By Justin Partington, Global Head of Fund and Asset Managers
Fund managers are in a constant arms race, with technological superiority being the ultimate weapons upgrade. Digital transformation is now a core operational priority for GPs as technology reshapes private markets.
The data echoes this trend, with more than half (55%) of respondents to our CFO survey last year reporting that meeting LPs’ demands for transparency had required substantial operational adjustments in the preceding 12 months.
However, too many GPs still remain passive in their approach to technology, opting to upgrade operations only when needed, rather than as part of a coherent strategy.
To help GPs better focus their operational investment, we have put together some practical steps forward.
1. Automate high-volume workflows
Begin with rules‑based, repetitive processes such as accounts payable, reconciliations, and client onboarding. AI‑driven accounts payable solutions are already reducing data‑capture errors, accelerating invoice matching, and identifying potential fraud earlier. In fund administration, automating NAV production and reconciliations shortens reporting cycles and lowers error rates, freeing up capacity without increasing headcount.
Building on this momentum, the rise of agentic AI – systems capable of autonomously executing multi‑step tasks across platforms – is set to further advance these efficiency gains by shifting GPs from reactive reporting to proactive, self‑optimising operations.
Manual onboarding practices, such as signing physical documents and re-keying client data into multiple systems, should be obsolete, yet they persist. This is particularly evident in Europe, which has been widely criticised for lagging behind the United States and Asia in adopting compliance technology. A more streamlined, LP‑centric onboarding model can simultaneously reduce costs and mitigate the risk of client attrition.
2. Put your data to work
Data is a critical source of competitive advantage, but extracting value from it requires significant technological and operational capability. In private markets, this challenge is compounded by the fact that data is typically spread across disconnected systems, including accounting platforms, valuation tools, investor portals and property management systems. This fragmentation hinders consistent reporting, limits investor transparency and constrains scalable growth.
To unlock its value, data needs to be structured and transformed into actionable insights using data analytics tools, including AI. Achieving this requires private markets investment data to be captured, standardised and organised logically and consistently, with information digitised and aggregated across accounting systems, banks and portfolio platforms.
Natural language query tools can further enhance this by allowing teams to surface insights instantly without technical expertise.
Deloitte research indicates that AI can significantly accelerate valuations and enable near real‑time reporting – capabilities that are increasingly important as retail distribution grows and limited partner expectations rise. Deloitte predicts that by 2030, one in four GPs will use AI for portfolio valuations, allowing them to report performance more frequently and efficiently.
3. Anchor compliance and security
As with other core workflows, there is scope to automate many KYC and AML processes and move away from the manual checks that are still too common. Manual processes come with increased labour costs, human error, and can be difficult to track and analyse, among other drawbacks.
There is also ever‑increasing regulatory scrutiny as GPs chase retail investor money with evergreen‑type products, combined with an expectation from regulators that GPs will deploy best‑in‑practice tools to monitor their operations. Indeed, 65% of respondents to our CFO survey see the retail wealth channel as a “significant growth opportunity” with a smaller majority already transforming their operations to target retail investors.
AI can notably ingest KYC documents, analyse multiple data sources, and generate AML risk assessments, strengthening both compliance efficiency and oversight.
4. Think integrated
There is a huge, largely untapped opportunity in private markets to use predictive analytics to forecast performance and improve decision‑making. This requires integrated data pools and platforms where portfolio monitoring, LP communications and fund accounting are all connected.
Start with automation where impact is immediate, invest in data discipline, and layer in AI where quality supports scale. This combination creates resilient, tech‑enabled operating models that deliver faster NAVs, fewer errors, and a better investor experience.
How we can help
At IQ-EQ, we can support GPs with a full range of technological solutions.
Platforms like IQ-EQ Connect provide on-demand analytics and reduce ad-hoc requests. The portal provides control and visibility of key client-facing systems via a single point of access. Adding AI-assisted chat can triage routine queries and surface answers from policy and reporting datasets, freeing teams for higher-value work.
Solutions like MaxComplyTM improve the LP onboarding experience while also reducing compliance cost and the risk of errors. The tool automates KYC and AML processes to compress onboarding while strengthening audit trails.
Likewise, IQ-EQ Cosmos is our digital reporting tool for performance monitoring and portfolio reporting, while IQ-EQ Navigator is a global workflow platform offering visibility, control and auditability for work within or across teams and countries. It focuses on enabling KPIs and embeds ‘four eyes’ controls.
For clients of ours who’ve implemented their own technology platform, we facilitate downstream integration with their system via our data warehouse and its adjacent tools, giving back their data that we’ve processed on their behalf.
Speak with your IQ-EQ relationship manager to learn more, or contact us here.
