What are the most common mistakes when choosing an investment reporting provider?

Firms often choose platforms with gaps in data or reporting technology, weak analytics, poor regulatory support, limited scalability, or insufficient security and onboarding processes.

Should an investment reporting platform cover both data and reporting?

Yes. A complete solution needs a strong technological backbone that consolidates data and produces client, regulatory, and risk reporting from a single source of truth.

Why does open architecture matter for investment reporting software?

Open architecture allows automated data consolidation from custodians, banks, PMS systems, prime brokers, fund administrators, and other third-party sources as your firm grows.

What security standards should an investment reporting platform meet?

Look for enterprise-grade security including encryption in transit and at rest, and databases that meet ISO 27001 standards to protect client data.

How does Sesame help firms avoid these common pitfalls?

Sesame provides unified data sourcing, robust performance and risk analytics, automated reporting, daily limits monitoring, and a scalable cloud-native platform updated for evolving regulation and market needs.

10 things to avoid when choosing an investment reporting software provider

Selecting a digital solution to enhance data consolidation and investment reporting is a big decision, one many asset and private wealth managers cannot afford to get wrong.

The right platform should enable you to completely transform your client and regulatory reporting workflows. That means streamlined processes, increased reporting customisation and drag-and-drop functionality embedded in templates to save you time.

To reap the full benefits of digital transformation, it is essential the provider offers a complete data and reporting solution. That requires a strong technology infrastructure able to process vast amounts of data. But it can be hard to know where to start when assessing a provider, and there are many pitfalls. Read on to discover the 10 key things to avoid when choosing an investment reporting solution to make sure the platform has the capabilities and functionality you need.

Last updated: May 2026

10 things to avoid when choosing an investment reporting provider

1. There are gaps in the provider’s data or reporting technology offering

A platform that seamlessly covers both data consolidation and reporting needs a strong technological backbone. With some platforms, there is a considerable risk of an inability to deliver the desired risk analytics, portfolio insights, and client and regulatory reports. With the data environment getting more complex by the day, ensure the platform can handle complex asset allocations and investment strategies – many cannot.

2. The solution is not built on open architecture connectivity principles

This might sound like tech speak, but if you are looking for a platform to save you time on data management that can grow alongside your business needs, it is an essential. A solution built on open architecture connectivity principles can facilitate automated data consolidation by allowing easy plug-in of data feeds to ensure data can be taken from all relevant third-party sources – whether that be custodians, banks, PMS, prime brokers, fund administrators & more.

3. There is no ability to carry out compliance tasks in accordance with existing and new regulations

Keeping your firm compliant with ever-changing regulatory obligations is an ongoing challenge. Ensure that the platform allows you to set any custom limits that you may need, with a corresponding alert system to notify managers when these are breached. Check the software is being regularly updated to account for updates in regulation.

4. The solution lacks a robust analytics engine with supporting documentation of calculations

Comprehensive performance and risk analysis is essential to any investment reporting platform. Software may provide visualisations that have a “wow” factor, but there may be little substance behind the graphs and charts.

Ensure that data validations are embedded into the solution and that the software allows you to view data granularly at security or portfolio level. There must also be clear documentation for the calculations used for each metric, so there is full transparency in the information displayed in the system.

5. The platform is not being regularly updated to accommodate market developments

Client expectations and market environments change fast. Ensure that the software is being regularly updated to be at the forefront of the investment reporting and data consolidation space.

One such example is the rapid growth in private assets across both the private wealth and alternative asset management industries. Any platform worth its salt should now have a solution to manage positions, transactions, and valuations within private assets, including private equity, real estate, collectables & more

6. The provider does not have proven data management, quant risk and reporting expertise

Maximum gain from a data consolidation and investment reporting solution is most easily achieved where the provider has proven data management, quant risk and reporting expertise as part of their service layer to support the platform.

This expertise not only ensures the calculations and analytics in the platform are robust and intuitively presented. Where resources and team capacity may be tight, an expert professional services team can be leveraged to give you access to best-in-class capabilities to help your firm grow.

7. The new platform does not integrate with existing systems

If you already operate with existing reporting and accounting systems, any new solution you choose to enhance your processes and client offering should be able to provide these systems with the same cleansed, standardised data that is being used in the new system. A platform built on open architecture can allow you to access this data and seamlessly feed it back into other internal systems, to ensure you are operating from a single source of truth.

8. The platform is not easily scalable to account for growth in your firm

Ensure that any solution you choose is cloud native. Cloud solutions offer near-infinite possibilities to scale up and down at speed to match your business requirements. Through the cloud, firms gain the operating flexibility to move into and out of markets and target new client segments, supported by the technology capabilities they need, without having to tie in significant investment commitments.

9. The platform does not meet today’s extensive security requirements

With an increasing number of cyber-attacks targeting financial institutions, it is essential that security lies at the heart of any data management and investment reporting platform.

Make sure that encryption protocols and databases meet ISO 27001 standards to ensure that the highest security barriers are maintained. That also means no more risky (and time-consuming) transfers of data through email exchange, preserving client privacy.

10. The provider does not have a clearly articulated onboarding process

The provider should have a clearly outlined, robust onboarding process, to ensure implementation is as smooth as possible. A comprehensive and intuitive Knowledge Base can ensure that you can get to grips with the functionality and the analytics of the system quickly to make maximum use of the new data management and reporting power at your fingertips.

Making the right software choice

When deliberating over the increasing number of investment reporting solutions available, the above checklist can help guide the selection process or create an RFP. That puts your firm in the best position to choose a platform that meets your unique data consolidation, reporting and compliance needs, as well as satisfy your scalability requirements as your business grows.

Sesame – setting a new benchmark in investment reporting

Our award-winning data consolidation and investment reporting platform, Sesame, provides unique data sourcing capabilities, comprehensive performance and risk analysis and automated reporting for any investment portfolios and holdings. Asset owners are no longer forced to wait for investment data for public or private assets, and consolidated reporting is available in near real-time in any form. Sesame allows asset managers to streamline their performance and risk reporting and analysis, with access to industry-standard risk data. And advisors have access to extensive near real-time reporting and monitoring capacity for all their clients’ portfolios on one dashboard.

Ready to choose the right investment reporting platform?

Sesame brings together data consolidation, analytics, and automated reporting — so you can avoid the pitfalls and deliver reporting your clients trust.

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