From Ideas to reality

The great leaders of past glory and present day always have a strategy before moving forward on a major undertaking. From Alexander the Great to Winston Churchill, to the more contemporary thinkers of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, these political, military and business giants have developed a plan of attack and put it in place.

Fortunately for these men, history will always look kindly upon them for their accomplishments, but for others, who have taken this same strategic approach and failed, the world may never know or have chosen to forget their names. Nevertheless, the idea here is that without a strategy and without expressing that strategy, progress will never happen.

I’m sure Ian Richards would be flattered to know he is being compared to some of the most successful people in history, but it is his kind of vision that helps make advancements in an area that is eager for some new solutions.
In our cover story this issue (Automation: a strategic move away, page 10), Richards outlines how progress can be made in client reporting.

Specifically, the head of DC strategy and governance at Legal & General writes about the industry’s woes with automation but, in the lines following, Richards gives several key insights on how the industry can establish standards in order to achieve automation.

Also in this issue, Peter Bambrough of Citisoft takes on the hot topic of reporting times and accuracy in the article, Leading lights (page 14). Bambrough emphasises the need for good data management and once that’s been achieved then the rest of the process will allow firms to create good quality reports and client service.

In the spotlight this issue, Alan Davidson sat down with CSRT to talk about his long tenure at Martin Currie and his desire to educate the industry on sophistication of reports. Also, Davidson discusses his love for football and coaching a youth club in Edinburgh.

As is always the case in every issue of CSRT, we have our regular columns: Trend Tracker, Thought Leader and Last Word. Editorial board member John Sheridan of BoISS writes an insightful account of the role of custody reporting (page 6), while Steve Delo once again delivers a humorous anecdote in his Last Word column (Independent trustee tires of tardiness, page 30).
Lots of great strategies and lots of big plans — enjoy! CSRT

Darren Friesen, Editor