*THE WAY FORWARD*
From establishing a common language for private markets to harnessing GenAI in service of operational transformation, the Aladdin community is harnessing tech trends to redefine investment management technology.
*THE EVOLVING FOUNDATION OF THE WHOLE PORTFOLIO*
*THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A PRIVATE MARKETS ECOSYSTEM*
*THE PROMISE OF THE NEW DATA DOMAIN*
*INVESTMENT INFRASTRUCTURE BUILT FOR SCALE*
*POWERING THE ASSET AND WEALTH MANAGEMENT CONVERGENCE*
*ROI FOR AI: GOING BEYOND THE HYPERBOLE FOR TRUE BUSINESS IMPACT*
*SUPPORT IN CHANGE*
THANK YOU FOR READING
THE WAY FORWARD/ April 2025
Foreword
Our To-Do List is Growing
Sudhir Nair
Article 1
The Evolving Foundation of the Whole Portfolio
Meera Jessa and Jess Fitzgibbon
Article 2
The Building Blocks of a Private Markets Ecosystem
Melissa Ferraz and Sue Zheng
Article 3
The Promise of the New Data Domain
Diwakar Goel and Basant Nanda (Columbia Threadneedle Investments)
Article 4
Investment Infrastructure Built for Scale
Sudhanshu Arya
Article 5
Powering the Asset and Wealth Management Convergence
Francesca Conforti
Article 6
ROI for AI: Going Beyond the Hyperbole for True Business Impact
Syril Smith Garson, Peter Hilborne (Schroders), and Jamie Ovenden (Schroders)
Post-Script
Support in Change
Victoria Kent
Design: Katie McCormick and Rhiannon WilliamsEditorial: Meenal Vamburkar and Mark Ransom DayCommercial Marketing: Caitlin CroninCreative Team: Lisa Atkinson, Bridget Odukoya, Carmen Garcia, Anna Riethman, Athena Belford, Jodie Douglas, and Yasmeen Audi
A special thanks to our partners for their contributions: Alpha FMC, LSEG, Microsoft, Snowflake, NVIDIA, and ReutersQuick Note: The opinions expressed are those of the authors and partner contributors as of April 2025 and are subject to change.
by Sudhir NairSenior Managing Director, Global Head of Aladdin
Today, whether you’re an insurance company in Japan, a pension fund in California, or a wealth manager in Spain—we all operate within the same tech ecosystem.
It’s an ecosystem that’s transforming rapidly. Each day, more evidence of this transformation emerges—impacting how businesses compete and grow.
We’re seeing it everywhere.
While capital markets are at the core of our business, the distinction between public and private assets is blurring—a dynamic that’s driving the need for a common language across portfolios, teams, and counterparties.
And as data becomes ever-more ensconced as the lifeblood of our industry (all industries, really), this universal approach will make investing easier and accessible for more and more people across the globe.
All the while, AI has ignited imaginations around the world. Yet, there is still much work to be done in truly harnessing functionalities that translate into business impact.
As these transformations accelerate, so too does their complexity. Navigating them and adapting them to our simultaneously storied and innovative industry is why we founded Aladdin as a community—not just a technology platform.
Because if we agree as an industry that technology underpins all of this change across our shared ecosystem, it’s really a community of institutions, teams, and people around the world who will bring that technology to life—and give it meaning through its adoption.
Institutional investors who are using interoperable, interconnected platforms like Aladdin—when combined with eFront (and now Preqin)—are already unlocking value across public and private markets. And from data standardization, to expanded access, to emerging tech (including AI)— these themes will continue to define the next phase of the ecosystem at large—bringing closer together a wide universe of wealth managers, asset managers, asset owners, fund administrators, central banks, and corporations.
And against this backdrop of growing global change, the more people that use the Aladdin platform, the more great ideas will be built into it. In turn, this investment will drive greater adoption, creating a “flywheel” effect as we reach more and more clients.
We've learned over the past few decades that our work is never done. And our to-do list will continue to be driven by the feedback, ideas, and roadmaps we co-create with those same clients. A list that’s continuing to grow:
Digital disruption.Private markets codification.The universal expansion of data.And the democratization of investing.
There is a lot to do. So, let’s get to work.
