For those interested in a discussion about the "Robinhood Effect," the "retail flow factor," and other timely topics related to a deranged and deranging stock market, a playback of the June 10th DTCC event, "Active Management and the Critical Role of Data," can be accessed herein...
Many thanks to Oliver Renick (@OJRenick) and the team @TDANetwork for this one. We had some fun discussing the IBM-RedHat deal, and the implications for the larger cloud infrastructure and AI segments of the enterprise IT arena. Also touched on some thoughts for NVIDIA, AWS, Google and HPE. Based on our recent post, IBM Hides Watson Under a Red Hat. Link to Video here. It's a good one. Enjoy... As always, if you value this work: Like it, share it, comment on it – or discuss amongst your colleagues – and then send us feedback@alphacution.com. As our “feedback loop” becomes more vibrant – given input from clients and other members of our network, especially around new questions to be answered – the value of this work will accelerate. Don’t be shy…
In this latest Alphacution Riffs episode 5 - What is Your Return on Technology? - we detail how to measure and benchmark "return on technology" - a concept Alphacution developed that quantifies the performance of technology investments relative to the cost of those investments for specific companies - and then aggregates those measurements into a benchmarking framework for a broader sample of companies. Leveraging our model library and analysis on 60 of the largest global banks since 2005, the resulting suite of analytics - based on our proprietary T-Spread - has been dubbed the T-Greeks Benchmarking Framework. Find out why... Additional modes to learn about this research - Download the slide presentation (tutorial): 2. Set aside to listen along to a webinar presented by Paul Rowady, director of research at Alphacution and Sang Lee, managing partner at Aite Group: As always, thanks for your attention. And, if you find value in this work, please share it - talk about it - and send us feedback to - wait for [...]
Set aside some time to watch Alphacution Riffs Ep 4 wherein we walk through the foundational hypothesis; key highlights; an extraordinary case study involving Citadel, Millennium Management, Point72 and Vanguard (teaser); and, the strategy behind the release of our latest - and, most impactful - study to date, "The Context Machine: Estimating Asset Manager Technology Spending" (April 2018). And, for those of you with a slightly longer attention span, stick around for another "public service announcement" at the end of this one (starting around 11:17) - as we did in the Director's Cut for Ep 3 - Proprietary Trading, Extreme Automation. The urge to provide value to the human capital component (i.e. - you, me, and everyone in our audience and beyond) - which is actually coming to life as a direct result of our technology focus - seems to be gaining momentum... Enjoy... And, as always, if you value this work: Like it, share it, comment on it - or discuss amongst yourselves - and then send us feedback@alphacution.com. [...]
This episode of Riffs represents a case study on proprietary trading (including market-making and high-frequency trading) - using our ongoing analysis of Virtu Financial, including its recent acquisition of KCG Holdings. Here, we begin to frame our broader research on what asset managers - including hedge funds - spend on technology as well as the migration of automation along the entire strategy spectrum. More details about the publication of Alphacution's asset manager technology spending study - "The Context Machine" - coming up in Episode 4. Enjoy... Director's Cut with "Public Service Announcement":
Episode 2 of our new video series, Alphacution Riffs, picks up where Episode 1 left off - and begins to describe our research mission, modeling methodology and research workflow. We also begin to lay the foundation for our "T-Greeks" benchmarking framework that focuses on measuring and comparing "return on technology" (RoT) - otherwise known as "technical leverage" - for banks and asset managers. Here, we describe how much of our core research effort is currently built on the basis of just 3 simple data points collected for a model library that currently represents 200 large banks, asset managers, hedge funds, and even certain proprietary trading groups, among others - more than 250+ FSI-related companies in all - and how each of those models covers several years, with many of our core models beginning in 2005. With these 3 data points and our 360-degree modeling strategy, we can move beyond the benefits of various market-sizing exercises to more impactful benchmarking exercises. This tutorial is important for our clients and broader network [...]
Alphacution is proud to launch its video series, Alphacution Riffs. Not only bringing our clients new levels of intelligence - by quantifying and modeling and benchmarking the critical interplay between technology capital and human capital - for their digital transformations, we are "eating at our own kitchen" by leveraging tools and methods of the era to help make our research - and seemingly complex topics - much easier to understand. The digital media landscape is a jungle - and we are not trying to compete in a popularity contest. However, in order to be successful, we do need to consistently identify our best audience and then consistently grab a slice of their attention. Therefore, if you find the visual interpretation of what we are doing with traditionally dry and sometimes in-the-weeds research - like the website stylings and now the video series with its combined Rock n' Roll and Silicon Valley sensibility - to be a bit different, please know that it is entirely on purpose. Sure, it would be [...]
Having a hunch is one thing. Quantifying that hunch is another thing entirely. Since its launch, Alphacution's primary hunch - and a factor that drives its mission - has been that measuring the impact of information technology investments within the financial services ecosystem is 1) super important, and 2) not something that firms currently do very often. Of course, we are nearly 2 years into an ambitious modeling and framework development exercise based on far more than hunches. There has been a steady flow of evidence and support. Early adoption and consumption of our output by marquee clients and a growing network of prospects, seasoned advisors and friends provides ongoing resources and intellectual nourishment to keep building. However, on the back of our first webinar - hosted by partner, Aite Group - it was gratifying to ask direct questions to and receive direct answers from a broad and diverse audience. While helping to further galvanize the initial hypothesis, this evidence also speaks clearly to the vast spectrum of players in the financial services ecosystem who potentially [...]
In this FIFTH and final installment of a five-part video blog series Jim Jockle, CMO of Numerix sits down with Paul Rowady, Director of Research at Alphacution to discuss the recent FinTech Revolution. They discuss how firms are gearing themselves towards a digital culture, and how companies are working to distinguish themselves in this new age. The five videos cover the following: Part 1: Paralysis by Analysis: Preparation & Analyzation for Digital Disruption Part 2: IT Outsourcing and Transformation Part 3: Revolutionizing FinTech: Looking into the World of Data Automation Part 4: Technological Implications of Cultural Transformation Part 5: Digital Noise in the FinTech Space Jim Jockle (Host): There’s so much noise, right. And whether its hitting the trades or the New York Post, you know, this company’s going to take down Bloomberg, this company’s going to disrupt payments for the next rest of the world. I’m now dealing with Apple Pay, you know, just naming names not pointing fingers. How do you cut through the noise? Paul Rowady (Guest): [...]
In this FOURTH of a five-part video blog series Jim Jockle, CMO of Numerix sits down with Paul Rowady, Director of Research at Alphacution to discuss the recent FinTech Revolution. They discuss how firms are gearing themselves towards a digital culture, and how companies are working to distinguish themselves in this new age. The five videos cover the following: Part 1: Paralysis by Analysis: Preparation & Analyzation for Digital Disruption Part 2: IT Outsourcing and Transformation Part 3: Revolutionizing FinTech: Looking into the World of Data Automation Part 4: Technological Implications of Cultural Transformation Part 5: Digital Noise in the FinTech Space Jim Jockle (Host): So let me go to your research. You know you suggested a little bit, there’s the differentiators in terms of maximizing our opportunity and then there’s a congested middle-of-the-pack. Transitioning, so yes you had the Fords, who arguably have done very well in that or a transitionary period of time but you also saw the Hondas and Toyotas come out of nowhere and things of [...]
