December 2014: How Soft Are You?

There was a story circulating in UK buy-side circles the best part of a decade ago about the CEO of a prominent and well-respected third-party technology provider who “lost it” when he learned that a prospective client had decided not to implement his firm’s product, instead opting for a rival’s offering. The story goes that the incensed CEO marched into the asset manager’s offices and confronted the firm’s CTO about his decision, in full view of other staff members, which was both embarrassing for the CTO and unprofessional on the part of the CEO. Apparently the CEO was “escorted” from the building by security, never to set foot on the premises again, tarnishing his reputation and that of his firm’s in the process. 

It’s difficult establishing the veracity of this anecdote, given that I have yet to meet anyone who actually witnessed the incident first-hand, although I have met many in the industry familiar with the story, which suggests that there must at least be a grain of truth to it. I was reminded of that incident recently when chatting to an individual representing a technology firm that had entered this year’s Buy-Side Technology Awards about the outcome of one of the categories. He was indignant when he learned that his firm’s offering had not come out on top, given that “it has unquestionably the best technology, the most user-firms, and the most new contracts signed in the last year.”

Naturally, I wanted to test the validity of his claims, which I did by revisiting all of the entries in the category in question, only to find that not only were these claims spurious, but that a number of other entries had far better track records, not only over the past 12 months in terms of new clients signed, but also in terms of their total user-firm numbers. As for the assertion about possessing “the best technology,” that’s an area that’s not even worth investigating, given that anyone who knows the buy side—even superficially—would concede that there are no metrics that allow anyone to claim with any validity that one product has “better” technology than any other. All offerings have their attributes, which certain buy-side firms might find appealing given their technical, budgetary, and operational requirements, but there never is and nor will there be a product that satisfies every buy-side firm’s needs.  

As I’ve written before, I’d go a step further and argue that possessing great technology really only means that you’re invited to the game, but it definitely doesn’t mean you’re going to win it. For that, you need soft skills, which, when considering the above example, is clearly not a prerequisite for all the technology providers in our industry.