Webinar recap: Reducing risk & complexity in your middle and back office

Ian McDonald

Managing Director, Product Management & Strategy

Enfusion, a Clearwater Analytics company

Martin Miner

Managing Director, Global Head of Middle and Back Office Services

Enfusion, a Clearwater Analytics company

On April 30th, Enfusion hosted a webinar exploring how asset managers can transform their operational models and reduce complexity through Enfusion Middle and Back Office Services. The session was led by Martin Miner, Global Head of Managed Services, and Ian McDonald, Head of Product Management & Strategy. Drawing on decades of experience and live client interaction, the team walked attendees through the latest trends in outsourcing, Enfusion’s unique approach to delivering Managed Services, real client use cases, a product and services overview, and finished with a live Q&A session.

This recap provides a detailed overview of the topics covered for clients who attended—and more importantly, for those unable to join live.

Industry Trends: A shift toward strategic outsourcing

The session began with a sharp focus on industry-wide trends driving outsourcing, particularly in the middle and back office space. Martin shared insights from his career as a former operations leader at major buy-side institutions. He recalled the turning point when he realized that much of the operational workload was no longer a core competency but had instead become a commoditized function.

The pressures of fee compression, talent retention, and the need for real-time decision-making have only accelerated this shift. “There’s nothing heroic about running middle and back office in-house anymore,” Martin remarked. “The real value lies in focusing your team on growth, strategy, and supporting investment decisions—not reconciling trades.”

Ian added that the traditional outsourcing model, which simply takes over workflows without improving them, is becoming obsolete. Today’s asset managers are looking for partners who can enhance workflows, deliver insights, and help scale with agility.

What makes Enfusion Middle and Back Office Services different

Martin and Ian introduced The Enfusion Advantage, grounded in the belief that outsourcing should not just replicate what’s already being done, but improve it.

What sets Enfusion apart is its deep integration between technology and service. The same cloud-native platform used by clients is also used by Enfusion’s 200+ operations professionals. There’s no data lag, no manual sync between systems, and no dependency on third-party infrastructure. This unified model fosters real-time collaboration, complete transparency, and a faster response to change events like fund launches, counterparty additions, or new asset class adoption.

“We’re embedded in the system just like you are,” Martin explained. “Your pain is our pain. We don’t just deliver information—we deliver intelligence.”

Three guiding principles define the Enfusion Managed Services delivery

• Start-of-day confidence: Clients can trust the position data before markets open.

• NAV integrity: Clients can validate administrator NAVs with shadow reconciliations.

• Audit-ready accountability: Every decision and data point is fully defensible.

Client success stories: Earning trust and delivering value

Martin highlighted feedback from existing clients, reflecting the long-term value they’re gaining. Phrases like “pivoting to value-added work,” “foundational for growth,” and “essential and proactive” came up repeatedly in testimonials.

Importantly, these aren’t one-size-fits-all stories. Clients range from emerging managers seeking help with scale to large institutional firms with complex portfolios and bespoke workflows. In all cases, Enfusion’s teams act as an extension of their business, delivering domain expertise, workflow consistency, and flexible engagement models.

Product and service overview

Ian McDonald gave a comprehensive overview of the Managed Services suite, divided into two key pillars:

• Middle Office: Full post-trade support, including trade booking, T+0 trade matching via NYFIX/CTM/Traiana, trade, position, cash reconciliations, asset servicing, lifecycle event processing, and exception handling.

• Back Office: Independent NAV shadowing, generation of trial balances and income statements, all delivered in parallel with fund administrators to improve oversight and trust.

With 160+ clients, nearly 1,700 funds, and a dedicated team with 70% holding professional certifications, the service is scalable across regions, asset classes, and operational complexity (as of March 2025).

“We’re not just muscle—we’re specialists,” Ian emphasized. “We have bank debt experts, accountants with CPAs, and product SMEs. The team is not generalists—they’re embedded experts aligned to your needs.”

Ian added, “One of the biggest strengths of our platform is our deep library of counterparty connections. We have many examples where clients have started with us small, and a few years later have rapidly grown and evolved. As they trade new asset classes and get into new markets, they need to connect to new counterparties. We can connect them quickly and seamlessly pivot with their workflows and strategy.”

How Enfusion delivers data: Dashboards and transparency

All deliverables flow through a maker-checker process, timestamped and audit-ready, with full SOC 1 Type 2 compliance.

A highlight of the webinar was Ian’s demo of two core client dashboards:

• Trade matching dashboard: Provides real-time status updates, exceptions, and match insights across brokers and asset types. If a trade fails, Enfusion’s team investigates and resolves the issue directly, interfacing with brokers and custodians on the client’s behalf.

• Reconciliation dashboard: The most requested client enhancement feature. It offers a visual summary of break count, match rates, delivery status, and SLA adherence. Clients can filter exceptions and data in many ways, such as by fund, counterparty, instrument, or account. Each issue is accompanied by commentary and resolution plans with full issue-to-resolution audit tracking.

“You can walk into a risk meeting and speak with authority,” Martin said. “You’ll know where the risk is, what’s matched, what’s pending, and who’s resolving it—all before the trading day begins.”

Client questions: Key takeaways from the Q&A

• Onboarding timelines: Most projects take about 8 to 10 weeks; this is even faster for clients already using Enfusion Software. Data migrations, counterparty connections, static data, and compliance rules are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

• Support model: Clients retain their current account manager, but also gain a dedicated operations manager and team based in India, covering all global time zones. The service level may be tailored to each firm’s preferences.

• Suitability: Ian stated, “Every software client should consider Managed Services. Whether you want to reduce operational risk, alleviate the operational load, respond to investor scrutiny, or modernize and automate your workflows, Enfusion’s Managed Services are designed to flex with your business.”

Final thoughts

Martin concluded the webinar by reiterating that Enfusion aims to be a long-term partner, not just a vendor. With the recent acquisition by Clearwater Analytics, the platform and service teams are poised to deliver even greater value, with aligned cultures focused on client experience, data integrity, and transparency.

For those who attended, thank you for joining and engaging. If you have follow-up questions or would like an additional demo, please reach out to your account manager directly.

For those who missed the session, we’d love to walk you through what was covered, show you the dashboards, and explore how Managed Services could work for your team. Please contact your Enfusion representative to schedule a follow-up.