Regardless of their niche, line of business, or historical market sweet-spots, today all financial services businesses must have a strong grasp of the changing dynamics of the global economy - and their role within it. Whether they’re a boutique Boston investment management fi rm or an international commercial bank with branches in 80 countries, the ultimate context for their products, clients, and competition is unavoidably global.

As global vice president of Financial Services for CDC Software, Jason Rushforth deals daily with both the global nature of his business and the global challenges of his client companies, which include fi rms such as Mellon Asset Management, Calamos Investments, Allianz Dresdner Asset Management, and Farm Credit Services of America. CDC Software offers the Pivotal CRM suite of client relationship management systems for fi nancial services firms, which includes discrete tailored solutions for capital markets, mutual fund wholesaling, institutional asset management, wealth management, and commercial banking. We talked to Mr. Rushforth about the challenges of the global economy and how CRM can play a role in helping financial services firms compete.

What are the top challenges you’re seeing among firms trying to compete globally?

The greatest challenge is the ability simply to operate in a coordinated fashion on a global scale. Most global firms have grown through acquisition, and it has been exceedingly difficult for them to make their processes and infrastructures keep pace with this rapid international consolidation. On a technology level, this tends to result in inefficient cobbled-together systems that are resource-intensive to maintain and create impenetrable silos of data. In turn, this leads to lack of visibility between business units and resulting lack of coordination and strategic insight.

What are the keys to success in this global business environment?

Whether your firm is a big-name international player or a small outfit trying to take advantage of new opportunities in the global economy, the secret is adaptability. And on a practical level, technology plays a major role in business agility. If you have flexible, malleable systems that can quickly and inexpensively accommodate growth, integration, new lines of business, complex evolving processes, and new deployments, you can take true advantage of the economies of scale inherent in global growth, while maintaining the nimble nature of a smaller business. For businesses that are currently smaller in size, such systems give them the ability to compete more effectively with large players by increasing efficiencies and lowering costs.

How can CRM assist in tackling global challenges?

A firm’s client relationship management system should be  its ‘brain,’ its nerve center. CRM systems house all of a firm’s intelligence about its clients, prospects, competition, deals, and activities. This makes it immediately apparent how valuable it is for a firm operating globally to share a common CRM system worldwide, especially if it operates across many different branches and multiple lines of business. With a shared 360-degree global view, firms can act in a coordinated manner across the globe, with each unit knowing what the others are doing. Not only does this pool intelligence and avoid duplication of effort, it also opens up new opportunities for global collaboration, with different geographies and lines of business working together to cross-sell and up-sell, increasing share of wallet on a global scale.

Beyond that, effective use of CRM can help companies of all sizes combat some of the biggest drawbacks of globalization: increasing commoditization and the loss of truly personal client relationships. Firms can use flexible CRM systems to differentiate their client experience through the implementation of distinctive processes, adding value above and beyond their product and service offerings. By maintaining rich, comprehensive information about each client and interaction, they can also deliver personalized client service that builds lasting relationships. And by using a system that helps them manage activities consistently and in a coordinated manner over the long term, they can become more focused and proactive in account penetration and client retention. All of this helps ensure that despite being global in scale, financial services firms remain personal and customer-driven at the individual client level.

Learn more about Pivotal CRM for Financial Services at www.pivotal.com/financialservices.