & Gaynor, read the case study.
