The Value of a Comma

Private equity portfolio and investment managers know this better than anyone: Collecting portfolio company data is anything but simple.

The types of data points you need from each of your portfolio companies naturally vary depending on factors such as industry, size, region and maturity. An oil and gas investment inherently won’t have the same notable data points as a software company or a home furnishings distributor. So, every portfolio company’s data comes to you in largely unstructured, largely bespoke formats, with varying degrees of completeness. The sheer amount of time spent reaching out and following up to gather data is mind-boggling, especially when you consider how much more productive your firm could be if those same hours were applied to higher-value tasks.

And that’s just the first step. If data collection is tough, data validation and analysis are next-level challenging.

While we won’t discount a dash of gut instinct as a special sauce ingredient, the truth is that the smartest investment decisions are made based on accurate, complete data and insights.

So, what happens if you and your team spend days on end collecting quarterly portfolio data only to discover that half of it is inaccurate or incomplete? Or, worse yet, what if you don’t discover those errors at all?

With all the custom-formatted data points flying around in emails and attachments, copy-and-paste errors happen more often than we may want to admit. Manual approaches to collecting, validating and analyzing portfolio company data are not only drains on your team’s time, but are also sources of unnecessary risk. We’ve seen it all, from investment teams spending days modeling scenarios based on the wrong numbers to missed investment opportunities because data couldn’t be gathered and validated fast enough.

Think of it this way: One comma copied and pasted into the wrong place could lead to a misinformed investment decision or lost opportunities for your firm and your investors.

Why risk it? You don’t have to.

What if we took the vast effort of chasing, copying and pasting out of the equation? With a blend of robotics-enabled technology and a dedicated managed service team, you don’t have to wonder or worry about data accuracy – and your team can reclaim valuable time.

Learn more about how FIS™ Private Equity Rainmaker is boosting our clients’ decision-making confidence and front-office productivity with an automated approach to portfolio data management.