Kiwi property fund manager chooses IBM and Salesforce for digital transformation programme

Property fund manager Augusta is undertaking a complete transformation of its business processes, competencies and models to leverage opportunities from digital technologies.

It has partnered with Bluewolf, an IBM company for its next stage of growth, by scaling up its investor relations capabilities and improving the customer experience through the Salesforce Platform.

IBM has now migrated Augusta’s legacy systems to Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, Community Cloud and Pardot.

“Property funds management typically lags in technology adoption and this partnership with IBM positions us to lead the industry in New Zealand,” says Mark Francis, managing director at Augusta Capital.

“Augusta is a family-based business that has always prided itself on close personal relationships with its investors, but we needed a smarter way of maintaining these connections that is more scalable, efficient and compliant for the future.”

Augusta Funds Management, a subsidiary of NZX-listed Augusta Capital, manages a diverse range of property funds for over 3,500 retail and institutional investors across New Zealand and Australia.

The company says it also aims to appeal to a younger demographic through personalised online services and lowering minimum investment thresholds to as little as $10,000.

Thus, it is focusing on its investor relations capabilities and will soon be able to deliver personalised customer relations at scale while introducing smarter ways to communicate and deliver service in a style younger investors prefer.

With compliance top of mind for finance organisations in New Zealand, Augusta is able to quickly adapt as regulations evolve.

Using the Salesforce platform, Augusta says it will be able to offer clients a responsive digital channel for self-service tasks such as logging customer support requests, accessing detailed account balances and learning about new investment opportunities.

Investors who previously had to wait for paper statements or call Investor Relations to check specific information will soon be able to see these details online.

“Customers expect experiences of the same quality as their favourite app,” says John Moran, area vice president financial services, Salesforce APAC.

“The investment made by Augusta to transform their customer experiencewill deliver scalable and seamless personalised service,” says Moran.

The new technology and processes also benefit Augusta Funds Management staff in Auckland, Christchurch and New Plymouth who gain a single source of truth for all existing customer data.

This ensures that communications are tailored to the individual circumstances of the investor and are easily audited.

Streamlining onboarding for new investors will reduce paperwork for internal teams, more specifically the Anti Money Laundering (AML) team, while marketing automation will surface additional cross-selling opportunities.

“The rise of fintech means that consumers demand excellent service and online experiences from any financial institution, regardless of size or location,” says Gavin Diamond, ANZ Salesforce lead at Bluewolf.

He says Bluewolf consultants are making digital transformation on Salesforce cost effective even for smaller businesses.

“Augusta shows the possibilities to transform customer service and communications in ways that drive growth through improved visibility and brand experience.”

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