Last week, senior leaders across the buy-side and sell-side came together to discuss the future of operations at InvestOps USA 2025. The key takeaway? The industry is brimming with opportunity, but many firms are struggling to modernize due to long-standing inefficiencies.
Here’s what we learned and why firms need to act now.
1. Private market growth is outpacing operational capacity
Private markets have seen explosive growth in recent years, particularly in private credit and alternative assets. While this presents significant opportunities, it also introduces new layers of complexity that most firms are not operationally prepared to handle.
Unlike public markets, private assets often involve bespoke contracts, unstructured data, and manual processing. Many firms are still using spreadsheets and legacy systems to manage these operations, creating inefficiencies and increasing the risk of errors.
Our research found that 57% of firms still rely on spreadsheets or outdated tools for private market reconciliation – an unsustainable model given the increasing complexity of these assets.
The challenge: Without scalable systems, firms will struggle to handle the growing volume and complexity of private market data.
The opportunity: Investing in automation, data standardization, and integrated workflows will allow firms to scale private market operations efficiently while improving accuracy and control.
2. M&A activity is compounding legacy system challenges
Consolidation across the asset management and capital markets industries shows no signs of slowing down. But post-merger integration remains a major operational headache.
When firms with different systems, processes, and data architectures combine, the result is often fragmented workflows and inconsistent data.
A third of firms we surveyed reported that their reconciliation processes are already under strain from current data volumes. With transactional volumes expected to rise by 39% over the next two years, the pressure will only increase.
The challenge: M&A activity is creating operational silos that increase costs and reduce efficiency.
The opportunity: Firms need to take a strategic approach to integration – standardising data models, automating reconciliations, and building scalable infrastructure to support growth.
3. Data quality is undermining AI and automation potential
At InvestOps, poor data quality emerged as a major operational pain point. Inconsistent, incomplete, and fragmented data slows down processes, creates compliance risks, and undermines decision-making.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Modern solutions like AutoRek can automatically clean, validate, and reconcile data, eliminating errors and ensuring firms can trust the information driving their decisions.
Our platform handles complex, real-world data – identifying discrepancies, fixing inconsistencies and reconciling data across systems without manual intervention. This allows firms to finally unlock the full potential of AI and automation with accurate, reliable data.
Our research reveals that data challenges rank among the top three barriers to operational efficiency.
The challenge: Poor data quality is slowing down efficiency and automation.
The opportunity: The right technology can clean and standardize data at scale, turning messy inputs into valuable insights.
What this means for the future of operations
The message from InvestOps US 2025 is clear: operational inefficiency is no longer just an internal problem, it’s a direct threat to growth, profitability, and competitiveness. But firms that take a strategic approach to modernization have an opportunity to turn these challenges into a competitive edge.
Data challenges don’t have to hold your business back. With the right tools, you can transform messy, unreliable data into a valuable asset that drives smarter decision-making, growth and profit. At AutoRek, we help firms streamline reconciliation, improve data accuracy and scale in an evolving market. Book your complimentary AutoRek demonstration today!