Investment Tech (and the Irreplaceable Human Element)

NEWSLETTER

Family office insights this week:

• Personal support in investment technology

• How a family office team robbed their principal

• Books: the secret story of the world’s greatest disruptor

• A 5-part series on how to open a family office

• A podcast for history and capitalism buffs

Investment Tech (and the Irreplaceable Human Element)

Why the personal touch remains crucial despite tech advances.

Family offices are moving away from spreadsheets. And they have an overwhelming array of investment management solutions to choose from.

With powerful aggregation capabilities, workflow automation and artificial intelligence-driven analytics, digital platforms can drastically increase the efficiency for a family office team. 

But the wrong solution can drain time and money fast.

With many tech solutions offering similar features, one key differentiator is the level of human support. It’s worth asking how involved the provider will be—both during implementation and after.

Firstly, unlocking the capabilities of these technology solutions only happens when onboarded correctly, a process that itself relies on support teams. 

Then there’s ongoing support—often reduced to frustrating encounters with offshore call centers, service bots, and endless Zendesk loops when real help is needed most.

“Many companies in our space approach service via support tickets and remote call centers, when what’s really needed is a deep understanding of client objectives and constraints,” says founding partner of the digital investment platform Clockwork, Cory Shea. 

In a conversation with Mr Family Office this week, Shea talked about the irreplaceable human element in investment technology, that despite the technological breakthroughs, the human element remains crucial. 

He also noted that family offices want more than just customer service. 

“Through close collaboration with investors, we realized that demand extended beyond technology alone, leading us to develop a suite of investment services and solutions powered by our expert team.” 

Though individually unique, a common complexity of family offices is managing diverse portfolios that span global markets and include a wide variety of alternative investments. Shea firmly believes this complexity requires human expertise to manage the unique challenges.

“The human touch is sorely lacking in the tech world, especially among our peers in the investment technology landscape - it’s why we offer an investment solutions success team that wants to engage and is highly investment literate.” 

Shea emphasizes that family offices and investors value personalized strategies, trust, and assurance that technology solutions alone cannot provide.

“Family offices still seek a lot of collaboration when it comes to simplifying investment management: from top of funnel sourcing and screening, to sharing opportunities and risk, to trading insights about markets and particular investments.” 

His human-centric focus makes sense considering that Shea founded Clockwork as an investor service company before building technology. Learnings from almost a decade using off-the-shelf systems for investment office functions helped shape the functionality of their own platform. 

“We’ve had a client service element baked in from day one, and it’s enabled us to add that human touch when needed which has made a huge difference in delivering value to our clients.”

Successful tech solutions will evolve over time based on the needs of their users, and Clockwork has responded to significant demand in high touch areas.

Shea’s investment team serves as an extension of the family office, providing top-tier custom reporting and private due diligence on direct and fund investments, or calculating and maintaining cash flow models.

It’s an approach that works when family offices want more than just the tech, when they want advisors who speak their language and understand what matters. 

“Clients gain peace of mind knowing that their information is up to date, easy to retrieve, easy to share with anyone in their universe,” says Shea. “And just as important, with a team that's always ready to hop into the weeds with them.” 

The investment tech world is expanding rapidly, but consolidation seems inevitable. 

The winners will combine human-centered service with a deep understanding of investment goals — and relationships built on open, ongoing dialogue.. 

Of course, just as essential is that the technology evolves with the market needs. As Shea says:  “With technology driving a core value, you’re only as good as your functionality.”

𝕏 highlights

When your family office team really lets you down.

Last week’s newsletter looked at family office education programs. Here’s a closer look at an offering from Harvard.

Globalization and family offices.

 💼 where to work

Three notable family office job opportunities this week…

Deputy Chief Investment Officer - Private Single Family Office (Palm Beach / SFO)

Senior Public Relations Manager - Private Family Office (Remote / SFO)

Investment Associate - Private Family Office (Boston / SFO)

📚 what to read

Gambling Man tells the story of Masayoshi Son, the bold and relentless founder of SoftBank, who made billion-dollar bets that reshaped the tech world. From risking it all on early internet ventures to launching the $100 billion Vision Fund, Son pursued disruption with unmatched audacity.

📻 what to listen to

If (like me) you like history and capitalism, this one’s a fascinating listen. Invisble Hands from The History Podcast explores the history of capitalism. It’s got it all: fighter pilots, chicken farmers and the future of global capitalism.

📺 what to watch

An excellent 5-part series from Shaun Parkin on how to establish a family office.

And finally…

Diving further into investments - family offices, let us know your biggest headache…

This week we went past 7,000 subscribers for this newsletter!

And with social media, Mr Family Office now reaches +50K family office professionals, UHNWIs and related community every week.

Thank you !!

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Family Office Buzz will be back on Monday (here’s the last edition if you missed it) with more of the best content on family offices and beyond.

Until next week, see you on 𝕏 or LinkedIn.

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