"We chose First Rate ASP because of First
Rate’s expert technicians, as well as our lower
overhead cost. The First Rate data center facilities
are geared toward addressing our outsourced system
requirements, and we are confident in their
capabilities to deliver a dynamic performance engine
while maintaining the integrity and security of our
data."
- Rick Manning, Performance Measurement,
PNC Advisors |
|
Client Situation
As one of the nation’s largest wealth management firms,
with more than 30,000 clients and $187 billion in assets,
PNC Advisors conducted an audit of the systems used to
host their in-house performance solution and decided that
some changes were necessary.
PNC Advisors asked First Rate to recommend a more robust
platform. The
First Rate Consulting and
First Rate Operations teams met with key
players involved with the existing performance solution.
They documented processes and procedures, analyzed what
was working, and took note of deficiencies that made it
difficult for PNC Advisors to provide specific services to
clients.
The Solution
The review led to several recommendations for maximizing
data verification processes and systems configuration
efficiency that would dramatically reduce processing
times. |
|
“There was a bottleneck in PNC Advisors’ processing
capabilities,” said Jeff Kunkel, managing director, First
Rate Operations. “So, we suggested they let us host the
application at First Rate.”
After thorough internal analysis, PNC Advisors determined
that they could reduce overhead costs by allowing First
Rate to host the solution as an ASP. Even with the cost
savings, PNC Advisors had three concerns:
Security
PNC Advisors maintains strict data security processes
that are unique to its institution. First Rate
Operations designed a customized solution that met those
security standards and then committed to periodic audits
to verify adherence.
Transparency
Long-time, in-house solution users did not want to change
their process for accessing performance data. Moving the
data off-site was a concern, until users tested the
First Rate Performance®
suite running offsite,
and could not notice a difference in accessing the
system – except that it ran faster than the in-house
solution.
Disaster Recovery
PNC Advisors wanted to maintain a high level of fault
tolerance in the production environment. First Rate
Operations staff are certified in the development of
Disaster Recovery/Business Resumption plans. They
reviewed existing PNC Advisor plans and designed a plan
that minimized opportunity for service interruption, met
PNC Advisors‘ standards and still maintained a
cost-effective solution.
Upon demonstrating an ability to address each of the PNC
Advisors concerns, First Rate Operations documented the
systems environment and all processes required to host
the ASP environment. They prepared a Service Level
Agreement with guaranteed performance levels, as well as
specifications of what to expect in different
situations.
The Results
PNC Advisors transitioned to the ASP environment after
several weeks of testing. The transition was transparent
to PNC Advisors’ users. Performance returns delivery is
now available a full business day earlier, and each
software application performs faster. Monthly processing
times dropped nearly 20 percent, and the process required
to access the system did not change. |
