45% lower hosting costs and faster regulated data: rebuilding Investec Asset Management’s global sites

Customer background

Investec Asset Management (IAM), which rebranded as Ninety One in 2020, is a global investment manager. Box UK was its long-term development partner, and earlier projects had already produced measurable results, including a threefold increase in site traffic and a 30% rise in lead generation.

On the back of that work, IAM commissioned Box UK to redesign and rebuild its global and regional sites as part of its ongoing plans for improvement.

The challenge

IAM wanted to improve the way information and resources reached its users, and getting data to them quickly and reliably was fundamental.

There was a lot of it. IAM’s 22 role- and region-specific sites had to deliver a large volume of data, including 530,000 mandatory Key Investor Information Documents. That information also had to be relevant and personal, while meeting the strict regulations of the financial industry, so that each user only saw what was appropriate to them.

Our approach

Speed and reliability guided every decision. At the time, most investment banking organisations hosted their sites on traditional server environments. Box UK implemented a cloud-based framework on Amazon Web Services instead, to serve data to users faster, let IAM scale the system quickly when it needed to, and reduce hosting costs.

To make the data more relevant and personal within the rules, Box UK restructured the underlying data model, giving IAM more flexibility in how it delivered data to global markets, and built in geographical and role permissions.

What we built

Box UK moved IAM’s sites from traditional servers to a cloud-based framework on Amazon Web Services, and transformed the underlying architecture to make it more secure, stable and scalable, and much faster at delivering dynamic information to all 22 sites.

The restructured data model included geographical and role permissions, so each user only saw the regulated content appropriate to them. A new site structure, navigation and interface aimed to increase completion rates for key tasks by highlighting important calls to action and next steps, shortening crucial conversion paths, and surfacing relevant, valuable content.

Box UK also integrated MyInvestec, the self-service area of IAM’s site, with its CRM system. That gave IAM a better understanding of client behaviour, and let it react instantly to preference updates and send relevant information when it was needed.

The outcome

Moving to the cloud cut IAM’s annual hosting costs by 45%, and the new architecture served data to users faster, with the ability to scale quickly as needs changed. Regulatory requirements were built into the platform through geographical and role permissions, and the CRM integration helped IAM build closer relationships with its customers.

The project was shortlisted for Best Use of IT in Wholesale & Investment Banking at the FStech Awards, and for the Open Category Innovation Award at the Investment Marketing and Innovation Awards.

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