Lazard Asset Management
Publication
Factsheets
Issue
Foreshortening client-reporting times, with a then expectation of a five-day turnaround, putting pressure on the ability to produce comprehensive information on brand and on time.
Data Sources
Excel and XML from accounting systems
Brief
Design a system that would
– Compress the production time by at minimum 10 days to a five-day target
– Address the duplication of effort caused by the need to reformat data
– Reduce the number of production errors
– Add value to the offer by providing an interactive data self-selection facility
Interlagos Response
The approach was twofold; first Interlagos worked with Lazards to design and implement a more streamlined data collection process to run alongside the APS system to automate report production. Working in combination meant that once the data was collected, creating the report was a simple matter of selecting the appropriate template and pressing the ‘publish’ button. PDF versions of the factsheets for web download and high-resolution versions for printing were produced instantly.
Stage two was to develop HTML pages to allow clients an interactive relationship with the website. The components of the factsheet are broken out allowing visitors to the site to select the parameters they wish to view.
Lazard staff can update the content of the site as required and as the factsheet pages are generated dynamically from APS simply by pressing another ‘button’ when the PDF versions are being created ensuring complete fidelity of data between PDF and HTML versions. APS uploads the HTML to the servers and Lazards New York upload it to the main Lazard site.
Client Outcomes
The Interlagos project added a new “funds world” to the established site; an important support to both client services and sales
80% increase in Lazard’s web traffic since the launch of the funds site coinciding with a 70% drop in downloading the PDF factsheet in the same period supporting the decision to progress HTML
A process that used to take 10 days has been reduced to one.
Automated production of factsheets resulted in internal clients, as described by Lazard, “raving about it”!