Migrating a Transfer Agency (TA) book of business to a new platform can be a challenging and resource-intensive process. We sat down with Kevin Hunter, ZILO’s Director of Migrations, to discuss the obstacles organisations face during migration projects, and how ZILO’s cutting-edge migration tool empowers clients to overcome complexity and risk. Kevin has over 25 years’ experience specialising in Financial Services migrations, predominantly in Transfer Agency (“TA”). Throughout his career, Kevin has completed more than 100 individual migration projects.
The Challenges of Data Migration
Historically, migrating large-scale TA data has been fraught with complexity, risk, and significant costs. Organisations often deal with legacy books of business that contain 15-20 years of transactional data, much of which has already undergone previous system migrations. These data sets may also have been affected by regulatory and functional changes over time, leading to redundancy, inconsistencies, and data integrity issues. As a result, organisations face the challenge of analysing, cleansing, and migrating vast amounts of data that is costly and time consuming.
TA migration projects also demand Subject Matter Experts (“SMEs”) with deep technical knowledge of both the source and target systems. Finding such specialists can be difficult, and these projects often require a team of five to six full-time SMEs working for 9-12 months. Due to the high resource demands, many organisations opt for external consultants, a solution that is not only expensive but also results in a loss of knowledge at the end of the project.
Kevin Hunter comments, “At ZILO, we recognized these challenges and developed an intelligent, AI-driven migration tool specifically designed to streamline the entire process. Our tool leverages advanced analytics, automation, and real-time monitoring capabilities to significantly reduce timescales, effort, and errors; all whilst improving data accuracy. It provides an intuitive, minimalistic interface ensuring a seamless user experience, and incorporates robust security protocols to protect sensitive client data. A key feature is that any knowledge is retained within the tooling providing auditability and meaning it can be referenced in future. In essence, our solution transforms migration from a cumbersome, resource-intensive activity into a precise, efficient, and reliable process, making it easier to reference in future migrations.”
A Successful Migration
A recent implementation project highlights the effectiveness of ZILO™'s migration tool. In this project, a substantial TA book of business with extensive legacy data was migrated to the ZILO™ platform. Despite the data coming from sources new to the ZILO™ tool, the migration process was completed within 13 weeks of receiving the initial data cut. A small team was able to analyse the data, map it, and build the necessary ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines, all while leveraging ZILO™'s scalable on-demand architecture. In future, the migration timeline can be reduced further, as we continue to optimise the solution.
The live data migration was completed in a matter of hours, including full reconciliation and client sign-off. This efficient approach meant that disruption to both operational teams and investors was kept to a minimum, which was critical for maintaining business continuity.
Maximising benefits with ZILO™ when migrating a TA book of business to a new platform
Clients migrating their data using ZILO™ can experience significant operational and strategic benefits. First, the intelligent migration tool reduces the time and resources required, enabling clients to achieve cost savings and a higher ROI. The advanced analytics capabilities of the platform also ensure that clients can make better-informed decisions based on high-quality, accurate data. Moreover, ZILO™ enhances transparency throughout the migration process, offering clients full visibility and control. The result is a rapid, seamless, and secure transition to a new platform that unlocks greater efficiency, scalability, and agility for the organisation.
At ZILO™, we offer innovative, AI-driven migration technology with focus on quality, efficiency, and adaptability. The platform offers extensive automation, real-time analytics, and proactive risk management capabilities, all of which reduce complexity and mitigate risks compared to traditional data migration solutions.
Additionally, ZILO™ provides hands-on support from our experienced, in-house migration specialists, who guide our clients throughout the entire migration process.
Finally, Kevin explains, when migrating a client’s book of business, with
ZILO™'s intelligent, AI-driven migration tool, organisations can achieve a smooth, secure, and efficient transition to modern platforms. ZILO™ not only reduces migration timelines and resource requirements, but it also improves data quality, enhances operational efficiency, and provides clients with the agility and scalability they need to thrive in an ever-evolving market.
By harnessing the power of automation, real-time monitoring, and advanced analytics, ZILO™ sets a new standard for data migration, helping organisations navigate the complexities of TA migrations with confidence.
For further information or to discuss your specific needs and how , ZILO™ can assist your business, please contact us. We would be pleased to assist you.
