SS&C looks to combine capabilities for super funds

Global fintech SS&C Technologies hopes to add value to the Australian superannuation market by bringing together its super administration and investment operation capabilities to offer a combined solution to funds.

"You can start to get really clever when you think about how you can link investment operations data with member data, and start to truly envisionreally think about the insights you can drive and the improvements you can make in processing," SS&C Technologies senior director - product, sales and client relations, Shaun McKenna, told Industry Moves.

SS&C Technologies managing director - institutional and investment management Australia and New Zealand, Steve Tremelling, adds that there is a logical fit between the two areas that he and McKenna oversee.

"[We're looking at] how can we help facilitate that and bring quite a differentiator to the market by bringing investment operations data together with a member administration data," he explains.

"And, I think you'll see over the course of the rest of this year and next year, that will get a whole life of its own."

Through these kinds of combinations, and backed by its global resources, SS&C wants to redefine the value chain of a superannuation fund with everything that it does.

SS&C has invested in new technologies to help it do this. For, for example, the recent acquisition of enterprise robotic process automation (RPA) software group Blue Prism in the U.K.UK provides it with an increased array of AI capabilities.

"The next phase for us is how do we maximize that investment we've done with Blue Prism for superannuation administration?. How do we take the robots and bring them into the admin world properly because obviously RPA doesn't solve every problem...[but] I would hope that we can come up with some really strong use cases on how we can drive further efficiencies using machine learning robotics and AI," McKenna said.

The superannuation administration market is at a juncture, according to McKenna. As, as more funds merge and become mega funds, more member admin tenders are coming to market. Many funds are also considering whether their current approach - insourcing, outsourcing or a hybrid of both - is appropriate.

In a white paper, SS&C suggests that member admin is the new superannuation fund battleground, with member admin set to become a point of competitive differentiation, rather than a passive offering.